Monday
The Royal Institution kicks off the week with a step back into their archives as Professor Frank James, RI Head of Collections talks about Michael Faraday’s first ever RI Christmas Lecture, entitled “Chemical History of a Candle” and reproduces some of the experiments performed. 7pm, tickets £10.
Elsewhere, Angela Saini, Gia Millinovich and Ken Hollings join forces for the Little Atoms event, ‘Which Way to Techno-Utopia?’ 6:30pm at the Free Word Centre, Farringdon. Tickets £5
Tuesday
A lunchtime lecture at Imperial hosted by the Institute for Science Security and Technology on Nuclear Forensics looks like the highlight of the day. Dr Jay Davies, with twenty years experience from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory to the Department of Defense, will discuss how forensics can be used to track the origin of nuclear components and the people behind them.
In the evening, your choice is to stay in South Ken or head over to Mayfair: the Dana Centre hosts an interactive evening on IQ, featuring tests from throughout the 20th century in a casino style format (no real money required!) while the RI has a debate on Science careers: has the science establishment let down young researchers? featuring Evan Harris, David Willets MP and Jenny Rohn. Both events 7pm, tickets free and £10 respectively but book both in advance.
Wednesday
Baba Brinkman, the award winning creator of the Rap Guide to Evolution launches his new campaign to teach evolution in schools. Featuring music, rap and an introduction to the thinking behind the campaign. Prince Charles Cinema, 8:30pm, tickets £10.
Thursday
The Wellcome Collection looks at the history of midwifery, the rise of the male presence during labour and the perception that a hospital birth is the only safe option. 6pm: free but book.
Friday
Late night opening at the Natural History Museum on the last Friday of every month. Open till 10pm: admission free. Advance notice that beginning next week, London Zoo will open late every Friday night and the first one is sold out already, so book now.
Saturday
All day event for all ages on ‘Microbes and Me’ at the Wellcome Collection. Whole host of activities and you even get to take your own microbe home.
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.