The Secret Science Club presents the 4th-annual Carnivorous Nights TAXIDERMY CONTEST at the Bell House, Sunday, November 15 @ 8 pm, $4

Announcing the most beastly event of the year . . .

• Calling all science geeks, nature freaks, and rogue geniuses

• Your stuffed squirrel got game? Got a beaver in your brownstone? Then enter it to win in the Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest!

• Show off your beloved moose head, jarred sea cucumber, snake skeleton, raven remains, and other specimens. Compete for prizes and glory!

• Eligible for prizes:
--Taxidermy (bought, found, or homemade)
--Biological oddities (articulated skeletons, skulls—and beyond)

• The contest will be judged by our panel of savage taxidermy enthusiasts, including Robert Marbury, co-founder of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, and Dorian Devins, WFMU DJ and Secret Science Club co-curator

• Don’t miss the feral taxidermy talk by beast mistress Melissa Milgrom, author of the forth-coming book, Still Life: Adventures in Taxidermy

• Plus!
--Groove to taxidermy-inspired tunes and video
--Imbibe ferocious specialty drinks!
--Meet and try to beat Grand Master of Taxidermy, Takeshi Yamada of the Museum of World Wonders

• Where: the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues), Gowanus, Brooklyn

• When: Sunday, November 15. Doors and pre-show at 7:30 pm. Taxidermy talk at 8 pm. Contest at 8:30 pm!

• Cover charge: $4

• Entrants: Contact secretscienceclub@gmail.com to pre-register. Share your taxidermy (and its tale) with the world!

• Spectators are invited to cheer their favorite specimens.

Background: The Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest is hosted by the Secret Science Club, an organization dedicated to exploring scientific discoveries and potent potables. The contest was started in 2005 by Secret Science Club co-curators Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson to shamelessly promote their taxidermy-inspired book Carnivorous Nights: On the Trail of the Tasmanian Tiger. The event has since taken on a life of its own, with first-year winners Andrew Templar and Jim Carden—co-owners of the Bell House—now providing a permanent home for this beastly annual smack-down. Special thanks to Robert Marbury of the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists, the Rump Ape, and Poe the Crow.

The Secret Science Club presents age-defying biologist Leonard Guarente Monday, Nov 9 @ 8 PM FREE!

According to conventional wisdom, 40 is the new 30. But how about 80 being the new 20? The search for a proverbial fountain of youth has been the subject of legend for centuries, but today the quest for a medical equivalent is the focus of intense research.

Molecular biologist Leonard Guarente pioneered the anti-aging field at MIT with his discovery of genes that control longevity. When activated, these longevity genes cause the body to conserve resources, and they’ve been found to “dramatically boost the life span of yeast, worms, mice and potentially humans.” Specifically, Dr. Guarente studies proteins called sirtuins, which regulate longevity genes and show great promise for developing therapies that slow aging. Dr. Guarente asks:
--Could future drugs decelerate the aging process and allow us to stay young longer?
--Could diseases of aging—cancer, Alzheimer’s, type-2 diabetes, and others—be prevented by prospective anti-aging medications?
--Could we extend not only our life spans, but our “health spans”?

Before & After
--Groove to genetically-altered tunes and video
--Stick around for the Q&A
--Try our cocktail of the night, the “Immortal Skol” (Rhymes with soul, baby!)

The “Secret Science Club” meets Monday, November 9 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

FREE! Just bring your smart self! Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+

Sketchy Science!

Check out these drawings from the Sketchy Science Contest at the October 20 Secret Science Club . . . robots, future evolution, pair bonding, UFOs, and beer . . .

The Secret Science Club hosts the Imagine Science Film Festival and A NIGHT OF QUIRKY SHORT FILMS @ the Bell House, Tues, Oct 20, 8pm FREE!

SPECIAL EVENT: Techno noir. Animation. Documentary. Music Video.

Join us for a selection of short films from the Imagine Science Film Festival. The brainchild of SSC resident scientist/filmmaker, Alexis Gambis, the Imagine Science Film Festival attracted over 300 international entries this year. We’ll be showing some of the quirkiest and best-est entries at the Bell House, featuring subjects like madness & molecules, time travel & trans-species friendships, and the dwarf planet Pluto. Check out the following films from the USA, UK, Israel, France, Canada, and the Kuiper Belt: Naming Pluto, Animated Minds, The Moth and the Firefly, PCR Rap, Lab Waste, The Exquisite Corpse of Science, A Micrometer from Here, Natural Selection, and more!

Alexis Gambis, the festival's founder and artistic director, will be on-hand to answer your brainiest questions and oversee the mixing of the cocktails.

Before & After
--Groove to tunes from our mixology lab
--Participate in our “Sketchy Science” drawing contest. We’ll provide the paper. You draw a scientastic picture. Winners will be selected and prizes will be awarded by our panel of non-judgmental judges.
--Vote for your favorite film as part of the Imagine Science Film Festival’s “People’s Choice” award
--Imbibe the wide-angle cocktail of the night, the Digital Zoom
--Pick up some science swag from the film festival’s generous sponsors

The “Secret Science Club” presents the IMAGINE SCIENCE FILM FESTIVAL on Tuesday, October 20 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

FREE! Just bring your smart self. DOORS OPEN @ 7:30 PM. 21 and over.

The Imagine Science Film Festival runs from October 15 to 24 at a whole host of venues around the city. Visit www.imaginesciencefilms.com for a complete listing of events.

Upcoming events at the Secret Science Club

Mon., November 9—Renowned biologist Leonard Guarente on slowing the aging process

Sun., November 15—The return of the Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest!

Black Holes Sing! The Secret Science Club presents all-star astrophysicist Janna Levin at the Bell House, Tues., Oct. 13 @ 8 pm, FREE!

The term “cosmic ballet” has just taken on a whole new meaning. Apparently outer space has a soundtrack. It’s not Tchaikovsky, but … when two spinning black holes orbit each other, engaging in an invisible pas de deux, they create gravitational waves—essentially ripples in the fabric of space-time—that cause the cosmos to “ring like a drum.”

Astrophysicist Janna Levin is in hot pursuit of these orbiting drumbeats—and the information they carry about the distant universe. Predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity, gravitational waves have never been directly detected. But the interstellar search is on, and two far-reaching space-science experiments—LIGO and LISA—now seek to capture and “hear” the beatbox of the universe for the first time.

A professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, Janna Levin is the author of two award-winning books A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines and How the Universe Got Its Spots, as well as dozens of scientific papers on chaos, black holes, and the early universe.

Don't miss a single nanosecond of this cosmic talk! Grab your outer space boogie board and catch the groovitational wave . . .

Before & After
--Trip to far-out tunes and video
--Stick around for out-of-this-world Q&A
--Try our quantum cocktail of the night, the “Cosmos-politan” (It will rock you into orbit . . .)

The “Secret Science Club” meets Tuesday, October 13 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

No cover charge! Just bring your smart self!

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+