Nerd Nerd Okinawa April 12th saw some great speakers!
Left to right; Dr. Mindy Otis, Dr. Karen Stirret and Dr. Guillaume Vares
Dr. Otis, who describes herself as a Travelling Professor, was up first. In spite of having flown back, that very day, from Boston and having had almost no sleep for the past two days, she gave a great talk on how concussions and various types of brain damage affect our thinking and processing. She used props to show how people with certain types of brain damage can struggle with their visual perception and she rocked a certain Brain Hat.
Where have I seen that look before?
Deeply nerdy conversation
Dr. Stirret, also a US citizen, gave us a fascinating talk on CrisprCas9 technologies and how gene editing can be used to target genetic diseases and be used to to enhance unusual or useful gene features of extremophile microbes, which is where her research and teaching specialties lie.
Yes Dr. Stirret, please bring back the dinosaurs.
Dr. Vares, originally from France, talked about radiation, not only his contribution to an emergency hotline after Fukushima and the Great Tsunami of 2011, but also his current work, targeting cancers with radiation therapy and high energy radiation beams. He ended the night on a powerful reminder, for why we must continue the search for knowledge:
Fear should not hold us back from trying to understand more.
Chaos at Fukushima and a world that is still dependent on Nuclear Power.
It was a packed house but we managed to spot some more nerdy and Okinawa themed fashions.
Couples who Nerd Nite together… are nerds.
Nerd Nite Okinawa is taking a break during the month of May, but the organisers are bringing it all back, new and improved, June 14th – Watch this Space!
Who wore it best?