Nerd Nite Brighton

It’s almost time for August Nerd Nite. The south coast weather will ultimately disappoint you but we certainly won’t. This month:

1. The Anatomy of Singing – Dr Malcolm Johnston

Malcolm will be describing the advances in modern imaging techniques that allow us to gain more detailed images of human vocal anatomy combined with a discussion on how the human vocal apparatus has evolved to allow the most advanced vocalisation of any mammalian species culminating in the ability to sing.

Malcolm Johnston is a consultant radiologist in Brighton specialising in the diagnosis and treatment of disease using modern imaging techniques. He is also a violinist and singer, and was conductor of the Hampstead symphonia and chorus for 10 years before moving to Sussex. He regularly performs with local music groups and is a keen composer of choral and instrumental music.

2. Exploring the end of the (cosmological) dark ages – Dr Stephen Wilkins

Some few hundred million years after the big bang the Universe was illuminated by the first stars and galaxies thereby bringing an end to the cosmological dark ages. In recent years, thanks to a reinvigorated Hubble Space Telescope, we are able for the first time to detect galaxies present only a few hundred million years after the big bang. Our understanding of this period of the Universe’s history will grow dramatically over the next decade thanks to range of new facilities coming online, including the James Webb Space Telescope (the successor to Hubble), the European Extremely Large Telescope and the Square Kilometre Array.

Dr. Stephen Wilkins is an astrophysicist and lecturer at the University of Sussex. Steve grew up in Yorkshire, completed his undergraduate degree in Durham, and his PhD at the Institute of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge. He subsequently worked at the University of Oxford before moving to the Sussex in 2013. His speciality is understanding, both observationally and theoretically, how the first galaxies formed and evolved.

3. The wild furry urbanites – Dr Dawn Scott

Foxes, badgers and hedgehogs are becoming very much a part of our urban ecosystems and relationships between humans and urban wildlife can be complex. Dawn has been studying how humans and wildlife interact in urban areas in Brighton and Hove for several years, sometimes closely followed by a film crew. In this talk Dawn will share why she finds studying urban wildlife and human behaviour so fascinating, some of her findings of what happens after dark in Brighton, and how to balance the needs of the science with the needs of the media.

Dawn is the Head of Biology and Biomedical Sciences at the University of Brighton. Her research interests are in ecology and conservation of mammals, specifically carnivores and resolving human-wildlife conflict. She has a PhD in mammal ecology and has undertaken carnivore research in several countries including Jordan, Chile, Indonesia and South Africa. She has appeared on several television programmes including Channel 4’s Foxes Live and BBC Springwatch on fox and badger features and is passionate about citizen science and science communication.

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Cake, Drinks, Music, Quizzing and some wonderful nerdy people as usual

(£4 regular nerds, £3 student/65+ nerds)

doors 7.30pm, 8pm start

upstairs at the Caroline of Brunswick

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