Tag Archives: Pub

‘Science in Unexpected Places’ | 19th June, Eva Amsen

What do rubber ducks at sea have in common with edible art and a Japanese TV show?

On Wednesday 19th June PubSci is delighted to welcome celebrated science writer and blogger, Dr. Eva Amsen, to share favourite episodes from her entertaining new book, “Hey, There’s Science in This“.

Several yellow plastic ducks

Ducks Ahoy! (Image: Gaetan Lee – Creative Commons)

Real science can be found in the most unlikely places, and Eva Amsen has collected some of the best and funniest examples in her book, Hey, There’s Science in This.

For tonight’s talk, Eva has selected her favourite amusing stories from the book to delight, entertain and enlighten us as she explores the connections between hot springs and genetics, the psychology behind your study playlist, hiking trail geology and much more.

Hey There’s Science in This is an approachable and fun read that has garnered five star reviews since its publication on 28th March. Copies will be available to purchase at the event.

Come to June’s PubSci and discover the fun science behind the most unexpected things.

Places for this popular talk are very limited. Book yours on Eventbrite now for an entertaining evening that’s bound to satisfy everyone’s inner nerd. Copies of Eva’s books will be on sale after the talk.

A book cover

“Hey, There’s Science in This” was published in March to five star reviews.

          Book Cover for Biology - 100 ideas in 100 words

Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge tube on Wednesday 19th June.

Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. Talks run for ~45 minutes and are followed by a Q&A session. The Old King’s Head has a happy hour before 7pm, and the kitchen serves excellent pub grub.

Reserve your place now!  PubSci is a pay-what-you-can event – please consider making a donation with your reservation to help us cover our costs.

We use Eventbrite to manage event numbers. Subscribe to be notified of forthcoming talks

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About the speaker

EVA-AMSEN-Donna-Ford2023-9 crop

Photo Credit: Donna Ford

Eva Amsen is a science writer based in London specialising in the interface between science and culture. She has written about science and scientists for numerous publications, including Nature, the British Medical Journal, Undark, Hakai, and the Forbes website, where she has a regular column.

Eva began her writing career with a science blog during her Biochemistry PhD at the University of Toronto. Some of those blog posts were collected into her first book, Hey, There’s Science in This, published in March 2024. She still blogs regularly via her Substack called Mixture.

Eva’s second book, Biology: 100 Ideas in 100 Words, allows readers to understand the most important concepts in biology through concise, easy-to-read summaries. Part of a cutting-edge series in partnership with The Science Museum, it was published by DK in May 2024.

PubSci is delighted to welcome Eva to the latest in our series of monthly talks.

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Support PubSci

There is no charge for attending PubSci talks, but we have a traditional whip-round to cover expenses – consider it a “Pay What You Can” event. Very few of us carry cash these days, so you can contribute digitally through our TipJar or make a donation when registering for ticketed events with Eventbrite. Please help PubSci continue putting on events. PubSci has no other source of funding.

We aim to keep PubSci accessible for all, although it is unsuitable for under 18s as we meet in the function room of  a pub. Regrettably, there is no wheelchair access. 

Check out the Future Events page where you can also subscribe to our Google Calendar so PubSci events automatically appear in your own Calendar.  You can find all our links on our LinkTree.

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We used to meet on the first Wednesday of the month but PubSci is now on the third Wednesday. Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head near London Bridge Underground (Borough High Street east side exit) every month apart from December for a regular dose of Sipping, Supping & Science.

image-third-wednesdays

Address:

The Old King’s Head (upstairs room)
King’s Head Yard
45-49 Borough High Street
London SE1 1NA

Weds 20th September | The Weird and Wonderful World of Eels

[Booking via eventbrite. Free to attend but donations to running costs are greatly appreciated]

Eels! Where do they breed? What was ‘eel rent’? And where have all the eels gone?

On Wednesday 20th September PubSci is delighted to welcome Dr Michael Williamson of ZSL Institute of Zoology to talk about the weird and wonderful world of eels.

A 1911 picture of an eel

The common European eel (Wikimedia Commons)

Eels are one of the UK’s most mysterious native fish species, so much so that a rich cultural folklore surrounds them. The Mighty Boosh even sang about them.

Eels were once so common that taxes were sometimes paid by the 10,000 eels but a recent environmental DNA survey found absolutely no trace of them in the Somerset Levels – a landscape once famous for eels. So what is going on?

In this talk, Mike will discuss the history of eels in human culture, their bizarre – and still mysterious – lifecycle and migration habits, and the enormous threat that now faces this most curious of fish. He’ll even address a question we’ve all wanted to ask but were too shy to say out loud… “Are eels better than whales?”

Once again, we’re using Eventbrite booking – please follow this link to reserve your spot.

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Mike Williamson is a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the Institute of Zoology, the research division of the Zoological Society of London (the global conservation organisation best known to children as Regents Park Zoo). He works at the interface of conservation, climate change and biodiversity, seeking to minimise the impact human-activity has on the natural world.

Michael uses tagging technology and remote sensing to investigate the movements and migrations of marine and freshwater fauna, exploring how this is influenced by environmental drivers, anthropogenic disturbance and climate change. He has tagged whales, tracked sharks and is currently knee-deep in eels.

Don’t miss this unique opportunity to hear what he has to say. Booking via Eventbrite is now live!

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Eels being handled by a biologist

Photo: Michael Williamson

PubSci is grateful to Mike for stepping in at short notice. Erica McAlister’s talk will now take place next year.

Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge station. Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. The Old King’s Head has a happy hour before 7pm, and the kitchen serves excellent pub grub.

• • •

Please support PubSci.

There is no charge for attending PubSci talks, but we have a whip-round to cover expenses. Because so few of us carry cash these days, you can contribute digitally too. Please help PubSci continue to put on events.

We aim to keep PubSci accessible for all, although it is unsuitable for under 18s as we meet in the function room of  a pub. Regrettably, there is no wheelchair access. 

Please check our Future Events page where you can also subscribe to our iCal feed.  You can find all our links on our LinkTree.

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We used to meet on the first Wednesday of the month but PubSci is now on the third Wednesday.

image-third-wednesdays

Address:

The Old King’s Head (upstairs room)
King’s Head Yard
45-49 Borough High Street
London SE1 1NA

PubSci Returns: 19th April 2023 | Old King’s Head Pub

The rumours are true: PubSci is back!

Three years after the pandemic halted live events, PubSci returns to its familiar home near London Bridge for a cornucopia of science talks in the comfort of the Old King’s Head (OKH). 

On Wednesday 19th April PubSci presents our Restart Special: A Celebration of Science.

Four Speakers in One Night

The PubSci Restart Special will be an evening of entertaining short talks on fascinating science topics. Some will make you laugh. Some will make you think. Some might turn you to drink. After the main event, you’ll have time to catch up with old friends, space to make new friends, and the opportunity to chat with your kind of people over a drink or two.

Save the date now and look out for the full event announcement in early April.

The OKH has a well-stocked bar, a happy hour from 5-7pm (we start at 7), and a great range of pub grub. The landlord has kindly agreed to keep the kitchen open for us, so you can satisfy your physiological and intellectual appetites at the same time.

Third Wednesday of Every Month

Looking ahead, we have a constellation of fantastic speakers lined up, including some all-time PubSci favourites. Don’t forget, we’ve moved from the first Wednesday of the month to the third, so please put third Wednesdays in your diary, beginning with 19th April 2023.

I’ll be announcing the spring/summer programme at the Restart Special before posting it on our website. While there, you can subscribe to the PubSci calendar to be notified as events are scheduled. Don’t forget to join our email list to receive the full monthly update.

PubSci remains free to attend. We pass round a beer mug at each event on a pay-what-you-can basis to cover costs such as speakers’ expenses and AV equipment. 

See you on the 19th!

Richard

 

PS  You can follow us on social media too.

Twitter   Facebook   Youtube

Regretably, the upstairs room at the OKH is not wheelchair accessible.

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What’s the future of PubSci Online?

Running PubSci via Zoom while we were unable to get together in person was a great experience, despite the additional costs. Creating a Virtual Pub with Real Science ™ allowed me to invite speakers from the USA, and gave us the chance to widen the PubSci community without geographical limits. We haven’t forgotten you!

Whilst PubSci is about in-person science communication at heart, returning to live events doesn’t mean the end of the wider PubSci community. The April event will be IRL only, but we hope to begin live-streaming later in the spring. Once live events are up-and running I will work on the logistics and set about finding volunteers to record and stream live talks. If you come to PubSci regularly and have experience with OBS, please get in touch!

If you’ve never been to PubSci, our YouTube channel has recordings of our online talks during lockdown


 

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Remember when PubSci used to meet in an actual pub…?

Anne Gare -Death, Dying, and Death Awareness in Our Culture & Society

On Wednesday 1st February, Anne Gare, who is an embalmer and funeral director at Midcounties Co-operative Funeralcare will be joining us to discuss the topic of death and how we consider it. She has the unique experience of the funeral industry across two countries, with a particular interest in alternative burial such as green burials.

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Anne Gare

Society isn’t keen to talk about the most inevitable part of life – death. Anne wishes to address this and answer your questions on death and mortuary science. Mortuary Science isn’t often thought about, but it covers a wide range of topics from art (such as reconstruction), chemistry and biology of embalming down to some psychological aspects of grieving.

Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge station. Doors open at 6pm for a 7pm start and as usual the event is free, but we will have a whip-round to cover costs – we hope to see you there!

Dr Ruth Siddall – Pigments of our imagination

On Wednesday 5th October we’re delighted to have Dr Ruth Siddall of UCL talking about the colourful topic of pigments.

Ruth is a co-author of The Pigment Compendium and works on the characterisation, synthesis and history of use of pigments, particularly in Roman period painting.

Photomicrograph of the pigment Indian Yellow in cross-polarised light

Photomicrograph of the pigment Indian Yellow in cross-polarised light

Pigments are the materials which give colour to paints. We’ve all heard about yellow ochre and ultramarine, but there are many weird and, to be honest, totally unacceptable materials used out there for pigments. Artists and painters have been incredibly resourceful in finding and creating new colours over the last 40,000 years of experimentation, and new pigments such as Vanta Black and YinMin Blue are still being introduced today. Pigments can be derived from minerals and also dyes extracted from plants and animals, but a number of more unexpected sources of pigments have been used. If it’s coloured, someone has painted with it.

This talk will explore the analytical techniques used to identify pigments in paintings and the stories behind paints such as Indian Yellow, Emerald Green, Turacine and Mummy Brown.

Join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge station. Doors open at 6pm for a 7pm start and as usual the event is free, but we will have a whip-round to cover costs – we hope to see you there!

Dave Hone – Tyrannosaurs: Fact vs Fiction

On Wednesday 6th July we’re pleased to welcome back palaeontologist, lecturer and writer Dr David Hone, who will be sifting the facts from the fiction about everyone’s favourite dinosaur – Tyrannosaurus.

Dave1

Dave with Tyrannosaurus in Tokyo

Dave is a lecturer at Queen Mary University of London, writer for the Guardian and author of the recently published Tyrannosaur ChroniclesHe’s worked on dinosaurs and pterosaurs all over the world and is a great proponent of scientists engaging the public with their work – especially when it comes to how we know what we we know and how that changes with new evidence.

So unleash that 7 year old inside and revel in the terrified joy that only a gigantic, prehistoric, meat-eating monster can bring and join us upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge station. Doors open at 6pm for a 7pm start and as usual the event is free, but we will have a whip-round to cover costs – we hope to see you there!

Katrina van Grouw – A Very Fine Swan Indeed: Art, Science & The Unfeathered Bird

On Wednesday 1st June we’re very pleased to have Katrina van Grouw speaking at PubSci.

KvG-Katrina van Grouw low res

Katrina inhabits that no-man’s land, slap bang between art and science. A graduate of the Royal College of Art, her formal education was in Printmaking and Natural History Illustration, but she’s also a dedicated ornithologist, a former Natural History Museum curator, a qualified bird ringer, and an experienced preparator of natural history specimens.

KvG-book cover

The book, The Unfeathered Bird, is a magnum opus twenty five years in the
making, and was originally intended as a manual for bird artists. It was only much later that it blossomed into something far more ambitious. A world away from textbooks and diagrams, this is a work equally intended for scientists and artists, indeed anyone with an appreciation of birds or an interest in their adaptations and behaviour. It includes no fewer than 385 illustrations of 200 species, all made from actual specimens, many of which are shown in lifelike positions. Virtually all the complete skeletons were prepared and reconstructed at home from specimens donated from zoos, wildlife hospitals and conservation charities.

KvG-budgie skeletonKvG-great hornbill skeleton small

Join Katrina as she explains her aims and inspirations, shares her insights about birds beneath their feathers, and relates how her home was turned upside down as more and more specimens joined the queue.

Doors open at 6pm for a 7pm start upstairs at the Old King’s Head, near London Bridge station. As usual, the event is free, but we will have a whip-round to cover costs – we hope to see you there!

PUBSCI NEWS

New venue for monthly PubSci

After nearly two years of PubSci in the Upstairs bar at the Ritzy in Brixton, we have decided to move on. The Ritzy was a great place to run the events thanks to the helpful staff, but noise from the downstairs bar was an ongoing issue and we are moving on in search of slightly quieter pastures (we were also keen to find a venue with more ales than lagers).

The new venue for PubSci is the Albert Arms, which is a traditional boozer (with some proper beers) located in Southwark, just a short walk from Elephant & Castle tube.

The Albert Arms. Photo by Ewan-M

Starting with a BANG!

The first event at the Albert will be Claire Benson telling the stories of fire and explosions from the 19th century that captured imaginations, changed the face of the planet and the very way we see the cosmos.

So, if you want to know how spontaneous combustion led to the London Fire Brigade creation, how explosives actually saved many lives, and how the development of 1 small piece of laboratory equipment lead to us understanding the very makeup and expansion of the universe, then join us at 6:30pm on Monday 14th January (yes, the day before the pub quiz – our last event in Brixton).

We hope you like the new venue!

January PubSci: Pub Quiz

Science Pub Quiz

Happy New Year from PubSci! We will be starting 2013 with another sciencey pub quiz on Tuesday 15th January.

Darwin-pub-quiz

Doors of the Upstairs Bar of the Brixton Ritzy will open at 7:30pm for an 8pm start, so bring your brains and gather your team members (max of 5 per team) for a mixed bag of science, pseudoscience and sci-fi questions.

We will be asking for £2 per person to go into the prize pot, so be prepared and spread the word – the more people that come, the bigger the the prize!