Nerd Nite v55: Accessible Spaces, Carbon Exchange, and Searching for Aliens

Kaylee is away being on Rat Detective duties, but we are super excited to have Desiree Nielsen as our guest host! She is a registered dietitian and plant-based recipe developer with a focus (mostly!) on plant-based nutrition and gut health. She is the host of The Allsorts Podcast, as well as the author of multiple bestselling and award-winning cookbooks, including my latest, Plant Magic which perhaps we might be giving away some copies!? Only way to find out is to get in here, and oh yeah we have a jam packed final Nerd Nite of 2024 with some heavy hitters, so you need get you tickets fast!

As usual your ticket and extra support will go to support a charity which this month is the Native Women's Association of Canada.

Marco Pasqua - Accessibility Unfiltered: Navigating a World Designed for Some

Prepare for an eye-opening journey as Marco Pasqua, an accessibility consultant, inspirational speaker, and individual with cerebral palsy, takes the stage at Nerd Nite. With his unique blend of humor and personal insights, Marco sheds light on the often misunderstood world of accessibility and the challenges faced by people with disabilities in a society designed primarily for the able-bodied.Drawing from his wealth of experience and armed with a collection of thought-provoking examples and striking visuals, Marco highlights both the triumphs and pitfalls of accessibility in our modern world. Through his engaging storytelling, he challenges common misconceptions about disability and emphasizes the importance of universal design in creating a more inclusive environment for all.As an individual with cerebral palsy, Marco offers a firsthand perspective on the daily obstacles and ingenious solutions encountered by those navigating a world not always built with their needs in mind. His talk is guaranteed to be an entertaining, informative, and impactful 15 minutes that will leave you seeing accessibility and disability in a whole new light.

Marco Pasqua is an award-winning Entrepreneur, Accessibility Consultant and Inspirational Speaker with Cerebral Palsy. Throughout his life, Marco has been involved with a number of organizations as a spokesperson, helping to spread advocacy for persons with disabilities across Canada. As an Accessibility and Inclusion Consultant, he has worked with some of the biggest change-driven business leaders who are champions for more accessible, inclusive workplaces. It's through these experiences that he is helping to pave the way for all Canadians to have universal access to the programs, services and places that they live, work and play.

Rachel Chimuka - CARBONXCHANGE: A Climate Rap Battle

CARBONXCHANGE focuses on the two most important ways that carbon moves through the land and ocean. One of these processes helps to lower the amount of carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) in the air, which helps cool the Earth down, while the other process increases CO 2 levels, warming our planet. These processes are referred to as “carbon cycle feedbacks” and through storytelling and a rap battle, you’ll learn about their unique roles in cycling carbon through the earth and the implications for climate change. Come prepared to vote for your favorite rap!

Rachel Chimuka (she/her) is a Vanier Canada Geography PhD. scholar and an amateur experimental singer-songwriter, who goes by her first name, Vimbikayi. Her research quantifies the differential carbon uptake and release patterns of vegetation and soils in scenarios with CO2 emissions and removals, and the implications for climate and achieving the Paris climate goals. Fueled by her ambition to integrate the realms of science and music, Rachel created a music video for the Dance Your PhD 2023 competition - a contest for PhD students to showcase theirm research through music and dance. In her Youtube video titled Dance Your PhD 2023 | Carbon Cycle Feedbacks (w/Rap Battle + Speech), she uses song, dance and rap to share her work on climate change and the carbon cycle processes involved, while emphasizing the importance of urgent climate action.

Franck Marchis - Exploring the Cosmos: 40 Years of SETI Research

For millennia, humans have gazed at the stars, wondering if we are alone in the universe. Forty years ago, this age-old question took a scientific turn with the establishment of the SETI Institute. Franck Marchis, Senior Astronomer and Director of Citizen Science at the Institute, will provide an engaging update on the ongoing search for extraterrestrial intelligence. This presentation will cover the innovative methods and technologies currently in use, along with highlighting significant recent findings. While definitive evidence of extraterrestrial life remains elusive, our understanding has expanded dramatically.Join us as we explore the potential of discovering an inhabited exoplanet in the next decade, a discovery that could fundamentally alter our view of the universe and our place within it.

Dr. Franck Marchis is a senior astronomer and director of citizen science at the SETI Institute and Chief Science Officer and co-founder at Unistellar. Marchis moved to them United States in Oct. 2000 shortly after getting a Ph.D. from the University of Toulouse in France that he acquired while traveling around the world for his research and for the sake of exploration. He is known for astronomical research published in Nature, Science, and other high-ranking journals, including discovery of the first triple-asteroid system in 2005, study of the binary trojan asteroid Patroclus in 2006, direct imaging of the first Jupiter-like exoplanet in 2015, and significant achievements related to the use of 8-10m class ground-based telescopes equipped with adaptive optics (AO). Marchis is also involved in startups focused on science outreach and astronomy, and joined Unistellar as a Chief Scientific Officer and VR2Planets as a scientific advisor in 2017. In 2022, he founded Dope Space, a company dedicated to outreach, entertainment, and education for the New Space industry.