The London Literary Festival begins tomorrow and science is not far behind: the Royal Society Summer Exhibition begins next Tuesday, 5th June and runs until Sunday, with a packed programme of events to support it. The exhibition itself features 22 separate exhibits, covering the entire span from airport security to facial perception via invisibility
All the exhibits have been curated by scientists working in that field and all have associated hands on activities for small and big kids. On the website, you can read the background to each exhibit before you visit and if you act quickly, you can ask the scientists a question. Open until tomorrow only, you can use the online Ask the Scientist feature to ask a question direct to some of the scientists behind the exhibits. The best ones will be answered online for all to see.
As well as the exhibition itself, the weekend of 9th-10th sees family workshops, with hands on activities for children while during the week there will be panel discussions and more casual Cafe Scientifique style events in the evenings. All events are free, but the panel discussions must be booked in advance and are currently full and accepting bookings for the waiting list only, so hurry if you’re interested.
6:30pm on 05 July 2011, Dining room
How important is emotion in artistic expression? How do we study emotion in science and the arts? Professor Ray Dolan FRS, Professor of Neuropsychiatry, and a panel of experts representing the literary world and the visual arts will discuss these fascinating questions.
Is biodiversity going the way of the Dodo?
6.30pm on 08 July 2011, Dining room
Currently a fifth of the world’s vertebrates are classified as Threatened and every year over 50 mammals, birds, and amphibians species move one stage closer to extinction. A panel discussion with Professor Jonathan Baillie, Dr William Cheung and Professor Adrian Lister.
Café Scientifique events
5.15pm on 05 July 2011, Terrace café
Have you ever wondered just what string theory is? Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock will lead the audience in posing questions to Dr David Tong, a theoretical physicists and string theory researcher, to try and untangle string theory
How green does your garden grow?
5.15pm on 08 July 2011, Terrace café
Soil is a valuable store of carbon, and soil health has a direct effect on the health of the plants growing in them. Professor Richard Bardgett discusses the science of soil and the direct effects on climate change, with a professional gardener.
Solar flares and northern lights
3.00pm on 09 July 2011, Terrace café
Captain Bryn Jones, CEO of SolarMetrics and a Captain at Virgin Atlantic Airways and Dr Jim Wild from the Space Plasma Environment and Radio Science Group at Lancaster University will provide some insight into the beauty and danger of the Sun with Dr Lucie Green, a solar researcher from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
3:00pm on 10 July 2011, Terrace café
Dr Simon Fisher and Dr Bridget Waller explain how scientists are starting to identify the genes that help us learn to speak and explore the difference between human language and communication in chimpanzees.