Summer’s here and the time is right for nerding out with friends! The 36th edition of NNA2 will be next Thursday, July 21! Up this month: a fantastic trio of full-spectrum talks by some of Ann Arbor’s greatest. Katie Prater will take us beyond The Game of Life to introduce us to the wide world of European board games. Lorraine Suzuki will explain what’s going on in your brain when you’re learning to ride a bike (and why that’s different than memorizing state capitals!). And Danny Mayer will show us how evolution shapes our lives by impacting culture as well as our genes. So grab a drink and a couple of pals to come beat the heat with your fellow nerds!

When: Thursday, July 21, 2016, doors at 6:30 pm, talks at 7 pm!

Where: LIVE, 102 S First St, Ann Arbor

$$$: Free because Ann Arbor District Library has got you covered!

Katie Prater: “The Death of The Die: The Rise of “Euro” board games in America”

Did you “Pass Go and Collect $200” on your way in to work today? If you grew up playing classic American board games as a child, you’re likely familiar with never-ending games of Monopoly or squabbling over some uninhabitable territory of Australia in Risk. But board games aren’t just for kids anymore! Adult nerds all over America are gaming, and loving it! We’ll discuss the characteristics of classic American games, the differences between those and Eurogames, and why everyone who tries them agrees that Eurogames are much more fun! If you’re interested in spending your nights and weekends breeding sheep, building temples, recycling garbage, and taking control of your own destiny, this talk will get you started!

About Katie: When not in the neuroscience lab at UofM, Katie can often be found teaching new board games to friends, with her nose in a book, playing computer games with her husband, or enjoying the outdoors. She also loves attending GenCon, where she can check out the newest board games and show off her Kaylee Frye costume. She recently completed her PhD, during which she also co-founded a science communication organization called RELATE (

When not in the neuroscience lab at UofM, Katie can often be found teaching new board games to friends, with her nose in a book, playing computer games with her husband, or enjoying the outdoors. She also loves attending GenCon, where she can check out the newest board games and show off her Kaylee Frye costume. She recently completed her PhD, during which she also co-founded a science communication organization called RELATE ( www.learntoRELATE.org ). Follow her on Twitter at @katieeprater.

Lorraine Suzuki: “Motor learning and memory systems”

As we learn motor skills we use two memory systems. These systems are separate and can compete with each other. My talk will go over some evidence of this interaction within the brain.

About Lorraine: Lorraine is a PhD candidate in the School of Kinesiology at the University of Michigan. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and a Master’s degree in Genetics from the University of Western Brittany (Universit de Bretagne Occidentale. She now works on understanding how learning new motor skills affects brain networks.

Genes, Memes, and Human Beings: Why Evolution Isn’t Just a “Life” Thing” Danny Mayer: “

Evolution is a part of our everyday lives. We might talk about how someone’s beliefs have evolved. We might explain the success of an app or business as “survival of the fittest.” But rarely do we consider that evolution—in the real, scientific sense—might be able to explain things other than life. Maybe life isn’t as special as we think—after all, viruses aren’t considered by science to be alive, and yet they evolve in more or less the same way that living cells do. Enter memetics : the study of how units of cultural information (memes) evolve. Using memetics, genetics, and philosophical theories of mind and consciousness, we’ll explore how evolution has shaped the world of information that we live in, how our identities are made up of both genes and memes, and how evolution plays an enduring role in the future of our species.