Smarty Pints

Smarty Pints is a celebration of science and beer!

Usually the third Monday of every month, 6:30pm. Clever people tell us about their work. Sometimes scientists, sometimes engineers, sometimes artists!

Are you a clever person who would like to present a 30 minute talk on what you do? Reach out at smartypints@burkegilmanbrewing.com.

Check out previous Smarty Pints topics here.

Upcoming Smarty Pints Topics

November 16

Smarty Pints event poster, for November 16, 6:30pm at Burke-Gilman Brewing. The poster centers a small yellow-brown hummingbird with black along its wing and behind its eye and a long, slightly downward-curved beak. A person’s thumb is visible, holding the hummingbird from the bottom so that its right side faces the camera. The background is out-of-focus foliage. There is a text overlay on the poster. The talk title is "Tiny Yet Superpowered Warriors: Into the Wild World of Hummingbirds", by Dr. Alyssa Sargent, postdoc, UW Biology/Burke Museum.Smarty Pints event poster, for November 16, 6:30pm at Burke-Gilman Brewing. The poster shows a brown-and-green chameleon with splotches of pink on its back, frill, and along the top of its head, standing out sharply against a dark background. It is clinging to a plant, with its rear at the top of the poster and its head at the bottom, lifted and looking alert. There is a text overlay on the poster. The talk title is "Madagascar’s Biodiversity is Off the Charts. Why?", by Jim Keany, M.S., wildlife ecologist.

Dr. Alyssa J. Sargent

Postdoctoral Scholar, UW Biology/Burke Museum

“Tiny Yet Superpowered Warriors: Into the Wild World of Hummingbirds”

Do you think you could beat a hummingbird in a race? Or in a match of reflexes? With some of the most impressive adaptations and abilities in the animal kingdom, hummingbirds are an extraordinary illustration of evolution at work. In my postdoctoral research, I use miniature electronics to study hummingbirds in South America—exploring their behavior and the limits of how they live their day-to-day lives. When the pressure is on, and the nectar is scarce, who comes out on top? Come join me and take a peek, up close, at the swashbuckling lives of the world’s smallest birds!

Jim Keany, M.S.

Wildlife Ecologist

“Madagascar’s Biodiversity is Off the Charts. Why?”

For an island smaller than Texas, Madagascar punches well above its weight in global biodiversity, crammed with endemic plants, mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. Often referred to as the Eighth Continent, it rivals the Galapagos Islands as a prime example of evolutionary radiation. Jim Keany turned a passion for reptiles and amphibians into a wildlife biology career with work extending from the Mariana Islands, across North America, and recently in Madagascar where he spent a month conducting herpetology surveys at the Centre ValBio research facility in Ranomafana National Park.

December 14

Nora Lee

PhD student, UW Biology/Burke Museum

“Hummingbird coloration and behavior”

Kelsie Abrams

Fossil preparation lab manager, Burke Museum

“paleontology”