Online talks coming up this week (science heavy)

Lockdown has not interfered that much with my hobby of attending science talks - hooray. 

Here are a few coming up that I might well go to. 

Wednesday 31 March
•  Botany in 18th Century Cambridge: A first look inside the Martyn collection - 4pm - FREE  
•  Into the London Fog - 6.30pm - FREE

Thursday 1 April
•  Overloaded: how your brain chemicals influence your life - 12.30pm - ~£20 
 - from the Royal Institution (Eventbrite events)
•  Bats in Churches - 6.30pm - FREE 

Sunday 4 April
•  In Conversation with David Attenborough - 2pm - FREE 

Wednesday 7 April
•  RECOVERY trial, one year on - 9am - FREE 
•  Colonial Knowledges: Environment and Logistics in the Creation of Knowledge in British Colonies from 1750 to 1950 - 5-6pm - FREE
This one is fairly academic: "The effects of colonial power dynamics on knowledge creation in the long nineteenth century and beyond are well known and have become the foundation of a postcolonial reading of British scholarship in the context of empire. What has been less well examined are the practical effects of the colonial context on knowledge making. This seminar series seeks to explore how logistical and practical factors, such as the physical environment including climate and distance from the metropole, influenced the creation of both scientific and humanistic knowledge in British colonies."

Jo's list of useful events pages (most are, like me, in London)

• Alan Turing Institute
• Barbican
• BCS (British Computer Society) 
• Blackheath Scientific Society
  
• British Library
• British Museum
  
• Cadogan Hall 
  
• The Charterhouse
• Centre for Research in Digital Education (Edinburgh)
  
• The Cinema Museum 
• Conway Hall
• Eventbrite - search, random cool stuff pops up 
  
• Faber members (email list) 
• Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park
• Frontline Club
• Gresham College 
• Hampstead Scientific Society
• Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution 
  
• Horse Hospital
• Kennington Bioscope
  
• Kew Gardens - events 
• Kew Mutual Improvement Society (Kew Gardens)
  
• King's College London 
• King's Place
• ICA
  
• In The Dark Radio
  
• The Last Tuesday Society
  
• Linnean Society
  
• Lost Lectures
• Magic Lantern Society
• National Theatre
• Natural History Museum
  
• Neal's Yard Dairy (cheese-themed classes!) 
• QMUL - Public Lecture Series
• Quarantine Book Club (US, online)  
  
• RA (Royal Academy of the Arts)
• Richmond Scientific Society
  
• Royal Albert Hall
• Royal Geographical Society
• Royal Institution
  
• Royal Museums Greenwich
  
• RSA
  
• Royal Society of Medicine
• Science Museum  
• South London Botanical Institute
• The Social
• Satellite (art) 
• V&A - Victoria and Albert Museum 
  
• Worshipful Society of Apothecaries
  

 

 

 

 

 

Scientific talks in London - 2018 edition

by @JoBrodie, brodiesnotes.blogspot.com.

• Interesting Talks in London (not just science), also Interesting Talks in Oxford
• Blackheath Scientific Society
  Mycenae House, Blackheath
• Chelsea Physic Garden (Thursday Supper talks)
  Chelsea Physic Garden, 66 Royal Hospital Road, London, SW34HS
  
• Hampstead Scientific Society
  The Crypt Room, St John's Church, Church Row, Hampstead, London NW3 6UU
• Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution - Lectures / Events
• Kew Mutual Improvement Society (KMIS) - Information page (PDF) @Kewlectures)
• Linnean Society
  Burlington House, Piccadilly
• Richmond Scientific Society - programme (starts in September)
  Vestry House, 21 Paradise Rd TW9 1SA
• Worshipful Society of Apothecaries - Events (lectures free, booking advisable)

FEBRUARY 2018
14 February 2018 - Wednesday
8pm - Richmond Scientific Society
The Geology of Italy - Dr Lidia Lonergan (Imperial College, London)

15 February 2018 - Thursday
8.15pm - Hampstead Scientific Society
A Map of the Invisible - Prof Jonathan Butterworth (UCL)

16 February 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
The Cassini Legacy and JUICE with Dr Greg Hunt, Imperial College
  
MARCH 2018

1 March 2018 - Thursday
6pm (talk at 7pm, option to buy supper with sitting at 5.45 or 8.30pm) - Chelsea Physic Garden
Weird and wacky plants project - Michael Perry aka Mr Plant Geek

8 March 2018 - Thursday
6-9pm - Linnean Society
Symbiotic Earth: How Lynn Margulis rocked the boat and started a scientific revolution 

14 March 2018 - Wednesday
8pm - Richmond Scientific Society
Beekeeping - Simon Silvester

15 March 2018 - Thursday
8.15pm - Hampstead Scientific Society
Spider silks and webs - Mr Yue Jin Oh (Oxford University)

15 March 2018 - Thursday
6pm (talk at 7pm, option to buy supper with sitting at 5.45 or 8.30pm) - Chelsea Physic Garden
Chocolate: drink of the Gods - Chantal Coady

16 March 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
MRI - Imaging & 3D Modelling Prior to Surgery with Dr David Nordsletten, Kings College
    
APRIL 2018
11 April 2018 - Wednesday
8pm - Richmond Scientific Society
Conservation of Photographic Materials - Jackquie Moon (National Archives, Kew)

19 April 2018 - Thursday
8.15pm - Hampstead Scientific Society
Responding to major emergencies - Prof Paul Leonard (Society for Radiological Protection)

20 April 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Positive Thought & Behaviour Boost the Immune System with Dr Fulvio D'Acquisto, William Harvey Institute
   
MAY 2018
9 May 2018 - Wednesday
8pm - Richmond Scientific Society
Medieval Mottes and Prehistoric Mounds - Dr James Leary (Reading University)

17 May 2018 - Thursday
8.15pm - Hampstead Scientific Society
Maternal nutrition and the foetus - Prof Michael A Crawford (Imperial College, London)

18 May 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Discovering Earthlike Planets with Dr Guillem Anglada, Queen Mary College

JULY 2018
19 July 2018 - Thursday
6pm (talk at 7pm, option to buy supper with sitting at 5.45 or 8.30pm) - Chelsea Physic Garden
Delicious Garden Drinks - Rachel de Thample and Ciara Jean Roberts

NOVEMBER 2018
1 November 2018 - Thursday
6pm (talk at 7pm, option to buy supper with sitting at 5.45 or 8.30pm) - Chelsea Physic Garden
Unnatural selection - Katrina van Grouw

---

Already happened
JANUARY 2018
19 January 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Light, Sleep and Time - and how they interact with Dr Russel Foster, Nuffield - Ophthalmology

[Solved] Old neuroscience event on amusia (being unmusical) at the RSM - anyone know more?

SOLVED
The event was a 'Music and Medicine' student-led academic meeting at the RSM and the details are preserved in this archived copy of diary pages of February 2007 when the event took place. In fact I did hear of it through the psci-com list, I didn't find it when searching as 'amusia' wasn't mentioned in the email to the list.

Thanks to @davemack for pointing me to Prof Lauren Stewart's Goldsmith's research page, seeing info about amusia in her publications list made it clear that it was her name I should be searching for and finding the event on psci-com meant I could tie the timing down for a more productive search in the archives.

could it perhaps have been Prof. Lauren Stewart? (https://t.co/zdFCPIHAUQ)

— David Mackinder (@davemack) January 2, 2018

---

Years ago... I think it was before 2010 as I think my mum was still alive... Dad and I went to a really lovely and interesting evening event at the Royal Society of Medicine on Wimpole Street. Pretty sure that's where it was. It was a talk by someone who'd been doing research on amusia (lack of music, really struggling with pitch and melody), with a neuroscience focus. At the end the speaker and another medical person gave a short musical performance - a violin was involved I think but the memories are fading.

The talk was fascinating. The researcher showed us video clips of her research with members of a family in Ireland who were enthusiastic about music. The family included a man who was keen on music like the rest of his family but had always lacked any ability with it. He composed tunes - they were as unmusical as you'd expect but he seemed to derive a lot of pleasure from it.

People born with (congenital) amusia cannot recognise a musical tune and struggle with musical pitch but don't seem to have a problem with pitch in speech, or with prosody (rhythm and emphasis / intonation in speech). It seems to be very specific. People can also acquire amusia following a brain injury.

I don't think this was the researcher who presented (no mention of an Irish family, though I suppose it's possible my memory is incorrect!)
The Genetics of Congenital Amusia (Tone Deafness): A Family-Aggregation Study (2007)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1950825/
Anyway I'd love to know who gave the presentation and when the event was. As it was probably 2009 or earlier I think the relevant page on the RSM's website has disappeared. Here are the strategies I've used to try and find out more, so they can be discounted.

Google search - restricted by year
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=royal+society+medicine+amusia&source=lnt&tbs=cdr%3A1%2Ccd_min%3A1%2F1%2F2004%2Ccd_max%3A12%2F31%2F2009&tbm= - no joy, also tried earlier years.

Royal Society of Medicine website search on the Internet Archive
https://web.archive.org/web/20090907092301/http://www.rsm.ac.uk:80/diar/diary.php - I've crawled backwards through 2009 to 2007 but not found anything yet. Perhaps it was before 2007 (entirely possible) but the website hasn't been captures.

Psci-com mailing list (I thought the talk might have been advertised here, but no)
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=psci-com - searched for amusia and music wimpole.

Scientific talks in London - 2017 edition

by @JoBrodie, brodiesnotes.blogspot.com.

• Blackheath Scientific Society - 2017 not published yet (programme starts in late October)
• Chelsea Physic Garden - Thursday Supper talks
• Hampstead Scientific Society - programme
• Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution - Lectures / Events (I'll just display the ones that seem the most sciencey, there are plenty of other interesting events there)
• Kew Mutual Improvement Society (KMIS) - Information page (PDF) @Kewlectures)
• Linnean Society - Events (PDF)
• Richmond Scientific Society - programme (starts in September)
• Worshipful Society of Apothecaries - Events (lectures free, booking advisable) 

See also Interesting Talks in London
There are also events from the Royal Institution and the Royal Society which are fantastic but it's almost impossible to copy and paste text from their website so I've not added them here.

Also, feel free to copy and paste this and put it in your own blog posts and listings. It's not my info, it's just culled from all these sources above. Share the science communication news :)

SEPTEMBER 2017
12 September - Tuesday
6pm, Apothecaries Hall
'An illustrated history of modern cardiology and cardiac surgery' - W Bruce Fye
[tickets]

13 September - Wednesday
8pm, Vestry House, Richmond
'How do we know anything? And how can we know things better?' - Michael de Podesta
[Tickets on the door only]

15 September - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
'Pathogen Surveillance' - with Dr David Aanensen, Welcome Trust, Sanger Institute

21 September 2017 - Thursday
6.00-8.15pm, Chelsea Physic Garden
‘It’s not all about the Flowers’  with Matthew Wilson
[More info] [Tickets]

21 September 2017 - Thursday
8.15pm, St John's Church, Hampstead
'You may not believe this but....?' - Heinz Wolff
[Tickets on the door only]

OCTOBER 2017
2 October 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Plant hunting in Northern Vietnam' - Alex Summers
[Tickets on the door only]

5 October 2017 - Thursday
6.00-8.15pm, Chelsea Physic Garden
‘How to Eat Better’ with James Wong
[More info] [Tickets]

9 October 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'A study of New Zealand's native flora' - Matthew Rees
'Exploring the forests of temperate North America' - Olivia Seed-Mundin
[Tickets on the door only]

11 October 2017 - Wednesday
8pm, Vestry House, Richmond
'South East Asian Geology' - Robert Hall
[Tickets on the door only]

16 October 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Conservation of the Fen orchid' - Tim Pankhurst
[Tickets on the door only]

19 October 2017 - Thursday
6.00-8.15pm, Chelsea Physic Garden
‘The Joys and Powers of Herbs’ with Judith Hann
[Tickets]

19 October 2017 - Thursday
8.15pm, St John's Church, Hampstead
'Biosignatures in Earth's oldest sediments' - Dominic Papineau
[Tickets on the door only]

20 October 2017 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
‘Tales of Things’ in the Olympic Park - with Dr Duncan Hay, University College

23 October 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Make America Green Again! A perspective on US public gardens' - Sophie Walwin
'Step back in time: a tour of heritage gardens of France and Italy' - Chris Clowser
[Tickets on the door only]

25 October 2017 - Wednesday
8pm, Vestry House, Richmond
Sopwith Biplanes - David Hassard
[Tickets on the door only]

30 October 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'The science and politics of soil carbon' - Ed Revill
[Tickets on the door only]

31 October 2017 - Tuesday
8pm, Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution
'Bitten by Witch Fever: wallpaper and arsenic in the Victorian home' - Lucinda Hawksley
[haven't worked out how you get tickets yet]

NOVEMBER 2017

2 November 2017 - Thursday
6.00-8.15pm, Chelsea Physic Garden 
Grandma’s Herbal Remedies, Fact and Fiction – with Jekka McVicar
[Tickets]

6 November 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Using every opportunity to cultivate, record and conserve' - Martin Gardner 
[Tickets on the door only]

21 November 2017 - Tuesday
8pm, Highgate Literary & Scientific Institution
'Discussing climate change: why so toxic?' - Christopher Rapley
[haven't worked out how you get tickets yet]

25 October 2017 - Wednesday
8pm, Vestry House, Richmond
'Aerodynamics of today's megastructures' - Stefano Cammelli
[Tickets on the door only]

13 November 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Searching for passionflowers in South America' - John Vanderplank 
[Tickets on the door only]

16 November 2017 - Thursday
8.15pm, St John's Church, Hampstead
'The history of local anaesthesia' - William Harrop-Griffiths
[Tickets on the door only]

17 November 2017 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Fuel Cells & Electrolysers with Dr Enrique Ruiz Trejo, ImperialCollege

20 November 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Hillier Gardens through the seasons' - David Jewell
[Tickets on the door only]

22 November 2017 - Wednesday
5.15pm, Royal College of Physicians (under the aegis of the Soc Apothecaries)
'Gene, cells and systems - keys to life and the future of medicine' - Paul Nurse
'The college and the Society: origins, ambition and survival' - David Starkey
[tickets and info] - £15 for just the lecture, if you want the lecture and the coach transfer back to Apothecaries Hall for the 3 course dinner you'll need a lounge suit and £110

27 November 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Conifers: a natural history of the Pacific Northwest' - Harry Baldwin
'The botanical wonders of Malaysian Borneo' - Keegan Hickey
[Tickets on the door only]

DECEMBER 2017
4 December 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Before roots, shoots and leaves: the early evolution of plants' - Paul Kenrick
[Tickets on the door only]

7 December 2017 - Thursday
6.00-8.15pm, Chelsea Physic Garden
‘Fashioned from Nature’ with Edwina Ehrman, Curator of Textiles and Fashion at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
[Tickets] 


11 December 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'The art of creative pruning' - Jake Hobson
[Tickets on the door only]

13 December 2017 - Wednesday
8pm, Vestry House, Richmond
'Forensic microscopy - tales from the past' - Pam Hamer
[Tickets on the door only]

14 December 2017 - Thursday
8.15pm, St John's Church, Hampstead
'Ancient Chinese science' - Andrew Gregory
[Tickets on the door only]

15 December 2017 - Friday
AGM

7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society 

18 December 2017 - Monday
6pm, Jodrell Lecture Theatre, Kew
'Exploring the flora of Danube Delta in Romania' - Loredana Vacareanu
'Trees of the Chilean temperate rainforest - a trip to the end of the world' - Eliot Bardon
[Tickets on the door only]

JANUARY 2018
19 January 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Light, Sleep and Time - and how they interact with Dr Russel Foster, Nuffield - Ophthalmology

FEBRUARY 2018
16 February 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
The Cassini Legacy and JUICE with Dr Greg Hunt, Imperial College
  
MARCH 2018
16 March 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
MRI - Imaging & 3D Modelling Prior to Surgery with Dr David Nordsletten, Kings College
    
APRIL 2018
20 April 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Positive Thought & Behaviour Boost the Immune System with Dr Fulvio D'Acquisto, William Harvey Institute
   
MAY 201818 May 2018 - Friday
7.45pm, Mycenae House, Blackheath Scientific Society
Discovering Earthlike Planets with Dr Guillem Anglada, Queen Mary College
 

Randall Munroe of XKCD is doing two talks in London in early November

I was playing on the 'Interesting Talks in London' website last night and spotted that Randall Munroe's doing a talk at the Royal Institution on 5 November.

This surprised me so much (because it seems like the sort of thing everyone I follow on Twitter would already have shared) that I searched on Twitter to find the mentions of it that I must have missed. I didn't find anything for that talk but discovered that he's doing another one on the 6th of November - possibly there are more to be found.

5 November - Ri - Royal Institution
6 November - Union Chapel / Intelligence Squared

The Difference

What if? Serious scientific answers to absurd hypothetical questions
http://www.rigb.org/whats-on/events-2014/november/public-what-if-serious-scientific-answers-to-absurd-hypothetical-questions
Wednesday November 5, 2014 @ 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm | Royal Institution
21 Albemarle Street, Mayfair, London W1S 4BS
£12/£8
020 7409 2992 / events@ri.ac.uk

What would happen if the Earth’s rotation were sped up until a day only lasted one second? How far would a tungsten countertop descend if I dropped it into the Sun? Has humanity produced enough paint to cover the entire land area of the Earth?

Randall Munroe has been answering absurd questions with serious scientific answers on his website and now is bringing the best together in this talk.

His book ‘What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions’ will be published 2 September. Get your book and ticket to the event for the special price of £20.

Randall Munroe on Answering the Unanswerable

Duty calls

http://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/randall-munroe-on-answering-the-unanswerable
Thursday November 6 2014 @ 7pm | Union Chapel, Islington
Union Chapel, Compton Avenue, London, N1 2XD
£30

What would happen if you hit a baseball moving at 90% of the speed of light?

How fast can you hit a speed bump while driving and live?

If there was a robot apocalypse, how long would humanity last?

These are the kind of questions that people ask Randall Munroe. A former NASA roboticist, Munroe is the creator of the webcomic phenomenon XKCD. Tens of millions of followers visit XKCD every week to view Munroe’s cartoons of stick-like figures musing on science, technology, language, and love. The website was chosen by Wired as one of the 20 key influences of the last 20 years alongside Steve Jobs and online dating.

Munroe attempts to answer his fans’ many questions on his What If? blog using computer simulations, declassified military research memos, differential equations, nuclear reactor operators – and cartoons. His answers are masterpieces of clarity and wit, and often predict the complete annihilation of humankind, or at least a really big explosion.

Munroe has now published a book, What If?: Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions, which contains new never-before-answered questions, along with updated versions of the most popular answers from the XKCD website. The book has just been launched in the US and the UK where it soared straight to number 1 on the bestseller lists, selling nearly twice as many copies as its nearest rival.

On November 6th, on a rare flying visit to London, Munroe will be appearing on the Intelligence Squared stage where he will answer the questions you probably never thought to ask.

Don’t miss your chance to hear him and get a copy of the book signed by the XKCD creator in person.