Love is in the air, and we nerds can smell it. But rather than do what’s expected — the box of chocolates, the flowers, the breathless poetry — we’re going to come together to enjoy the company of our fellow nerds and learn a thing or two of the Love In The Time Of Right Now. Sure, we blew past Valentine’s Day, but we aren’t super nerdy about calendrical precision…
Be there AND be square!
When: Tuesday, February 20, 2018 (show @ 8pm)
Where: Westbury Theatre, ATB Financial Arts Barns (10330 84 Ave NW)
Tickets: SOLD OUT!
Our line-up of talks includes:
Where do babies come from?
Scott and Maura Armstrong
Making babies isn’t always fun. Hear Maura and Scott’s story and the science behind conception outside of the body. Learn about the emotional, physical, and financial realities made possible by the fascinating process of IVF… and endless vaginal exams.
Maura and Scott Armstrong have been married for 9 years and live in Edmonton. Maura is the School Programs Manager at the Telus World of Science Edmonton and Scott is an Advanced Care Paramedic with AHS in Edmonton. They have a shared love of games, science, and culinary adventures. They both hate camping.
“You want to study WHAT?” Researching the neural bases of sexual pleasure
Melike Schalomon
Sexual pleasure has inspired poetry and artwork for millennia, and has been speculated upon by scientists for centuries. But studying the neural bases of pleasure is still in its infancy, as it had to await the development of modern methodologies for studying the functional anatomy of the brain. Even today, much of what we know about the neural bases of sexual pleasure is based on experimental brain manipulation in rodents. Human research tends to focus on the neural pathologies of patients with nervous system damage who experience unusual sexual pleasure. In this presentation, we will explore the corner of science where sex and neuroanatomy collide.
Melike Schalomon is a somewhat accidental sex researcher. With a doctorate in Behavioural Neuroscience, she largely spends her days working as the Associate Dean, Administration, in MacEwan University’s Faculty of Arts and Science and doing research with one inch zebrafish. About ten years ago, after developing a course on Human Sexuality, she combined her expertise in brain science with her fascination with human sexuality and developed a second line of research on human sexual behaviour in exceptional populations. She has collaborated with her students on topics ranging from sexual awareness and experience in swingers to sexuality in high functioning autistic adults. In her spare time, she is most likely to be found on her remote acreage where she is always on the lookout for new brain specimens.
The art of being (almost) naked. A 101 Course in the Art of Burlesque
Violette Coquette
A step-by-step guide showing how you, too, can master the Art of Being Mostly Naked OR—if the stage is not your thing—why you should get out and support more (mostly) naked burlesque art. What is burlesque? When did it start, and why is it having a resurgence? What is the correct way to enjoy burlesque? In this 20-minute talk we will discuss why a hedonistic mindset is critical, how to be present in the moment, and the sociopolitical underpinnings of the striptease. The presentation will end by putting the audience’s newfound burlesque knowledge to the test, culminating with a real-live burlesque act.