Join us for a night of TED. From Wikipedia: TED (Technology Entertainment and Design) is a global set of conferences owned by the private non-profit Sapling Foundation, formed to disseminate "ideas worth spreading."

Video 1: Alice Dreger: Is anatomy destiny?
Alice Dreger works with people at the edge of anatomy, such as conjoined twins and intersexed people. In her observation, it's often a fuzzy line between male and female, among other anatomical distinctions. Which brings up a huge question: Why do we let our anatomy determine our fate?

Video 2: Elliot Krane: The mystery of chronic pain
We think of pain as a symptom, but there are cases where the nervous system develops feedback loops and pain becomes a terrifying disease in itself. Starting with the story of a girl whose sprained wrist turned into a nightmare, Elliot Krane talks about the complex mystery of chronic pain, and reviews the facts we're just learning about how it works and how to treat it.

Arrive between 7:00 and 7:15 for introductions and to get settled in. We will begin the first video at 7:30. The video is approximately 20 minutes long. After we watch, we'll discuss for approximately 40 minutes (it'll depend on how much we want to discuss... it could be considerably less, but we'll cap it at no more than 60 minutes) Once we're done with the first video, we'll watch the second video (also approximately 20 minutes long) and discuss (same parameters).

Our home is small and humble... be prepared to get cozy... some of us will probably end up sitting on the floor.