Summary: Most Americans have sexual intercourse, however they define it, for the first time as teenagers and, for years, attempt to avoid getting themselves or another person pregnant. This presentation will be a contemporary look at Sex Ed, including why it is the way it is, as well as some practical tips on reproduction (how to, as well as how not to) that it would have been helpful to have learned in school.


Presenter Bio: Meredith and Gina are local sex-perts whose expertise stems from mandatory sex ed training in middle school and high school, along with hundreds or perhaps thousands of logged hours having The Sex, with a focus on enjoyment and avoiding reproduction. Their backgrounds include educational policy, journalism, and improv, all of which will be incorporated into their first Nerd Nite presentation together.

Summary: Michael is a director for hire, and it’s his job to communicate to you through film and ads without ever actually saying anything. In this talk, he’ll reveal the two ways that specific ideas are communicated through images alone. From the Soviet film theorists in 1917 to the Michelin Baby, creatives have hidden their messages in one of two places: the cut (the negative space between two images) or within a single image itself. You will never see the visual arts the same way again.

Presenter bio: As a child, Michael wanted to become a lawyer. Because that career would bring him too much comfort and money, he became a documentary filmmaker and commercial director instead. His current project is “Beyond Human Nature,” an oral history of the Tom Monfils “pulp vat murder” investigation from 1992-1995. His previous feature film, “Last Day at Lambeau”, was a documentary on the divorce of Brett Favre from the Green Bay Packers. It was broadcast on PBS in 2016.

His favorite beer at the moment is New Glarus “Cabin Fever” and he will move heaven and earth to see Tom Waits perform live if he ever goes on tour again.

Summary: Prepare your mind to be repeatedly blown as Frank comically covers just some of the many incredibly odd characteristics of naked mole-rats, small rodents that live in underground colonies with a queen and are very different from both moles and rats!

Presenter bio: Frank is a freshly minted Ph.D. of Behavioral Evolutionary Neuroscience from Cornell University where he studied naked mole-rats and hamsters. He is currently a Research Specialist at UW-Madison studying California mice. In the past he has also studied prairie dogs, voles, tailless whip-scorpions, cichlid fish, ants, howler monkeys, and fossilized bird regurgitations.