Nerd Nite London

Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21-minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines – while the audience drinks along.

Kay Scorah: In a punch up between Ebola and an angry post-menopausal woman, who would win?

When Kay was a biochemist, the first rule of biomedical research was, “DON’T anthropomorphise the virus/bacterium!”
Luckily, she got to be good mates with the late great Baruch Blumberg, who told her that it was only when he allowed himself to break that rule that he made his big breakthrough on identifying the Hep B virus. So she decided to take a look at the behaviour and tactics of a selection of very successful diseases, imagine them as characters, and see what we humans could learn about survival and communication from these clever particles. She has read hundreds of learned papers on 13 diseases, and in this session she’ll be introducing Ebola, showing 14 of its smartest tactics, and asking what would happen if humans behaved that way.

Hana Ayoob: Tales of Animal Escapes & Survival

From exotic parakeets and sunbathing terrapins in London, to scorpions living in a Kent dockyard and wallabies hopping around the Isle of Man, the UK is home to some tenacious animals who aren’t really meant to be here.
In this Nerd Nite talk, we will discover these animals’ sometimes-hilarious stories of escape and survival.

Nick Perry: How to be an ordinary person and afford a home in London

Well, more accurately this talk will be an exploration of the factors that have led to homes being generally unaffordable to most people in ordinary circumstances.
In an unapologetically polemic talk, Nick will examine what’s broken in housing delivery and planning policy and the land market, why almost everyone thinks it’s a mess and what some of the people caught in it think can be done. At the end of this talk you’ll ether be depressed, angry, energised or completely nonplussed. But probably not any richer. Soz.