Category Archives: Events

CineSci6: Robocop

Posted on January 1, 2012 by | Leave a comment

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.

Tickets are available here.

Leave a comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

CineSci6: Weird Science

Posted on December 6, 2011 by | 4 comments

Next CineSci6 screening: Weird Science

Sunday 11 December, 14:30

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.”

4 Comments

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

PubSci SciPubQuiz

Posted on November 16, 2011 by | 1 comment

Science (Quiz) in the Pub

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:

  • Chemistry
  • Scientists
  • Geology
  • Astronomy/Space
  • Physics
  • Biology

See you on Tuesday 6th December from 7:30, upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy!

1 Comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Moon

Posted on November 6, 2011 by | 1 comment

Next CineSci6 screening:

Moon – Sunday 13 November, 14:30

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.

You won’t be alone.

 

Post written by Simon Frantz, posted by PaoloV

1 Comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

November PubSci – FIRE!

Posted on October 20, 2011 by | 3 comments

Fire Science

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’.

FIRE

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)

3 Comments

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Forbidden Planet

Posted on October 11, 2011 by | 1 comment

Next CineSci6 screening:

Forbidden Planet 16 October, 2:30pm

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?

After the screening there will be a Q&A with Oliver Morton, Energy and Environment Editor at The Economist, and author of “Eating the Sun: How Plants Power the Planet“, a study of photosynthesis, its meanings and its implications, and “Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination and the Birth of a World“. The topic of conversation will be what makes a classic sci-fi film/story, beginning with the “Forbidden Planet” before broadening out to other films.

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.

Post written by Simon Frantz, posted by PaoloV

1 Comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

October PubSci: Ig Nobel Prizes

Posted on September 25, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Ig Nobel Prizes

On 29th September 2011 a very exciting event will be taking place – the 21st Ig Nobel Prize ceremony.

For those who aren’t aware of the Ig Nobel Prizes, they celebrate the best of research that makes people LAUGH and then THINK.

Past winners have carried out research on swearing as a response to pain, the microbiological laboratory hazard of bearded men and fellatio in fruitbats.

We don’t know who the winners for this year will be yet, but at 7:30pm Tuesday 4th October, Upstairs at the Ritzy in Brixton, be prepared to discuss and debate the finer points of the kind of science that brought us levitating frogs and homosexual necrophiliac mallards (which we have discussed before).

And of course, we will be running another live experiment. Hope to see you there!

Leave a comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

CineSci6 – Metropolis

Posted on September 6, 2011 by | 1 comment

Metropolis@CineSci6: Sunday 11 September, 3pm

CineSci 6
Our new CineSci6 season of films at the Clapham Picture House starts with arguably the mother of all sci-fi films, Fritz Lang’s 1927 silent epic Metropolis.

The film’s visually spectacular depiction of a futuristic city as a dystopian nightmare created the blueprint for almost every sci-fi movie skyline, from Blade Runner to The Fifth Element, its imagery has influenced popular musicians from Pink Floyd to Madonna. It is said that Metropolis was Adolf Hitler’s favourite film, its political message interpreted by the Nazi party to be in support of their ideas.

Metropolis tells the tale of a fantastical mega-city with Art Deco skyscrapers, elevated train tracks and wealthy, carefree residents, built on the toil of an army of underground, oppressed workers, and a robot created by a mad scientist to destroy it by spreading discord among the workforce. Taking two years to shoot and bankrupting its producers (with a budget of $200m in today’s money), the film deals with issues of class and labour that still persist to this day.

We’ll be showing the restored, full-length “director’s version” of the movie, and we’re especially delighted that after the screening the novelist and science writer Simon Ings will discuss some of the main themes explored in Metropolis, such as the pull between utopia and dystopia, and the ideas from industrial psychology that informed the discussions of the time. So, come and enjoy a classic vision of the urban future in one of the most iconic films of all time.

1 Comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

CineSci 6

Posted on August 31, 2011 by | Leave a comment

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.

Join us for #CineSci6

CineSci 6

Leave a comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

To Boldly Go… to the Pub

Posted on August 11, 2011 by | 1 comment

September’s PubSci – Beer and Galaxies

On Tuesday 6th September Upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy starting at 7:30pm (although you can come earlier if you like) our Designated Scientist Alice Sheppard of Galaxy Zoo will give you a glimpse into the world of Astronomy and Citizen Science over a pint of something nice.

This will be followed by a live experiment and probably a debate (if previous months are anything to go by)!

Galaxy Zoo

Astronomy has been the subject of wonder and speculation for as long as historical records exist (and probably for longer than that). As with all science, people got some things right and – even with the best methods available – some things wrong.

Since 2007 Alice Sheppard has run the Galaxy Zoo Forum, the discussion area for an online astronomy project with 300,000 members worldwide. Galaxy Zoo has so far produced 21 papers, whose authors and acknowledged contributors include several ‘ordinary’ citizens. Some of the findings were a direct result of questions or collections of objects created by users, who became “Citizen Scientists”.

Alice takes us through some of the best and worst of astronomical history and what ancient and modern mistakes have been made. We will hear about the questions people have brought to Galaxy Zoo, the ways in which biases have been found and dealt with by the scientists and participants, the beautiful and inspiring projects created by untrained people and the scientific thinking they have learned to apply for themselves.

We also take a look at citizen science in general, how Galaxy Zoo has taught large numbers of people to understand and use science and we will explore what this might mean for engaging the wider public.

By day Alice is an office superviser at a charity for disabled people; by night she writes about science and astronomy

The Experiment

After the talk you will get the chance (or be forcibly coerced) to be involved in a live experiment.

The Debate

A chance to discuss the most recent issues in science, if you have something to get off your chest about science, now is the time to do it.

See you on Tuesday!

1 Comment

Posted in Events

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,