We will probably be talking about the science and science-related stories of 2011, exploring some of the possible science stories of 2012 and collecting your thoughts on what PubSci could do during this year.
If that gets boring we might also hunt down some science related videos on Youtube and if you’re really lucky we might show you some exclusive footage of an experiment to see what happens if you inject a clam’s gonads with serotonin.
So, why not join us for an informal chat about the science over a glass of something nice?
Next CineSci6 screening: Robocop Sunday 8 January, 2:30pm
Date: Sometime in the future. All Detroit has a cancer, and the cancer is crime. A policeman killed in the line of battle becomes resurrected as a half-human, half-robot supercop. The indestructible law enforcer successfully wipes crime from the mean streets of Detroit, but his human side is tortured by his past, and he wants revenge on the criminals who killed him. The question is how important will be the glitch programmed into RoboCop by the security company that created him.
Bold, funny and violent, director Paul Verhoeven’s first US feature film is definitely not for the faint-hearted, but it mixes all-out destruction with an intelligent plot. After the screening we’ll be discussing scientific/moral issues surrounding future robotics technologies with Dr Peter Bentley from the Department of Computer Science, University College London, and a contributing editor to Wired UK.
So what better way to enter into 2012 than with this ’80s classic followed by drinks and discussion afterwards? We’ll even give you more than 20 seconds to comply.
Ah… Weird Science… The film that made nerds cool. Almost. Two geeks, hapless with members of the opposite sex, and desperate for peer approval, decide to create the ideal woman on their computer. Thanks to a bit of hocus-pocus and a convenient lightning storm, the horny young Frankensteins’ implausible plan comes to life, in the form of Lisa, as played by Kelly Le Brock.
Part sex object, part mother, part fairy godmother with extraordinary powers, Lisa turns her two creators’ lives around by making them popular with the cool kids and providing them with some much needed self-esteem. The path from to losers to confident men is far from smooth, though, especially when they get cocky and try to create another woman.
On 11 December, we’ll be re-living this John Hughes teen comedy in all its big-haired, shoulder-padded glory, and after the screening there will be a Q&A with Justin Hancock, trainer and consultant at Bish Training, a sex and relationships website for teenagers.
It’s an unapologetically ‘80s film complete with the obligatory “Valuable Lesson Learned” that was so of its time it is now back in fashion. So, does LeBrock still rock? Is the theme tune really by Oingo Boingo? Could that possibly be Robert Downey, Jr? Come and find out. As the film’s tagline says “It’s all in the name of science. Weird Science.”
For December’s Science In The Pub there will be a science-themed pub quiz hosted by Kash Farooq and James Longstaff. The usual PubSci hosts Paolo and James get a night off – as they will be taking part in the quiz.
And, thanks to our good friends at the British Science Association, there will be some appropriately geeky/sciencey prizes that we will dish out as we see fit!
We suggest that you form teams of 3 or 4 people. Don’t worry if you don’t have have enough people – just turn up. We’re a friendly bunch and we’re sure we can get everyone into a team.
It might also be a good idea to “mix disciplines” when forming a team – each round will have questions from various areas of science. We’ve been busy thinking up questions for a few weeks now and have come up with a fairly wide variety.
To give you a clue of the sort of questions to expect, here are the categories we came up when we were thinking up questions:
A lone worker on a lunar mining base begins to have very odd experiences just as he’s about to return home to Earth. For almost 3 years Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) has been mining Earth’s primary source of energy, Helium-3, for Lunar Industries. But when a routine extraction goes horribly wrong, it becomes increasingly clear that his contract isn’t the only thing that is about to expire.
Duncan Jones’ stunning debut harks back to classic psychological sci-fi films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Dark Star, not just in terms of the way it looks, but also in the way it forces us to explore issues of loneliness, isolation and our place in the vast cosmic canvas.
After the screening there will be a Q&A with Lewis Dartnell, from the Centre for Planetary Sciences Earth Sciences at University College London, and author of Life in the Universe: A Beginner’s Guide. Lewis will discuss this modern cult classic film, as well as the wider opportunities and concerns of human space exploration and lunar science. So, come join us on Sunday afternoon for a scientific journey into space.
At 7:30pm on Tuesday 1st November 2011 (just a few days before Bonfire Night), we will be exploring the science of FIRE with Fire & Explosion scientist Claire Benson ‘Burner’.
This is your chance to find out about how and why forensic scientists undertake fire investigation, with details about everything from charring to explosive combustion.
Here’s a taster:
All of this excitement is free and can be had over a pint of beer, or perhaps some flaming sambucas if you really want to get into the mood.
Usual venue upstairs at the Brixton Rizty – hope to see you there!
(N.B. This video contains some of the greatest dance moves ever seen)
For the next in our series of CineSci6 films, we’re inviting you to fasten your seat belts, put your space helmets on, and hang on tight, because we’ll be taking a trip through outer space to visit the Forbidden Planet.
This classic 1950s sci-fi, loosely based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest, tells the tale of a spaceship landing on a remote planet, populated only by Dr Morbius, his daughter and their robot Robby. The lone survivors of an earlier expedition, the doctor and his daughter say they have pieced together the secrets of the planet’s vanished race. So who, or what, is the invisible monster that begins to attack the human inhabitants with a vengeance?
A cult classic with groundbreaking special effects for its time, and one of sci-fi’s most loved robot characters, what better way could there be of spending a grey, autumnal Sunday afternoon?
So come along, and enjoy a sci-fi classic and lively discussion over a few drinks. The screening begins at 2:30pm, see the Clapham PictureHouse site for more details.
We are pleased to announce a series of six films with a scientific slant that will be shown on the afternoon of the second Sunday of every month for the next six months at the Clapham Picturehouse, starting with the cinematic classic Metropolis.
After each film there will be a discussion over drinks, with expert input to help get the most out of each film.
On Tuesday 2nd August Upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy (starting at 7:30pm although you can come earlier if you like) we’re going to give you a glimpse into the seedier side of sex in nature, with PubSci founder James Robson providing an entertaining talk on the subject.
Then we plan to open the floor to discussion about the role of observation in science, using an Ig Nobel-winning paper (pdf) on homosexual necrophilia in Mallards to get the conversation started.
Ducks are dirty rapists
As usual there will also be an experiment, this one is topical and will involve beer.
Sex, beer and science – what’s not to love? Unless of course you’re Brian Foy and his wife, who experienced the phenomenon of a normally vector-borne virus being transmitted sexually after some fieldwork… at least they got a paper out of it (pdf).
We will probably be talking about the science and science-related stories of 2011, exploring some of the possible science stories of 2012 and collecting your thoughts on what PubSci could do during this year.
PubSci 