To Boldly Go… to Brixton

On Tuesday 15th May we will be celebrating the first anniversary of Science in the Pub with Dr. Michael Byford who will be exploring the science of Star Trek.

Star Trek forms a comprehensive and surprisingly coherent story arc, encompassing five linked TV series and a profitable movie franchise.

Many of the developments postulated by its writers have been brought into being whereas others are so fanciful that they are at best most unlikely or at worst simply impossible.

We will explore the scientific basis of Star Trek, real or imagined, always with the deepest respect for the impressive powers if imagination demonstrated by its writers, directors and producers.

The talk will start at 7:30pm but the venue (Upstairs at the Ritzy) will be open from 6pm for those who want food, a drink and a chat. Hope to see you there!

After what has been a series of confusing changes to dates this month we though it would be best to clarify again, as nothing is on the date it was originally o!

Tonight (23rd April) will be a talk on 5 things worse than being eaten by a shark at Upstairs at the Ritzy in Brixton – link to event

Debora Hydes talk on Demons and Nightmares for Hackney Skeptics is now on the 30th of April – link to event

We hope to see you for both events, normal service will renew after this months craziness!

From predictions of sin, fire and brimstone in ancient stories, to asteroids, viruses and climate change in films today, the human race has long speculated – and dramatized – about how it will all end.

Yet no matter how creative our stories are, science, Alok Jha will tell us, offers us even weirder possibilities.

Some of them are cosmic in origin, such as a monstrously large magnetic storm from the Sun; or from the Earth itself, such as a catastrophic volcano or a reversal of our magnetic field. Others are due to the human race’s own advancements: drugs, terrorism, cyborgs – or even some of these combined, such as a solar storm affecting our communications and electrical technology. Or, if we’re really unlucky, we might wander too near a black hole or a (so far) hypothetical particle called the strangelet, which is able to turn all particles it encounters into a copy of itself – and could do this to everything on the Earth over a matter of hours.

Is this anything to worry about? Alok Jha has spoken to various people who think it might be. 99% of species that have ever lived on Earth are now extinct – and the Sun itself will become a red giant one day. “Humanity as a whole does not invest much in improving its thinking on how to enhance its own survival,” he reports. Come and hear how, if we can’t put off The End, it might at least be a lot more interesting than we thought.

You will be able to buy a copy of Alok’s new book and he has kindly agreed to sign them – an oportunity not to be missed! there will also be a chance to win a signed copy in a raffle

Monday, March 26 2012 at 7:30PM at the The Hackney Attic

No booking required. £2.50 per head.

Check out the Hackney skeptics link for further details

Tonight is the night of Ben Harwidges talk on the “sharks don’t get cancer” myth, it’s the first of a stella line up of talks which will hopefully inform and dispel in equal measure. Worried how the world might end in 2012? Alok Jha will take us through what the real doomsday scenarios are, and as I understand it none involve Justin Beiber (yet). If that doesn’t help you sleep at night, im sure Deborah Hyde’s talk on Demon and Nightmares will rock you calmly off to sleep with out having to check under the bed first.

Its going to be a fun few months, I hope to see you there!