Can hiccups really be cured? How the heck does an insect stay airborne? What other ways can we use forgotten state hospital cemeteries – perhaps for poetry readings? Find out all of this and more at Nerd Nite on Saturday March 28, 2026 at Caveat NYC in the Lower East Side. Hiccup! Tickets here.
Nerd Nite NYC
Saturday March 28, 2026 at 7pm
Caveat NYC: 21A Clinton Street (Lower East Side)
$16 early bird (until March 21, 2026 at 7pm) | $21 standard | $26 at the door
Tickets here: https://www.caveat.nyc/events/nerd-nite-3-28-2026
Back to the Lectures At-Hand:
*Presentation #1
The Mysteriously Not-Famous Cure For Hiccups
by Uri Bram
Description: Twenty years ago, three young researchers discovered a simple cure for hiccups that actually, consistently works. I can personally vouch that it’s astonishingly effective, unlike every other hiccup cure (drink water, hold your breath, do a handstand) I heard about as a kid. Yet almost nobody seems to know about it. Why? In this talk, I’ll tell you about the strange tale of this unsung discovery; explore more generally why valuable information sometimes fails to spread; and, of course, teach you the solution to hiccups.
Bio: Uri Bram’s dream was to become a Victorian gentleman inventor, but as a young man he messed this up by failing to be born wealthy in the 1800s. Instead he writes on the internet, makes board games, and tries to figure out why people do stuff. He is the publisher of The Browser curation newsletter, the author of the Atoms vs Bits blog, and the creator of the board game Person Do Thing.
*Presentation #2
Friday Light Flights: They’re Called Flies for a Reason
by Ben Taylor
Description: Sugar Ray sings about it, we all have dreams about it, but only one animal embodies the verb “fly” to the fullest. In nearly 250 million years of being on planet Earth, flies have evolved some of the most magnificent bodyparts and techniques for conquering the skies. Let’s talk about them! And also: flying toward lights! What is that all about? Yes, let’s talk about that, too.
Bio: Ben Taylor is the guest host of Nerd Nite NYC, and has been presenting at Nerd Nites since 2012. He works at the American Museum of Natural History. He has been stung in the face three times on a single occasion.
*Presentation #3
Rows and Rows and Rows: (Re)imagining the Future of State Hospital Cemeteries
by Steven Licardi
Description: Over 55,000 people are interred in unmarked graves in New York State’s current or former psychiatric institutions, but who’s counting? We are! Using the world-building tools of science fiction and the moving power of poetry, we will learn about remaining state hospital cemetery spaces and their relationship to the history of mental health treatment across the U.S. Together, we will then imagine how these spaces can be transformed using real-world examples, while un-erasing and honoring the lives of those who remain interred there.
Bio: Steven T. Licardi, LCSW (he/him) is a mad / neurodivergent social therapist, science fiction writer, spoken word poet, performance activist, and all around professional dabbler. His work sits at the intersections of art and social policy, wondering: How do we create the futures we want with the histories we have? He travels internationally using the power of storytelling to create empathic dialogue around, to confront the realities of, and to assist communities in confronting historic narratives surrounding mental health and madness. Steven maintains a monthly sci-fi newsletter – “Cross My Heart And Hope To Write” – that regularly appears among the Top 100 Fiction publications on Substack. He will gladly wax poetic with you over a mean cup of coffee in his beloved Jackson Heights, Queens, NY.
