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Tuesday, December 8 at 8 pm, FREE! Open the doors of perception with visual neuroscientist Ben Backus You won’t believe your eyes. . . At the back of the human eye, the retina is smaller than a penny and tissue thin. Yet it contains 100 million neurons . When the eye is open, the retina constantly transmits information on edges, angles, motion, and light intensity to more than 30 areas of the cerebral cortex . How does the brain process and interpret all this visual stimuli —and are our perceptions reliable? Cutting-edge vision scientist Ben Backus of SUNY discusses how our brains learn to “see,” whether perception is linked to emotions, and optical illusions that are both illuminating and trippy . Before and After --Groove to synesthetic tunes --Try our cockeyed cocktail of the night, the Parallax View (You’ll see the world in a whole different way . . . ) --Participate in the laser-sharp Q&A -- PLUS , stick around for a live set of holiday melodies with the band LA STRADA T

Thanks to everyone for bringing their creatures , bones, skins, and stories to the 4th-annual Carnivorous Nights Taxidermy Contest. The competition was red in tooth and claw as judges Melissa Milgrom , Dorian Devins , and Robert Marbury viewed dozens of specimens, all vying to be the most beastly of them all. Many were worthy, but these--the fiercest--prevailed. The Order of Carnivorous Knights Grand Prize (Best in Show) went to Ryan Matthew for Felis dancicus fighticus Ian Maher took the Secret Science Club Prize for Best in Bones with his goat-skull-and-crystal chandelier, "Halal." The Rump Ape Prize for Best Hybrid Creature went to Natalie Stevens and her pal, Ralph. Mike Zohn of Obscura Antiques (and 2007 Grand Champion) took the Rogue Taxidermy Prize , presented by the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists (MART), for his automatons --two 19th-century caged taxidermy birds that moved and sang. Check out the amazing video here . The Most Twisted Prize , pr