let's do fun things
last call lectures: blame dopamine: the chemical behind your best and worst choices
every bad decision you've ever made? dopamine had something to do with it.
dr. ignacio keller sarmiento, neurologist at northwestern memorial hospital and movement disorders specialist at northwestern's feinberg school of medicine, breaks down the brain chemical that drives everything from your morning coffee craving to your worst impulse buys to why you can't stop scrolling at 1am.
here's how the night goes: dr. keller sarmiento kicks things off with a lecture, then opens it up for q&a, and then you break into small groups to keep the conversation going over drinks. part neuroscience class, part therapy session, part really good night out.
come ready to learn a lot about your brain and feel slightly less guilty about your life choices.
21+ to attend
this event has ended
here's what's coming up that you might like.
last call lectures
Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA
last call lectures is our recurring series where we bring in someone who knows a lot about something interesting (a professor, a researcher, a practitioner, an obsessive) and let them give the talk they've always wanted to give. the kind of lecture you'd actually want to stay awake for. each night follows the same rhythm: arrive, grab a drink, settle in. one expert takes the floor for about 45 minutes on a topic worth your evening. then 4 discussion questions, each being given 15 minutes, with a final q and a with the professor at the end. it's part lecture, part bar night, part "wait, i didn't know i cared about this." you leave smarter than you came, with a few new people in your phone. speaker and location coming soon
last call lectures: spooky rides and the history of american horror entertainment
The Scout Waterhouse + Kitchen
1419 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60610, USA
last call lectures presents: spooky rides and the history of american horror entertainment ever felt that drop in your stomach as the cart jerks through swinging doors into the dark? that's a century of american craft at work. this month, dr. joel zika takes us inside the forgotten world of the dark ride. the ghost trains, haunted castles, and old mill rides that taught america how to be scared for fun. joel is the world's leading expert on haunted attractions and the creator of the dark ride project, a virtual reality archive documenting the handful of vintage dark rides still standing. he's spent years crawling through these machines, interviewing the owners and obsessives keeping them alive, and tracing how small town spook houses shaped everything from disney's haunted mansion to the horror imagery in tim burton and rob zombie's work. expect a 45 minute talk, then small group discussion, then open q&a. come solo, leave with new people and a head full of beautiful, creepy history.
last call lectures: medical mysteries: true stories from the neurology ward
The Scout Waterhouse + Kitchen
1419 N Wells St, Chicago, IL 60610, USA
last call lectures presents: medical mysteries: true stories from the neurology ward the brain is the strangest organ we have, and when it breaks, it breaks in ways that sound made up. patients who can't recognize faces. people convinced a limb isn't theirs. memories that rewrite themselves in real time. this month, ignacio keller sarmiento pulls back the curtain on the neurology ward and the real cases that left even the doctors stunned. ignacio works at the intersection of medicine and the deeply human stories behind each diagnosis. expect true cases, the detective work of figuring out what's actually happening inside someone's head, and what these mysteries reveal about how all of our brains work. expect a 45 minute talk, then small group discussion, then open q&a. come solo, leave with new people and a new appreciation for the three pounds of tissue running your whole life.