Nerd Nite NYC – and Matt – are back in Brooklyn at Littlefield on Friday January 10, 2025 featuring fun-yet-informative presentations about the ideal male buttocks, the Large Hadron Collider and Jewish demons. And Matt is bringing trivia back too beforehand, so bring some pals and win some perfectly adequate prizes. Hello 2025! Tickets here.

Nerd Nite NYC
Friday January 10, 2025
Trivia + Presentations $16 at 7pm (doors at 6:30pm)
Presentations-only $12 at 8:15pm (doors at 8pm)
Littlefield: 635 Sackett Street, Brooklyn (Park Slope/Gowanus)
Tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/nerd-nite-nyc-tickets-1097351540999?aff=oddtdtcreator

Back to the Lectures At-Hand
*Presentation #1
The Ideal Male Buttocks
by Dr. Victoria Aveson

Description: “There is no well-defined male buttock aesthetic.” In the opening line of their groundbreaking 2023 work, Defining the ideal male buttock, Kollu et al. detail one of the great problems of our time, the import of which is only superseded by its nuance. Did you get tripped up, wondering how to define “ideal” in this situation? or “male”? or even “buttocks”? Did you find yourself wondering if the qualities that make buttocks ideal might be situational? Or dependent on the observer? When considering the ideal male buttocks perhaps you found yourself sucked down a rabbit hole considering the complex cultural milieu in which one person even contemplates the buttocks of another. Fortunately, that’s what scientists are for – ignoring these questions (and others) and applying their cold, rational minds to the single dilemma at hand. Don’t worry, they even use math.

Bio: Dr. Victoria Aveson is a General Surgeon and Surgical Oncology Fellow at Long Island Jewish Hospital and a reformed physician scientist. Her presentation is not endorsed by any medical institution and should not be considered advice of any kind.

*Presentation #2
Big Machines for Tiny Science: Adventures at the Large Hadron Collider
by Savannah Thais

Description: What is the smallest thing in the universe and how do we study it? What exactly is dark matter? What about the Higgs Boson? What the heck do computers and AI have to do with all this? And most importantly, what does any of this have to do with you? In this presentation, Savannah Thais —a physicist who has worked with the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) for over a decade —will take you on a journey into the world of particle physics. Learn about the Standard Model, the framework for understanding everything the building blocks of the universe, and how scientists use the world’s largest machine and all kinds of algorithms and AI to smash protons together at nearly the speed of light in search of the universe’s biggest mysteries. Get ready to think big, dream small, and be amazed!

Bio: Dr. Savannah Thais is a Research Scientist and Adjunct Professor in the Data Science Institute at Columbia University. She has been fascinated by particle physics since learning about the Higgs Boson in her highschool physics class; she decided she was going to work at the LHC and never looked back. She completed a PhD in physics at Yale working on the ATLAS experiment at the LHC where she was a pioneer in applying AI to particle physics; she then did a post-doc at Princeton with the competing CMS experiment where she helped found the CMS Machine Learning group, and now runs the Science, Society, and AI Lab at Columbia where she uses advanced AI to study different systems from particle physics to public health.

*Presentation #3
Asmodeus, King of the Demons, and Other Shedim in Jewish Texts and Tradition
by Erik Schechter

Description: Do demons exist? If so, how did they come to be? Are they dangerous? Irrevocably evil? Immortal? Where do demons exist in relation to human society? Finally, how do you protect yourself from a demon? In this presentation, Erik Schechter, a member of the NY Chapter of the Horror Writers Association, will examine the evolving, and often conflicting, Jewish understanding of demons (shedim) in the Hebrew Bible, Talmud, Apocrypha, and other sources.