For those of you who have designated January a staying in, detoxing month, the last post may be frustrating for you. But fear not: for anyone not planning to leave the house for the next month, the Royal Institution has come to the rescue by putting its 2011 Christmas Lectures online.

The lectures now broadcast on BBC were all on the topic of the brain and given by University of Bristol neuroscientist Bruce Hood. Titles include “Who’s in charge here anyway?” and “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” and they can be viewed free of charge alongside a vast array of interesting content on the RI’s video channel.

As well as that channel, several of the major institutions organising lectures around London are now making them available to watch online, often in real time. See below for a list of events you can attend from the comfort of your sofa: we will add more as we find them, and do let us know any we’ve missed.

The Chemistry Centre: Public lectures on events from the Diamond Light Synchotron to the science of chocolate. Coming up this week is the science of weather forecasting. All events live streamed on the website.

UCL Lunch hour lectures: Held approximately twice weekly, these lectures are 40 minutes at lunch time, and cover the full range of topics researched at UCL, but with a heavy emphasis on science. Live streamed, beginning at 1:15, with “Exploring the Arctic from space” the next up on 17th Jan.

LSE public events: Not often featuring science, but with lots of technology topics, and made available within a day or two of the event as a podcast. Next up is this week’s “Time for a digital detox?” on Tuesday, so podcast probably available later in the week.