Lectures on Tap - "How Birds Learn to Sing (and What It Says About Us)"

Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in Chicago bars. 📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email 🧠 Lecture: "How Birds Learn to Sing (and What It Says About Us)" 🎤 Speaker: Prof. Daniel Margoliash Join us for a fascinating evening as Prof. Daniel Margoliash explores how birds learn to sing—and what their songs reveal about the brain, behavior, and even human language. Animals exhibit an astonishing range of behaviors to survive and reproduce. Among the most beautiful and revealing is birdsong. Young birds learn their songs by listening to and copying adults, a process crucial for both survival and mating. Studying how they do this has uncovered surprising insights into how the brain changes with learning, including how singing during the day interacts with brain activity at night during sleep. Prof. Margoliash, a leading University of Chicago neuroethologist, will show how birdsong provides a powerful window into the “neuroethological” approach—linking brain mechanisms to natural behaviors across the animal kingdom—and how this connects to human speech and language. Prof. Margoliash has published over 100 papers on brain and behavior and is an accomplished public speaker, sharing science at major festivals, learned societies, and yes, in pubs like this one. Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌 Agenda 6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key. This venue allows you to bring in your own food, so grab some bites from any of the local restaurants on 18th! 6:55 PM – Host introduction 7:00 PM – Lecture begins 7:45 PM – Audience Q&A 8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round 8:30 PM – Wrap up.