Daniel Blumstein, professor and chair of the UCLA Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, will do a talk at Nerd Night L.A. on Tuesday, Dec. 16, 7:45 p.m. at The Mint, 6010 Pico Blvd., Los Angeles. He will discuss how his research of animal vocalizations provides insights into what makes sounds scary and why we find certain music and movie soundtracks frightening.
“While Blumstein has an inordinate fondness for marmots,’ Nerd Night L.A. organizers noted, over the past 30 years he has has studied the social behavior, communication, and anti-predator behavior of marmots, kangaroos, wallabies, marine mammals, monkeys, lizards, birds, hermit crabs and fish throughout the world. He recently has extended his studies to humans to better understand what scares us.
Also presenting that evening is Breann Sitarski, a Ph.D. student in UCLA’s Department of Physics and Astronomy, who will talk about the supermassive black hole — 4.6 million times more massive than Earth’s sun — at the center of our galaxy. The hostile environment around the black hole drastically differs from our local neighborhood, she said, and this could have implications for how stars are formed in the galactic center.
Rounding out the eclectic program, internet startup sales exec Nicholas Frazee will present “Napolean and You,” a discussion of the dictator’s rise and fall as "the ultimate personification of the self-made man.”
Learn more and buy tickets ($10) at Nerd Night L.A.’s Facebook page.