On Tuesday 20th November we will have museum curator and regular PubSci host Paolo Viscardi talking about museum collections and their value to science, society and species survival.
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Tagged Brixton, Brixton Ritzy, cafe sci, cafe scientifique, event, geek, Geeks and Nerds, London, Pub, Pubsci, Science, Science Communication, Science in Society, science in the pub, social
On Tuesday 18th September we will have PubSci regular Dr. John Hamilton guiding us on a tour of why physicists always bang on about symmetry, and how it fits in to theoretical physics.
You may have encountered John if you’ve been to PubSci before, he’s the one who has clearly explained the answers to really interesting questions like “what are the LHC and the Higgs Boson all about?” and “what does it mean if neutrinos travel faster than the speed of light?”
John will be talking mainly about symmetry, touching on singularities and string theory (and why it’s probably wrong) along with all sorts of exciting concepts that we’ve heard about thanks to the enthusiastic outpourings of Prof. Brian Cox.
In short, it’ll be an evening of really complicated science made really interesting and understandable. Plus beer.
So why not join us at the Brixton Ritzy Upstairs Bar from 18:45ish for food, drink and a chat, ready for an 19:45ish start?
Oh yes, and as always it’s free!
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Tagged Beer, Brixton, Brixton Ritzy, Drink, geek, Geeks and Nerds, Higgs Boson, Large Hadron Collider, London, Physics, Pub, Pubsci, Science, Science Communication, science in the pub, social, Standard Model, String theory
On Tuesday 28th August we will be making the most of the new expanded floor space Upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy by holding a science pub quiz. Ten rounds of questions intended to put your general scientific knowledge to the test.
You won’t need to be Einstein to have some fun and maybe win some prizes, so why not join us for a fun evening of fun science facts and a light smattering of science fiction?
We suggest you try to arrive by 7pm to get food and drink ready for a 7:30pm start. Don’t worry if you don’t have a team to bring, there’s a friendly crowd and there will be other people happy to join forces. We look forward to seeing you on the night!
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Tagged Brixton, event, Geeks and Nerds, Pub quiz, Pubsci, Science, science in the pub
On Tuesday 17th July Tuesday 24th July we will be finding out more about dinosaur behaviour with Dr. David Hone.
Understanding the diet and feeding habits of long extinct species is a challenge, but it can provide an insight into predator-prey relationships, ecosystem structure and animal behaviour in past environments.
Majungatholus atopus feeding. Artwork by Demetrios M. Vital
Dave is the founder of Ask A Biologist, he runs an excellent blog and he is one of the latest additions to the Guardian’s science blogging stable. He is also an active vertebrate palaeontologist involved in some really interesting research on dinosaurs, pterosaurs and birds. That means he isn’t just reporting on this topic – you’ll be hearing about the research, results and the fossils from the source.
Why not join him for an insight into the science used to explore the feeding habits of the mighty meat-eating dinosaurs – you may never see T. rex and Velociraptor in quite the same way again!
The talk will start around 7:45pm, but the venue (Upstairs at the Ritzy) will be open from 6pm for those who want food, a drink and a bit of geeky chat. Hope to see you there!
Oh yes, and it’s FREE!
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Tagged Brixton, Brixton Ritzy, cafe sci, cafe scientifique, Dinosaur, Earth Sciences, geek, Geeks and Nerds, Mesozoic, Paleontology, Pub, Pubsci, Science, science in the pub, social, Velociraptor, Vertebrates
On Tuesday 7th February we will be celebrating Darwin Day Upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy.
Paolo Viscardi will lead the celebrations with a talk on Darwin’s life, his evolutionary ideas and their lasting legacy. Then we can get down to the serious business of discussion about some of the issues raised over a beer.
Join us from 6pm if you want to get food, drink and conversation. The more formal bit won’t start until 7:30pm and the talk will probably kick off at 8pm. Oh, and as always, PubSci is free!
We hope you can make it!
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Tagged Brixton, Brixton Ritzy, cafe sci, cafe scientifique, Cinema, Darwin, event, geek, Geeks and Nerds, Science, science in the pub, social
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.”
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Tagged Cinema, cinesci6, Clapham Picturehouse, classic film, cult film, Film, geek, Geeks and Nerds, Science fiction, Sexuality
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:
See you on Tuesday 6th December from 7:30, upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy!
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Tagged Astronomy, Beer, British Science Association, Brixton, Geeks and Nerds, London, Pub, pubquiz, Pubsci, Quiz, Science, science in the pub, social
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
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)
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Tagged Bonfire Night, Brixton, cafe sci, cafe scientifique, event, explosion, fire, Forensic science, geek, Geeks and Nerds, Guy Fawkes Night, Pub, Pubsci, Science, Science Communication, Science in Society, science in the pub, sitp, social
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
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Tagged Cinema, cinesci6, Clapham Picturehouse, classic film, cult film, Economist, Film, Forbidden Planet, geek, Geeks and Nerds, London, Movies, Robby the Robot, sci-fi, Science, Science fiction, science in the pub, social
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