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Talks start at 7pm-
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ImageRemember when PubSci used to meet in an actual pub…?
Tagged event, Geeks and Nerds, Pub, Pubsci, Science, science in the pub, social
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
Posted in Events
Tagged Albert Arms, Beer, Elephant & Castle, event, geek, Geeks and Nerds, London, Pub, Pubsci, Science, Science Communication, science in the pub, social, Southwark
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.
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!
Posted in Events
Tagged Beer, Brixton, Brixton Ritzy, event, geek, Geeks and Nerds, London, Pub, Pub quiz, Pubsci, Science, Science fiction, Science in Society, science in the pub, science quiz, social
December PubSci: Festive Pub Trip
On Wednesday 19th December we’re having a change of venue and going for a trip to the lovely King’s Arms pub near London Bridge.
It’ll be a chance for some science-flavoured socialising over some real ales in a traditional London boozer. Drop in from 6pm onward!
By the way, you can check out Palaeosam’s write-up of November’s PubSci here.
Posted in Events
Tagged Beer, Geeks and Nerds, London, Science, science in the pub, social
November PubSci: Museums and Science
Why museum collections are vital to life on Earth
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.
Posted in Events
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
Ada Lovelace PubSci Special
Celebrating Women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths)
On Tuesday 16th October we will have a PubSci special celebrating women in STEM hosted by Dr Rebekah Higgitt.
Ada Lovelace Day is about sharing stories of women in STEM subjects who have been inspirational. Ada was born in 1815 and became a mathematician, writer and arguably the world’s first computer programmer over 100 years before the first electronic computer was invented. Talk about being ahead of her time!
We will celebrate by having a variety of women at different stages of their STEM careers talking about what they do, their experiences as a female in STEM and the female figures that have inspired them. Then the floor will open for the usual exchange of ideas and quaffing of appropriately alcoholic beverages until time is called at the bar.
Join us at the Brixton Ritzy Upstairs Bar from 18:45ish for food, drink and a chat, ready for an 19:30 start.
Oh yes, and as always entry is free!
Posted in Events
Tagged Ada Lovelace, cafe sci, Pub, Pubsci, Science, Science Communication, Science in Society, science in the pub, social, women in science
September PubSci: Physics Special
Symmetry, singularities & string theory
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!
Posted in Events
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
July PubSci: Terrible Table Manners
The Feeding Habits of Carnivorous Dinosaurs
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!
Posted in Events
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
March PubSci: 1000 Years of Cultural Amnesia
On Tuesday 6th March at 7:30pm Upstairs at the Brixton Ritzy we will be exploring science in the context of Arabic with Dr Anne-Maria Brennan.
Anne-Maria is a Principal Lecturer in Bioscience and Forensic Biology at London South Bank University. One of her many activities (besides music and co-writing the definitive entry textbook on Ecology) has been to organise, chair and present at conferences for the British Science Association on the Muslim contribution to science.
Islamic heritage in the sciences is a fascinating area that has sometimes been the subject of a form of cultural amnesia – why not join us to find out more about the causes, consequences and cures?
PubSci 