Love Is the Drug! Secret Science Club presents Neuroscientist Bianca Jones Marlin, THURSDAY, April 12, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

What’s on Bianca Jones Marlin's mind? In a groundbreaking study, Dr. Marlin showed how and where the hormone oxytocin—sometimes called the “love drug”—changes the brain. At the next Secret Science Club, she explores love, trauma, family bonds, epigenetics, and how brain research may lead to new treatments and cures.

Bianca Jones Marlin is a neuroscientist and postdoctoral researcher at Columbia University’s Zuckerman Institute. In 2017, she received the STAT Wunderkinds award, recognizing the brightest young minds in life science, and was named a Simons Foundation Junior Fellow. In 2016, she received the Lindsley Prize from the Society for Neuroscience for her work on oxytocin and how the brain adapts to caring for newborns. Dr. Marlin and her research have been featured in the Guardian, National Geographic, Scientific American, Los Angeles Times, and Discover.

Before & After

--Try our experimental cocktail of the night, the Love Potion 9.0

--Groove to synapse-swinging tunes

--Stick around for the scintillating Q&A!

This brainy edition of the Secret Science Club meets Thursday, April 12, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. in Gowanus, Brooklyn (between 2nd and 3rd avenues). Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th Street.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self!

Secret Science Club presents Social Neuroscientist Jay Van Bavel on “Our Partisan Brains” Monday, March 19, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Jay Van Bavel is a social neuroscientist who explores the tribal tendencies in all of us. Lately he has been looking at political groups and partisanship in particular. Can our political ideologies influence not only how we vote, but also how we perceive reality?

At the next Secret Science Club, we explore:

• What is the social brain and how did it evolve?
• Are some people more genetically disposed to be “groupish” than others?
• How does the social brain affect decision-making—at both conscious and unconscious levels?
• What does neuroscience have to say about how our political ideologies originate?
• What conditions cause rival groups to work together? What drives groups farther apart?

Jay Van Bavel is associate professor of psychology & neural science at NYU and director of the Social Perception and Evaluation Lab. His research examines how collective concerns—group identities, moral values, and political ideologies—can shape even the most basic elements of perception and evaluation. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Scientific American, Wall Street Journal, Quartz, and Washington Post.

Before & After

--Try our cocktail of the night, the Dark & Brain Stormy

--Groove to synapse-synching tunes

--Stick around for the cogent Q&A

This mind-bending edition of the Secret Science Club meets Monday, March 19, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th Street.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self!

Welcome to the Collective! Secret Science Club presents Biologist & Director of the Swarm Lab Simon Garnier, Monday, February 19, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Flock (don’t run) to the Secret Science Club with Biologist, Artificial Intelligence Expert, and Robot Commander Simon Garnier

MONDAY, February 19, 8PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Bee Hives. Ant Colonies. Flocks of Birds. Schools of Fish. Animals that move—and even seem to think—as collectives exhibit uncanny behavior, swarming, murmurating, ebbing and flowing almost like liquids. Such natural phenomena have inspired scientists to create swarms of small robots that swim, crawl, and fly en masse. Alone, each of these robots is none too smart. But as a group? Their collective intelligence could solve all kinds of problems.

In the future, robot swarms might build habitats on Mars, conduct search-and-rescue missions, or (gulp) autonomously attack enemies. At the next Secret Science Club, biologist Simon Garnier explores the history and potential of swarm robotics.

Director of the Swarm Lab and professor of biology at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Simon Garnier researches robot swarms, army ants, and socially networked slime molds to learn how intelligent collective behaviors (and not so intelligent ones) emerge in groups. He also considers the question of self-organization in nature—in everything from cells to human crowds. Dr. Garnier has been a featured scientist on Science Friday, the Guardian technology video series, National Geographic, Scientific American, and Mashable.

Before & After

--Try our hive-minded cocktail of the night, the Perfect Swarm

--Pulse and flow with synchronized grooves

--Stick around for the scintillating Q&A

This crowd-sourced edition of the Secret Science Club meets Monday, February 19, 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th Street.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. No cover. Just bring your smart self!

Photo Credit: Alex Wild