April 14, 2016

Nerd Nite Miami XVIII

1) “Boogie Nights: How to Dance Your A** Off and Your Brain On” by Carolyn Margolin

Dancing has been called “a vertical expression of a horizontal desire,” but it can be much, much more.  Come hear a dancing fool talk about how a cha cha or waltz can benefit you- body, mind, and spirit.

Originally from New York, Dr. Carolyn Margolin began her long-term love affair with ballroom dance while she earned her Ph.D. in Marine Biology and Fisheries at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science.  Before that, it had just been flings with swing dance and ballet.  She now works as a grant coordinator at Miami Dade College and credits her time on the dance floor with preserving at least a portion of the sanity that was threatened on a regular basis during her graduate studies.

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2) “Talk Nauti To Me” by Joshua L. Marano M.A., RPA

A humorous discussion of the history of many of the nautical terms and phrases commonly in use today, including many insights into the stereotypical drunken, swearing swashbucklers throughout history.

Marano is a professional maritime (underwater) archaeologist working at Biscayne National Park where he specializes in shipwrecks and all things nautical.

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3) “The Art of Revealing Art” by Silvia Manrique

Are there real secrets hiding beneath a painting’s surface? Is it possible to discover repaints, forgeries, damages, or images that are invisible to the naked eye? Can we extract an amulet from an Egyptian mummy without ever touching it? New advances in digital imaging make it possible for scientists and art conservators to reveal the secrets that lie just beneath an artwork’s surface. Come to see how these technologies can provide new and fascinating details about artist’s techniques, the long and sometimes tortuous history of artworks, their internal structures, or hidden damages.

Art conservator Silvia Manrique Tamayo is the Project Conservation Advisor for The Wolfsonian-FIU Museum.