Introducing BOTTLE TALKS, our brand new LECTURE SERIES featuring some of the most interesting academics in the city presenting their work in a good old fashion dive bar!

Our third edition of this very fun show is a special halloween edition, featuring creepy crawlie caterpillar's who love to wear costumes, and the real world truth behind the Pirate costumes you'll see on many a trick-or-treater.

John Boonstra - Pitt Professor

"Pirates: History and Myth"

Since ships have sailed the proverbial seven seas, pirates have sought to disrupt seaborne travel and trade. And for just as long, stories of pirates have circulated, conjuring images of romantic, dastardly, or simply unscrupulous swashbucklers. What—if anything—do such representations have to do with actual historical pirates? Why has the pirate loomed so large in the cultural imagination, then and now? What kind of threat has he (or she) represented? Why, and to whom? And how does this mythologized figure draw on, diverge from, or distort the experiences of real-world pirates?

Kevin Keegan - Insect Collection Manager, Carniege Museum of Natural History

"Masters of Deception: Unbecoming a Caterpillar."

When you close your eyes and think of a caterpillar you probably imagine something like the caterpillar from The Very Hungry Caterpillar, but caterpillars are more than just green. From mimicry to masquerading, caterpillars have mastered the art of not looking like a caterpillar to avoid the ever watching eyes of their most dogged predators: birds. Learn about the strategies caterpillars employ to live another day, and see amazing examples of caterpillar deception from cross-dressing inchworms to bone-collecting cosmet moth caterpillars.

And open Q&As with both after!

PLUS! 100% of the ticket sales from this event will be donated back to the speakers research departments to help support their ongoing work!