Last updated: 5/30/2026

(See here for events happening every month in Houston — link.)

• Saturday, June 6 (1st Saturday)

  • Nerd Nite

    • Grand Prize Bar · 7pm

  • Menil Book Party

    • Menil Park (weather permitting) or Basil Café outdoor area · 3pm

• Saturday, June 13 (2nd Saturday)

  • Bird Watching at Houston Arboretum

    • By Memorial Park · 8am

  • Free Yoga by Black Swan Yoga

    • POST HTX · 9:30am

  • Sawyer Yard Studio Visits

    • Sawyer Yards · Noon to 5pm

  • Book Launch: Cat Love by Tomás Q Morín

    • Basket Books · 7pm to 9pm

  • Jazz on Film: Short Documentaries

    • Museum of Fine Arts · 7pm

• Saturday, June 20 (3rd Saturday)

  • Free Yoga by Black Swan Yoga

    • Hermann Park · 9:30am

  • Menil Book Party

    • Menil Park (weather permitting) or Basil Café outdoor area · 3pm

• Tuesday, June 23

  • See the Stars — featuring the Sun, Moon & Venus

    • HMNS Parking Garage, 7th Floor · 7pm–9pm

• Wednesday, June 25 (Last Wednesday)

  • Texas Prairie Society Monthly Lecture

    • American Red Cross Bld. (Montrose) · 6:30pm

• Saturday, June 27 (Last Saturday)

  • Wild Houston Reading Group (Rice Village)

    • Bitty Beau’s Café · 3pm

• Sunday, June 28 (4th Sunday)

  • Free Guided Meditation

    • Museum of Fine Arts · 10am

  • Free Bilingual Yoga in Sculpture Garden

    • Museum of Fine Arts · 11am

• Tuesday, June 30 (Last Tuesday)

  • Philosophically Drinking at Rudyard’s (need to confirm)

    • Back room · 7pm

(Comic: XKCD)

This primarily something for potential speakers to see, but also for anyone curious.

Goal: I want there to be a lectures-over-drinks type event every weekend of the month that is walkable or bikeable distance from Montrose for my own selfish, nerdy reasons.

We have three values: epistemic transparency, laughs, and being a bit confused.

• Epistemic transparency

  • This is not a PhD defense so need for maximum rigor, but we appreciate a citation and even better a list of sources we can look at afterwards. Sources are not required, but if you don’t have them, please be transparent about that. Also, if something is currently a best guess please be explicit about that and give us an idea for how large of error bars, even if they are subjective, we should have around it.

• Laughs

  • If Lord Kelvin is right and the heat death of the universe is coming for us, we might as well share a few laughs in the meantime. You are not obligated to make us laugh, but rather I’m jut saying you are free to joke around. We love a meme in a slide. No one is getting class credit for attending, so you are welcomed, and even encouraged to approach topics in absurd ways. Also, you don’t have to be PG-rated. We also prefer topics that aren’t heavy like the news (there are few adult places that are joyful and push you intellectually).

• Being a bit confused

  • Please don’t have the lecture leave us thinking we know all the pieces to the puzzle (another reason this is not a Ted Talk). We are mostly laypeople, so err to the simpler side, but we should be exposed to the difficulty of knowing things scientifically. We appreciate acknowledging uncertainty and disagreements in the field, and getting a glimpse of how the sausage is made. So free to talk about methods.

• The Nerd Power Hour is not an hour

  • It’s just a catchy name. The Power 20-40min Lecture was shot down by the marketing dept.

  • You are well welcome to chat anywhere from 20mins to 40mins, which is followed by a 10min+ Q&A. Whatever time is left is for the nerds in the audience to fraternize among themselves, and you are welcome to join.

    • If you do plan to do 40mins, we likely cut up into two parts so people can stretch their legs and refocus.

  • Also, it is not recorded.

Last updated: 5/28/2025

(See the list made for the current month — here)

Menu

• (Click to jump to a section)

• Lectures and Presentation Parties

• Book Parties and Clubs

• Outdoor Educational (+ Fun)

• Outdoor Fun

• Free Museums+

• Non-Categorized

• Volunteering (Need to Add)

Criteria for events

• Free or cheap

• As close to walkable or bikeable from Montrose as possible

• Makes you think, ideally makes you laugh as well

• Makes it easier to meet fellow nerds

• Light intellectual joy (not heavy like the news)

• As outdoor and around green stuff as possible (touch grass!)

Lectures and Presentation Parties

• Free and Monthly

  • Nerd Nite – link

    • First Sat, 7pm

    • Grand Prize Bar

  • History On Tap – link or link (confirm before attending)

    • First Thursday, 7pm

    • New Magnolia Brewing Center

  • Philosophically Drinking – link or link (confirm before attending)

    • Last Tuesday, 7pm

    • Rudyard’s (back room)

  • Texas Prairie Society Monthly Lecture at Meeting – link (confirm before attending)

    • Last Wednesday, 6:30pm

    • American Red Cross Bld. (In Montrose)

• Cheap and Annual

  • Pints of Science – link

    • May 10, 11, 12 2027

    • Location: ???

Reading Groups and Book Parties

• Book Parties

  • (bring any book you want)

  • Jane hosts various book clubs around Houston — link

    • Various times and locations

  • Menil Book Party

    • Every other Saturday

      • Menil Park if it is cool enough and not raining, Basil cafe otherwise (outdoor area in the back)

• Discussion Group

  • (Either an article is chosen or there is a collection of articles and you just read what you want.)

  • Wild Houston Reading Group (Rice Village) — link

    • Last Sat, 3pm, Bitty Beau's Cafe

Outdoor Educational (+ Fun)

• Second Sat

  • Bird watching at Houston Arboretum – link

    • 8am, By Memorial Park

• Last Tuesday

  • See the stars, featuring the Sun, Moon and Venus, with Museum experts – link

    • 7pm to 9pm, HMNS parking garage 7th floor

• Every Friday

  • Bat Chat — link

    • 7pm to 8:30pm, Waugh Dr. and Allen Parkway

  • Bat Boat Ride — link

    • 7pm to 8:30pm, Waugh Dr. and Allen Parkway

Outdoor Fun

• Every Sunday

  • Houston Area Trail Runners — link

    • 7am, parking lot by Cullen Center

• 2nd Saturday

  • Free Yoga by Black Swan Yoga

    • 9:30am, POST HTX – link

• 3rd Saturday

  • Free Yoga by Black Swan Yoga – link

    • 9:30am, Herman Park

• 4th Sunday

  • Free Guided Mediation – link

    • 10am, Museum of Fine Arts

  • Free Yoga in Sculpture Garden – link

    • 11am, Museum of Fine Arts

Free Museums+

• Once a month

  • Sawyer Yard Studio Visits (2nd Sat) – link

• Free Visits to Museum Every Week

  • Tuesday:

    • Houston Museum of Natural Sciences

  • Thursday:

    • Houston Museum of Modern Art

    • Buffalo Soldiers National Museum

    • Houston Museum of Fine Arts

    • Asia Society Texas Center

    • Houston Zoo

    • Houston Center for Contemporary Craft

  • Wednesday – Sunday:

    • Menil Art Museum

    • Rathko Chapel

    • Menil Drawing Institute

  • All week

    • Houston Center for Photography

Not Categorized

• MFAH Theater — link

  • Cheap, interesting films with showings usually on Friday through Sunday

• Weekly Gaming Tournament at Neil’s Bahr – link

  • Every Tuesday, 7pm

Did I miss an event? Message me.

Each month we look at one animal or natural science topic related to Houston, and meet to discuss it. We appreciate a laugh as much as we appreciate a citation.

There is no one single document that is required to read. All you need to do is show up with one fact you learned about the topic, a curious mind, and humility. The fact can be as “basic” or “advance” as you want it to be — no expectations.

Please don’t feel like this group is not for if you don’t have a scientific background. This group is for people with GEDs as much as it is for people with Ph.Ds.

We post a collection of articles and scientific papers you can read from for each month’s topic, but also encourage you to find your own (reputable) sources. There is no expectation to read all or any of it. The collection we post is often added to as the month progresses.

This is like a biology class, but without any of the pressure or expectations, and all the fun. This group is inspired by the book Wild Houston by local biologists Suzanne Simpson and John Williams.

Upcoming session and topic:

• June 28th (Sat), 3pm to 5pm

  • Location: Bitty Beau’s in Rice Village

  • Topic: Tiger Beetle Eunota houstoniana

    • Our Wiki (Work in progress)

    • This species was recently discovered by researchers at Rice — link

    • News article on the discovery — link

    • Scientific report — link

    • Wiki — link

    • Claude conversation — link

    • (You are welcome to find more sources related to this beetle species or tiger beetles more generally.)

Possible Future Topics

• Southern flying squirrel — wiki

  • Seen around Houston— link

  • They glow in the dark — link

• Dolphins in Galveston Bay — link

  • wiki — link

• Mockingbirds — link

  • Wiki — link

• Hydrocarbon-Degrading Bacteria in Gulf Coast

  • Paper — link

• (And many others)

Past Topics

• Topic: Mexican Free-Tail Bats (like the ones under Waugh Dr. bridge)

  • There is not a single robust overview of Mexican free-tail bats in Houston so I have gathered a few resources (no obligation to read them all).

    • But I made one for what its worth — link

  • Research by Rice Uni. on Mexican free tail bats in Houston: light overview (link)

  • A local overview of bats in Houston (link) and the Wikipedia article on Mexican free-tail bats (link and please check sources)

May still has a yearly science festival, a guided session looking at the stars at HMNS, and more!

(There are also the events happening every month — link.)

May

• May 18th to May 20th (Mon–Wed), 7pm to 9pm

  • Pint of Science – link (Tickets are only $2!)

    • 7pm to 9pm, Social Beer Garden (Midtown)

    • May 18th – AI Focused

    • May 19th – Biology Focused

    • May 20th – Physics Focused

• May 20th (Wed)

  • Citizen Environmental Coalition Happy Hour – link

    • 5:30pm, Trash Panda Drinking Club

• 5/21 (Thurs)

  • Free craft workshop with artist guide – link

    • 6pm to 8pm, First floor of Kinder building at Museum of Fine Arts Houston

• 5/22 (Fri)

  • Showing of Argentine film Nuestra Tierra – link

    • 7pm, 🎟️ $10, Law Building of Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

• May 23 (Sat)

  • Book Party (bring whatever book you want)

    • 3pm, Menil Park (Black Hole Cafe if raining)

• 5/24 (Sun)

  • Guided Mediation – link

    • 10am, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

  • Yoga in Sculpture Garden – link

    • 11am, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston

• May 26th (Tues)

  • See the stars with Museum experts, featuring the Sun, Moon and Venus – link

    • 7pm to 9pm, HMNS

  • Philosophically Speaking – link

    • 7pm to 8pm, Rudyard’s

• May 27th (Wed)

  • Lecture: Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, a New Potential Tool in Grassland Restoration — link

    • 7pm to 8pm, American Red Cross Bldg.

• May 30th (Sat)

  • Natural Sciences Reading Club – link

  • 3pm to 5pm, Bitty & Beau’s Coffee

Early June

• June 6th

  • Nerd Nite— link

    • Presentations given in a bar that range from goofy to serious, and often a mixture of both.

    • 7pm to 8:30pm, Grand Prize Bar

• (Will post a list of events for June on June 1st)

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