Our last Nerd Nite Calgary event of the season happens on Thursday, June 8 at Wild Rose Brewery:
When: Thursday, June 8, 2017 (Doors open at 6:30pm)
Where: Wild Rose Brewery
Tickets: $10 online + fees (waitlist option available)
This is an 18+ event.
SPEAKERS
Lending a Hand with the Calgary Arm
Joel Neumann & Peter Hillman, undergraduate researchers, University of Calgary
Dr. Mark Ungrin, Tyler Anker, Shalese Baxandall, Peter Hillman, Amanda Mackey, Joel Neumann, and Rohan Antony
The Calgary Arm is a low cost prosthetic hand targeting arm amputees in developing countries who don’t have access to complex and expensive prosthetic hands. The main components of the arm are a reversed bike pump, pop bottles, tubing, a balloon, and some sugar or salt. It functions on the principle of a universal jamming gripper, where the gripper can be deformed around an object when the vacuum pump is not engaged, and then grasped when the vacuum is applied. This type of gripper allows the user to pick up a wide range of objects with relative ease.
Evolution Can Be Faster Than You (or Darwin) Thought
Jonathan Mee, PhD, Mount Royal University
Jon Mee
Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859. Biologists continue to be amazed by how many of his insights still hold true in the light of ongoing scientific discoveries. But, there’s (at least) one thing Darwin got wrong in a big way. He thought that evolutionary change is, and always has been, imperceptibly slow. We now know that evolutionary change can happen within our lifetimes (or even faster). I will talk about how contemporary evolutionary change has important implications (good and bad) for human health and biodiversity conservation.
Plus:
There will be delicious mini cupcakes and a game to celebrate the end of our season!