The Secret Science Club

The secret is definitely out, as Secret Science Club will be celebrating it’s 10^th 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.

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.

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.

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…

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.

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!

This place is awesome!

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.

My
Girlfriend
Would like to
Suggest you come
Early or you may not be allowed in.

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.

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!

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
, 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 8^th 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.

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.

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.