I can state, without a doubt, that I've never felt more uneducated in my life than whilst attending a Secret Science Club at The Bell House a week or two ago. I'm not sure what I was expecting out of a lecture entitled "Dark Mysteries of the Universe" but it certainly wasn't an engaging and entertaining lecture by a Columbia professor, a standing-room-only full house of rabid nerds, or a gritty dive-y Brooklyn Bar that serves up specialty cocktails (this night's was The Cosmological Constant) alongside Red Stripe. This particular session included a dumbing-down of the entire history of the universe for the lay person, a recap of scientific observations and discoveries from famed researchers, mind-boggling mathematical formulae for the cognoscenti, and a roundup of the outstanding unanswered questions we have about all creation. Heady topics, for sure. That was all fine, until the question and answer session at the end, where chirality, matter vs. anti-matter, and deep-dives into complex mathematical equations properly blew my mind. It turns out that in addition to such lay people as myself, subject matter experts also enjoy attending these functions. All in all, I had a great time learning about esoteric science topics while sipping on a Brooklyn lager. How often do -you- get to discuss the secret workings of the universe over a beer? Just make sure to arrive WAY early if you want a coveted seat! read more

The secret is definitely out, as Secret Science Club will be celebrating it's 10th anniversary next year. Where else can you hear award winning scientists present amazing information (aka "magic"!) while having delicious drinks? Definitely come early if you want a seat (as in show up an hour beforehand) and at least 30 minutes ahead if you want to guarantee entrance. Any later and you risk the room being "sold out" even though the event is free. read more

I went to the Parallel Universe screening in mid-August. The documentary was about Hugh Everett (guy who invented the idea of the multiverse)'s son searching for the remnants of his father's research and trying to piece together the life of his estranged father. The documentary was surprisingly humorous - I didn't expect his son to be a rock star, witty, and slightly self-deprecating (helped with the biting humor =). The fact that SSC has top-notch FREE events like this is amazing. The people who come out are genuinely interested in science, so feel free to indulge your inner nerdom. The atmosphere is very casual, and I would say that if you want to get a seat of your choice, definitely make it there at least half an hour before doors open (7 pm). Rock on SSC! read more

Science AND beer?! Sound too good to be true? Not if you're at Secret Science Club. SSC is a monthly [free!] event held at The Bell House, in which a self-proclaimed quirky science nerd is invited to provide a lecture to fellow science-y nerds about science-tastic things. Past topics have included: galaxies, evolutionary biology of the Congo River, human primate origins, and DNA. Sign me up! The lecturers at SSC are very entertaining, not condescending, HILARIOUS, and far from monotonous. Imagine your all-time favorite science teacher from high school, and then multiply his/her coolness factor by 1,000. What you end up with is a past/present/future SSC guest lecturer. Yes, please! SSC makes me super frowny that I don't drink hard liquor, because every month the bar serves up a cocktail that goes along with the science theme of the night. I bet they taste as deliciously nerdy as they sound. Geek out at SSC! All the cool nerds are doing it. read more

Learning is fun. Learning with cocktails is better. The Secret Science Club is perfect for a generalist like me. I am interested in a great many things, but I'm not really very dedicated. So this is perfect: there are monthly meetings hosted at the Bell House, and a different topics covered every month. They have ranged from psychologist and cognitive scientist Paul Bloom covering the realm of desire, discussing how new research shows that simple pleasures like sex and food are far more complex than scientists ever imagined; to a look at the Theory of Parallel Universes documentary featuring the lead singer of the Eels...his dad came up with the theory. read more

As a huge science nerd, this is one of my favorite events that just happens to be held in one of my favorite bars. I've come here for multiple lectures, including one given by my own advisor on human evolution. The speaker will talk for about 45 mins then you can ask questions at the end and mingle in the crowd with them after. The best part is that the Bell House will make a signature cocktail under the theme of the talk that is only available that night! However, secret science club either doesn't happen anymore or has become so secret that not even the fans know about it. read more

Bang, boom, cool as ice! Exploding hydrogen balloons, centrifugal force with beer, and sprawling liquid nitrogen across a stage. Have been attending the monthly event ever since I stumbled upon it. My first show I stood for over 2 hours (yes, huge venue and the place is packed) watching Charles Liu of CUNY explain how he uses Hubble, how YOU can be an astrophysicist at www.galaxyzoo.org, and sing his quartet styles songs to help people remember physics. My favorite so far was David Maiullo of Rutgers University bring his A game! It was like an 8th grade science fair while pounding some pints. Every event has it's own charm and last about an hour. Each speaker opens up for a Q&A and depending on the crowd can last 10 minutes or until the speaker looses his/her voice. Best of all...it's a FREE show! Remember to show up early as to grab a seat or before they hit capacity. read more

The secret is out. Want to learn about the brain? Crocodiles? Artificial intelligence? The cosmos? Bioluminescence? The Secret Science Club is a *free* monthly event at The Bell House where you can listen to speakers and experts across various fields talk about their subject ever-so-passionately. It's always a nerdy, fun, and lighthearted evening, like a college lecture but with a fun professor and tipsy students. Bonus: there are themed drinks! I've had the opportunity to go twice so far, and I will definitely be back. I loved learning about crocodiles and the brain in a casual setting. The biggest caveat is that it's not much of a secret anymore, so lines form at least an hour before the event starts and unless you're one of the first 50, you'll probably be left standing in the back. The Bell House is a bit of a trek. Regardless, this is awesome and I'm so glad this exists. read more

oh secret science club, you're not so secret any more are you? i have to scramble for a seat when i go to your free events at the bell house, but i love it. i love drinking an alagash white while watching a movie discuss the finer points of schrodinger's crazy cat, or evaluating the benefits of botanical heterozygosity. i love that everyone there has a genuine interest in science, and isn't just faking an interest like everyone does at the opera performances in the parks. the crowd is quiet, respectful, and listening, and the speaker never talks down to them. and i love that there are a solid half hour of interesting questions after most lectures/screenings. secret science club, you're the tops. read more

One of the more brilliant ideas I've witnessed. Is it theater? Is it entertainment? Is it education? The irony is that as a grad student, there were in house talks like this ALL the time at my old university and the administration had to BEG people to go. Seems like all they needed to do was host them at the back room of a bar in an artsy neighbourhood an people will flock to it. Go figure. read more

So, some friends and I went to the taxidermy contest that was held at the Secret Science club last night. It was an ocean of disappointment. We bought tickets beforehand and still had to stand in two lines, in the cold, for over an hour, only to stand at the back of an auditorium and listen to people on stage telling stories about how one time their uncle bought them a stuffed armadillo. I'd never ever do this again and recommend you steer clear of this contest and the Science Club in general. Let's start with ticketing. Ticketing has become a simple process what with the internet and digital wristwatches and all this newfangled technology. With most events, even at bars, you buy a ticket, show it at the entrance to the venue when the doors open, and get a wristband or similar to distinguish you as a paying customer. This allows venues to limit the number of people to the amount of seating so that everyone can enjoy the event equally. In a stand-up concert, everyone has the chance of pushing to the front if they really want to get close to the stage. At a sit-down concert, seating is assigned beforehand so you have the opportunity to pay for a primo seat if you really really want it, and save if you're ok with cooling in the nosebleeds. The Science Club proudly snubs those traditions. Here's what you do to see the taxidermy contest at the Secret Science Club: buy a ticket in advance, show up to the venue to see a line stretching out the door, get shouted at by a bouncer who will tell you you can't stand in THAT line but in fact the other line inside, then you penetrate the crush at the bar, stand in the other line with your ticket, get your hand stamped, return outside to stand in a second line, slowly shuffle in through the bar to the actual venue, and stand in the rear of a packed auditorium staring at the back of someone's head. For your viewing pleasure they also had a live feed of the event projected on a screen behind the presenters. Unfortunately NYFA dropouts had the screen looking like a CKY video envisioned by JJ Abrams, with plenty of unintentional hilarity thrown in trying to film a live event in portrait mode (a video camera is not your cellphone, just for future reference) and pauses at the menu screen for comedic effect. This was taxidermy by way of gonzo porn. The MC's were dull and unintelligible, their skits and vignettes were embarrassing, and the entire concept of the event as a contest (however irreverent the contest was meant to be) shrouded the event in a depressing Waiting for Guffman miasma. Here's what literally happened: people hauled taxidermy they'd bought or someone else bought for them on stage for the audience to clap at, then they answered a few insightful questions about the piece such as: "Where did you buy it?" and "Why did you buy it?" before exiting the stage to applause. Taxidermy is everywhere in Brooklyn. The Observatory has monthly classes on it. There are resident taxidermists at the Natural History Museum. Why wasn't this event filled with taxidermists and their own work? Admittedly a few people brought pieces they'd made to the contest, and kudos to them, but what is the point of having pieces in a live show that were bought at a store? It's like having a "Best Photo Contest" where two people bring the same framed Ansel Adams print off of Art.com and one person with a printout from Shutterstock. This is my second Secret Science club event. I was actually able to find a seat during my first because my partner showed up an hour early to save a spot in line. The speaker was fabulous, everything else from the signature drinks to the crappy sound quality was not. This event fell several fathoms below the former. On the plus side the walk from the G included an utterly bleak light industrial setting, the lovely springtime aroma of the Gowanus, and dancing over a patchwork of hemorrhaging garbage bags and dog droppings. read more

I hovered between two and three stars but decided to give this program the benefit of the doubt, since it's really nice that it's free and open to the public. That being said, you get what you pay for! The Secret Science Club offers lots of fascinating lectures on a variety of topics, but the crowd seems to be there just because it's something to do on a Tuesday night. I'm a neuroscientist and I was excited to see yesterday's talk, but when I arrived (more than half an hour before the doors opened) the line was already down the block. I overheard the hipster guy behind me awkwardly hitting on the hipster girl behind me (who was texting up a storm and ignoring him). They both admitted to whomever was in earshot that they weren't really science people. That's fine, and I think it's great that the SSC exists and is able to expose "non-science people" to the wonderful world of atoms and neurons and supernovas. But the event has become too popular for its own good. (To make a too-obvious joke, the Secret Science Club is certainly no secret.) So by the time I got to the entrance, I was only allowed in the bar area, where the lecture from the auditorium was playing over a loudspeaker. But being a bar, the usual bar noises were drowning out the speaker's sound. Disappointed that I wasn't able to hear, I left early. Now, there are possible solutions to my predicament: If you are just going to the SSC to hang out with friends, you can show up to the bar at 7:00 and drink for an hour until the doors open. I came alone, strictly to learn, and didn't want to hang around awkwardly for such a long time--plus, I don't drink, which I guess means that the Bell House doesn't really care to have me taking up space in their venue. This brings me to my point, finally: As "science-y" as the Secret Science Club is, the truth is that it's no more than an excuse to get people to buy alcohol. Which is fine, if you're bored and thirsty on a Tuesday night and want to pretend you're smart. But if you really care about the topics being discussed--and don't want to get wasted while you're waiting forever for the doors to open--then you're better off watching your favorite science videos on youtube. read more

I really like the idea of this and that its free, but just be aware its a total sh*tshow with hundreds of people trying to get in. Capacity of the auditorium is only 250 and they'll play the program in the bar but you really cant hear it. Plus you're sort of at a loss without the accompanying visual aids. Oh and in case you're looking to meet sexy nerds, they only seem to make up about 5% of the crowd on a good night. Otherwise its all hipster. I don't think I'd go again... read more

I was disappointed in the Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest. See, I'm a professional taxidermist. One who, like, makes their own stuff. Trained by another professional for years in a museum. The spectacle I saw last night was a kindergarten show and tell of what people had been given, or the work had been slapped together poorly in a "drink 'n taxidermy" setting. From what I saw, there was no talent involved, just the fanciest souvenir contest. I got so angry I walked out. I wish Secret Science Club had curated the submissions more closely. I thought this was going to be a celebration of the art of taxidermy, or at the very least some really awesome extreme taxidermy. What I saw last night could have just been purchased off Ebay, bought at Evolution, or Maxilla and Mandible. In addition, the venue was rubbish. The Bell House is overcrowded, contemptuous, and poorly run. If you have people purchase tickets, at least ensure they get seats. Also, invest in some wristbands. Standing in line to get my tickets processed, fighting my way through crowds of drunken beardos, waiting in line for tickets I had already purchased, then having to head back outside to stand in line out in the cold for another 30 minutes after the show was supposed to start was inane. This is some Brooklyn bullshit like you wouldn't believe. If you enjoy superficial science, overcrowded venues, and poor presentation, by all means, visit the Secret Science Club. read more