blog

The posters and billboards on the London Underground are often telling Londoners they’re the most ‘culturally aware’ of the British, probably thanks to the number of museums, exhibitions and events on offer at any moment. Starting today, we—and of course, our many visitors–are about to become the most scientifically curious as well, thanks to the first city-wide London Science Festival!

London—being a world leader in research—obviously has a lot of scientific events already, but not even the annual Summer Science Exhibition hosted by the Royal Society can compete with the sheer size of this brand-new extravaganza. The festival starts today (19th October) and will run to the 26th at dozens of different venues across the city, many of which are already very familiar names on the science circuit, like the Natural History Museum and the Royal Observatory. The festival also incorporates a great deal of popular culture in amongst the science with participation from organizations such as the London College of Fashion, the Globe Theatre and the Coronet Cinema.

The week-long schedule comprises 30 separate events, catering to the tastes of the scientific community as well as the general public. Whether you’re interested in playing with the next generation of Martian exploration vehicle, curious as to how a group of chimpanzees reacts to a televised primate soap opera or would like to spend the evening with Richard Dawkins, there really is something for everyone in this hotspot of nerdy activity.

Some of the week’s highlights include:

The Big Bang Machine – One of the coldest objects in the known universe, its interior vacuum is as empty as the far reaches of interplanetary space and it’s buried underground somewhere near Geneva. The Large Hadron collider is the world’s most impressive experiment, helping us to understand the beginnings of our universe, but how does it work? Find out in this one-off seminar at UCL!

Your Days Are Numbered: The Maths of Death – Beware, you have a 0.000043% chance of dying during this laugh-out-loud performance of stand-up mathematics! Following on from sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Festival and the Cheltenham Science Festival, mathematicians-come-comedians Timandra Harkness and Matt Parker take you on a hilarious journey through the world of maths that your high-school teacher neglected to mention. Best of all, if you’re not one of the unlucky 0.000043%, your life expectancy will go up by 12 minutes just by watching the show!

Science Museum Lates – It is often said that the only thing sturdy enough to survive a nuclear holocaust is the humble (yet somewhat unpopular) cockroach. In this special addition of the familiar monthly event, visitors to the Science Museum Lates will have the opportunity to look at the potential impact that climate change will have on the cockroach and learn about what this could mean for other organisms and even our own species.

Some of the popular events are already starting to sell out as news of the festival spreads around town, but fear not, as many of the activities are free and require only that you spend a few minutes braving the glorious British weather to gain access.

So, if you’re in town in the next week or so and eager to have fun, be intrigued or simply want to broaden your horizons a little, head down to some of the Science Festival events. As mentioned above, they take place all over London, so you’ll probably want to peruse the programme beforehand, or follow @LondonSciFest on twitter.