Join us March 10, 2022 *in person* at Gramps Bar, Wynwood.
Be there AND be square.

Check out this line up!

“The Bald Eagle Cam” by Lloyd Brown

Wildlife Rescue of Dade County, in collaboration with Zoo Miami, is giving us all something we didn’t know we needed – the Bald Eagle Cam. Hear from co-creator (and Nerd Nite veteran) Lloyd Brown as he shares the successes and challenges of creating this up-close look at wildlife.

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“The difficult path to a just transition in the Sunshine State” by Natalia Brown

As the 2022 Florida legislative session comes to a close, we’ll dive into one of the most contentious stories about a power company, our political voice, and dirty corporate money. Investor-owned utilities are among the largest contributors to Florida elections, which pressure elected officials to prioritize corporate interests over the constituents that they are supposed to serve. This presentation will cover the money trail between key players obstructing a just transition as well as opportunities to work towards a more sustainable and restorative energy system.

Natalia Brown prioritizes deep democracy for transformation of the energy system in her role as Climate Justice Program Manager at Catalyst Miami. She serves on the Miami Climate Alliance Steering Committee and as a Policy Advisor for the Sunrise Movement and Gulf South for a Green New Deal Regional Assembly.

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“Pokemon: An Imperfect Looking Glass into Evolution” by Damian Popovic

Define evolution. Hard, right? It’s tempting to use analogies or pop culture references to interpret broad-reaching, amorphous concepts like the origin of species. Yet for many of us, our first non-academic exploration into biological evolution began with a holographic Gengar. Though Pokemon introduced a generation of GameBoy playing, Tamagotchi toting, Blockbuster card carrying 90s kids to the term “evolution”, it failed miserably at providing a faithful representation of the consequential theory itself. While science communicators the world over have beat this dead horse into quarks, recent generations of Pokemon however have introduced a newly rejuvenated evolutionary inquiry first investigated a century ago by Swedish botanist Göte Turesson: local adaptation. Come, join me as we explore the ways our favorite pocket monsters might actually be teaching a new generation difficult evolutionary concepts and its relation to real world science.

A trained plant biologist turned science interpreter, Damian’s passion for evolutionary biology and the communication thereof was first sparked by an early introduction to the works of Stephen Jay Gould and Carl Sagan. However, it was a love for the exceptionally diverse wildflower displays of his native California that led him to study the mechanisms behind adaptation and speciation as a graduate student at Michigan State University. Today, freed of his academic bonds, Damian enjoys everyday pursuits including romps among Western subalpine blooms, discussions on the evolution of bird song, and identifying every cactus species he happens upon despite a lack of solicitation.