Nerd Nite SF #163: Caving 101, Gin & Tonics & Terawatt Wire Explosions

Hey. What are YOU up to this summer? Taken any trips lately? You’ve come to the right place for some travel advice. If you’re feeling the heat, why not enjoy the cool cozy confines of a cave? If you’re ready to see the world, why not follow in the surprisingly medicinal steps of one of the all time drinks, the Gin and Tonic? If all this travel has you feeling revved up, what better way to party down than by blowing up some wires with absurd amounts of electricity? Alternatively, you can save yourself the hassle and join us  and let our speakers show you the woooooooorld!

Caving 101: An Insider’s Guide to Exploring the Underground

Vivek Zilpelwar, hardware reliability engineer

While most of the Earth’s surface has been mapped and explored, a vast frontier still exists completely out of sight right beneath us. This talk provides an exclusive insider’s look into caving - a niche technical sport which requires constant problem-solving, physical/mental endurance, and serious teamwork. Discover what it truly feels like to step into the unknown, navigate challenging environments, and stand in places where very few people have been before.

Around the World with the Gin & Tonic

By: Camper English, journalist

The history of the G&T includes the history of malaria (prevented and cured by quinine in tonic), the Black Death (repelled by juniper), Jesuit missionaries in Peru, the swamps of Rome, the Belgian Congo, horse races in India, Greek medicinal wines, the World Health Organization, the Dutch in Indonesia, Australians in Bolivia, French scientists in the lab, and if there’s time we’ll include cats dropped out of airplanes, the invention of the color mauve, Little House on the Prairie, the birth of chemotherapy, the Official Preppy Handbook, and how the wrong ice machine inspired the creation of the Spanish-style Gin and Tonic.

EX-pinch: Surprising Physics from Terawatt Wire Explosions

Glenn Carroll, physicist

The field of exploding wires is littered with discredited theories, not-quite-accurate models, and fraught speculations. The X-pinch variant of exploding wires is quite simple: two (or more) wires are twisted together to form an X and then electrically detonated. Unexpectedly, X-pinch has novel, spectacular, and highly useful behavior, proving that explosions can be not only fun, but also practical and handy tools for science!

Tickets at weblink