Nerd Nite Los Angeles - July 2025
Event description
Nerd Nite is fun-yet-informative lectures at a bar. It's like TED Talks...but with beer.
We all know that learning is more fun when you’re drinking with friends and colleagues. Thus, Nerd Nite is a monthly event held in more than 100 cities across the globe during which several folks give 20-minute fun-yet-informative and easily accessible presentations across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along.
MUSICAL PERFORMANCE BY DJ LdotAdot
FAQ's:
- Doors open at 7pm. Intro at 7:45pm. Presentations at 8pm.
- The Brewyard Beer Company is a 21+ venue.
- There is free street parking surrounding the bar, but we recommend utilizing a ride share service.
PRESENTATION LINE-UP:
PRESENTATION #1: A Slice of Pi: The Irrational Transcendence of Our Obsession with Pi (and Pie)
By Kate Wiswell
Summary: Pretty much since the moment we discovered circles, the human race has been on a collective quest for Pi (and pie). What drives our insatiable appetite? What does this hunger tell us about our humanity? And do we really have to reserve only ONE day a year to celebrate this wonderous miracle? Teacher and author Kate Wiswell has a spoiler for you: no.
Bio: Kate Wiswell is a part-time teacher of math, grammar, and logic, and a full-time student of life. Starting with her first crush (zaddy Albert Einstein), a lifetime of academic fascinations has collided with decades of improv training and creative writing to create a brain attuned to the connections between our intellectual knowledge and our emotional lives. All of which makes her one of the weirdest conversationalists at the party - but also led to her book: Full-Frontal Nerdity: Lessons in Loving and Living with Your Brain.
PRESENTATION #2: From Miracle Mineral to Mesothelioma: A History of Asbestos
By Julia Wilde
Summary: Once hailed as a miracle mineral — fireproof, indestructible, and woven into everything from fake snow to real toothpaste — asbestos was the poster child for progress. That is, until the mesothelioma kicked in. Join science communicator and storyteller Julia Wilde as she dives into the wild rise and fall of asbestos, revealing how science, industry, and a little hubris made it one of the most dangerous success stories of the 20th century. It’s a tale of triumph, tragedy, and the importance of asking, “Wait… should we be breathing this?”
Bio: Julia Wilde is a science communicator and actor based in Los Angeles. With a background in both literature and biology, she brings a storyteller’s flair to the wild(e) world of science, blending research, humor, and unchecked curiosity. She’s written for asapSCIENCE, hosted a daily program on Discovery Channel’s YouTube platform, and worked with organizations like Defenders of Wildlife and the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County. Her research was recently featured on HBO Max’s High Science. Julia regularly performs around LA—sharing mostly true stories or improvising completely made-up ones.
PRESENTATION #3: Voicing Vulnerability: How a Japanese Music Synth Software Gave Rise to a Grassroots Mental Health Network
By Jason Porath
Summary: Artist/author/engineer/ne'er-do-well Jason Porath is excited to share an obscure Japanese music subculture that he stumbled upon deep within the bowels of YouTube. You too might have, at some point, come across Japan's Vocaloid music scene, or at least its most popular incarnation, Hatsune Miku. It's a genre known for tinny, high-pitched synth voices that sound like someone strangling a dialup modem. However, if you dig deep, you might happen across a surprising network of largely isolated and neurodivergent creators, using Vocaloid to express heartfelt frustrations, sorrows, hopes, dreams -- and to find and support each other.
Bio: At various points in his life, Jason has made a living as a feminist historian blogger, high-end physics animator, author/illustrator, software engineer, and English teacher. He lived in Japan in the era before smart phones, where he spent his time drinking with sumo wrestlers, low-level yakuza, and schizophrenic shoe designers. Currently he is in his normcore phase, with lamentably undyed hair, spending his days working at Disney of all places. He enjoys making horrifying costumes, singing karaoke, and exploring abandoned buildings. He lives in San Gabriel with his delightfully acerbic wife and his eternally cheerful son.
Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
