The London Science Festival is sadly over, but don’t think that makes this week any less busy. Read on for some selected highlights…
Monday
Halloween at the Grant Museum of Zoology in Bloomsbury means Witches and Lizards, a special night exploring the role of animals in scare-stories, rituals and superstitions from across the world. Where better to spend Halloween than in a room full of skulls…? 5:30-8pm, £4 on the door.
Tuesday
After such a popular launch last month, the open mic night for science, Science Showoff, is back with a whole new line-up of performers. You can see a full list on the website, but to whet your appetite, the topics promised include chillis, lacrosse, the genetics of muggleborns, home-made plasma and liquid nitrogen made icecream. Tip: get there early, it was absolutely packed last time. Free, but a donation to charity is appreciated. Doors at 7pm at the Wilmington Arms near Farringdon.
The Royal Institution turns its attention to the 5th of November tonight with the Science of Fireworks! (their exclamation mark, not mine). 2008 RI Christmas Lecturer Chris Bishop gives a talk packed with demonstrations of pyrotechnic chemistry, warning us to expect loud bangs and flashes! 6pm, £10: book now.
Wednesday
Well known experimental psychologist Steven Pinker has written a new book called The Better Angels of our Nature and is doing several events around London to co-incide with its launch. Up tonight is the Royal Institution, with a talk of the same name, looking at the decline our violence in human society throughout our history. £10, 7pm: book now.
An early evening talk at Imperial asking how we perceive and deal with risk and uncertainty as individuals, organisations and societies. 5:30pm, see the website to register now.
Thursday
The Annual Clifford Paterson Lecture at the Royal Society is all about the future of nano-carbons and the emergence of carbon as a material of the next generation of electronics. 6:30 – 7:30pm, free, first come, first served.
From the future to the past, a guided tour of the highlights of the Wellcome Collection’s archives on the topic of food, remedies and global interchange in our medical and cultural lives from the 17th century onwards, culminating in a look at current tensions surrounding sustainability and healthy eating. 6pm at the Wellcome Collection.
Friday
A lunchtime one for the science communicators: Science for all: popular science in the age of radio at the Royal Society. How do you get ordinary people to take an interest in science? How scientists of the early 20th century did it, their successes and failures and how things have changed today. 1-2pm; free but book.
Saturday
Back the Grant Museum of Zoology, it is the Festival of Geology with a whole range of activities from handling fossils, minerals and rock, gem panning, identifying minerals and casting fossils and a whole range of talks on volcanoes, dinosaurs and more. Free and suitable for the whole family: 10:30 – 4:00. Field trips on Sunday.
You can follow the Nature Network London Google calendar of events in London at https://blogs.nature.com/london/2011/05/17/scientific-events-calendar. Updated daily.