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Our events are open to all, but those particularly suitable for younger people are indicated with a suggested age. Aoife McLysaght Sean Carroll Greater moments in science Friday 14 October, 6.00pm – 7.15pm Dr Karl returns to the Ri with a fresh set of facts, figures and stories. Look forward to comparing apples and oranges, learning how an Australian scientist helped win the first world war, and proving children today are smarter than their parents. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. The big picture Monday 17 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Award-winning scientist and writer Sean Carroll ties together the fundamental laws of physics governing the workings of the cosmos with everyday human experience. He will take us on a journey from the origin of the Universe, through the evolution of life, to the eternal question of what it all really means. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Wi-Fi Wars Debug II: Bigger and buggier Friday 21 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Making a triumphant return to the Ri after setting a Guinness World Record in July, Wi-Fi Wars is a live comedy game show where you play along! Log in with your smartphone or tablet and compete in a range of games, quizzes and challenges against other members of the audience. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Spaceman: Mike Massimino Monday 24 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Have you ever wondered what it would be like to find yourself strapped to a giant rocket? Or to look back on the Earth from outer space? Or to repair the Hubble Space Telescope? Join Mike Massimino as he looks back on his remarkable 18-year career as a NASA astronaut. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. The science of stress Wednesday 26 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Stress is our natural reaction to physical or emotional pressure. But what goes on in our bodies and minds to cause stress? How does stress affect our memory, mood, thinking and overall health? Vincent Walsh and a panel of experts will investigate. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Artificial intelligence Friday 28 October, 7.20pm – 8.45pm The last five years have witnessed increased excitement about intelligent machines. In this Discourse former Christmas Lecturer Chris Bishop will describe recent technological breakthroughs which underpin this enthusiasm and explore some of the opportunities that artificial intelligence offers. Tickets: £18/£15 concession. Free for Ri Members. Family Fun Day: Surprising senses Sunday 30 October, arrive any time between 11.00am and 4.00pm It’s time for Family Fun Day, where we fill the Ri to the brim with a sensational set of demonstrations, experiments and talks. This time, explore the limits of the human senses and get your hands, noses, tongues, eyes and ears ready for an unforgettable experience. Tickets: £14/£7 under 18s. Discounts for Ri Members. November Astrobiology: The truth is out there Monday 7 November, 7.00pm – 8.30pm For millennia, humans have looked to the stars and wondered if we are alone in the Universe. From studying extreme life on Earth to searching for planets, science seems to be bringing us ever closer to answering this question. Jim Al-Khalili will discuss just how close we are to our first alien encounter. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. September I contain multitudes: The microbes within us and a grander view of life Thursday 1 September, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Every animal, whether wasp or squid or human, is a teeming mass of microbes – an entire world, a thriving ecosystem. Come and see yourself and the entire animal kingdom in a new light as award-winning science writer Ed Yong takes us on a tour of the multitudes of bacteria that influence our lives. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. How are memories made? Tuesday 6 September, 7.00pm – 8.30pm The brain has billions of neurons interconnected by trillions of synapses and it is at these synapses where memories are made. Hear how groundbreaking research by Timothy Bliss, Graham Collingridge and Richard Morris has transformed our understanding of memory, chaired by Claudia Hammond. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Operating at the boundaries: The science and art of high-performing teams Wednesday 7 September, 7.00pm – 8.30pm The smallest details can mean the difference between success and failure. Former Royal Navy Chief of Staff Dan Stembridge, Olympic gold medallist Anna Watkins MBE and high-performance vehicle engineer Andrew Bailey will discuss how success can be found where disciplines, sectors and datasets overlap. This event is presented in partnership with QuantumBlack. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Star Trek: Fact and fiction Thursday 8 September, 7.00pm – 8.30pm It has been half a century since the original series first aired and the Starship Enterprise beamed into our lives. 50 years on, join us for a celebration of Star Trek as Jamie Gallagher, Katie Steckles, Karl Byrne and a panel of scientists sort the science fact from the science fiction of this iconic show. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Homo Deus: The future of humanity Saturday 10 September, 2.30pm – 4.00pm How will humanity fare with advances in genetic engineering, nanotechnology and brain–computer interfaces? Will the human body, which has remained constant throughout countless revolutions in technology, economics and politics, start to change? Join Yuval Harari, author of ‘Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind’, for an exploration into the history and future of humanity. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Calculating the cosmos: How mathematics unveils the Universe Thursday 15 September, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Mathematics has been the driving force in astronomy since the ancient Babylonians, from Kepler’s influence on Newton to Einstein’s theory of general relativity, inspired by irregularities in the motion of Mars. Let former Christmas Lecturer Ian Stewart guide you through the mathematics of the Universe. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Colliding the future: where next? Wednesday 21 September, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Particle accelerators seem to be getting bigger, more powerful and more expensive in the quest for knowledge that helps us understand the Universe. Suzie Sheehy chairs a panel of four top researchers, representing four possible future projects, who will discuss how accelerators work and why these machines are being considered. This event is supported by STFC. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. October Giant lasers: Making miniature stars and saving the world Saturday 1 October, 6.00pm – 7.15pm Scientists are trying to recreate fusion, the energy source of the sun, to provide us with a clean, unlimited supply of energy. One way to make a miniature star on earth is by using the world’s most powerful lasers! Join physicist Kate Lancaster on a journey to find out how lasers could help power our world. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Einstein's greatest mistake Monday 3 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Albert Einstein is widely considered the greatest genius of all time, and yet in the final decades of his life his ideas were opposed by even his closest friends. Join author David Bodanis as he discusses ‘Einstein’s Greatest Mistake’, a brisk, accessible biography of Albert Einstein that reveals the genius and hubris of the titan of modern science. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Antimicrobial resistance: The end of modern medicine? Friday 7 October, 7.20pm – 8.45pm If you ask Chief Medical Officer Dame Sally Davies to name the most important issue facing the world today, antimicrobial resistance would be near the top of the list. In this Discourse, she delves into the history of antimicrobial resistance and the quest to avert the demise of modern medicine. Tickets: £18/£15 concession. Free for Ri Members. The DNA revolution: Can we predict people's chance of getting cancer? Tuesday 11 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm How will the availability of genetic tests for cancer risk change the medical landscape? Vivienne Parry will chair a panel including Shirley Hodgson, Rebecca Kristeleit, Nazneen Rahman and Mark Taylor to discuss the future of cancer. This event is in partnership with the Royal Society of Biology, the Biochemical Society and Cancer Research UK for Biology Week 2016. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Tomas Lindahl: In conversation Wednesday 12 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Tomas Lindahl won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his groundbreaking research identifying the way that DNA inside cells repairs itself. His work revolutionised cancer treatments, leading to new approaches to beating the disease. Hear him in conversation as he looks back on his life and career. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. What we cannot know Thursday 13 October, 7.00pm – 8.30pm Is it possible that we will one day know everything? Or are there fields of research that will always lie beyond the bounds of human comprehension? Former Christmas Lecturer Marcus du Sautoy will lead us on a thought-provoking expedition to the furthest reaches of modern science. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Evolution: New genes from scratch Tuesday 8 November, 7.00pm – 8.30pm How does evolution happen? Gradually over time, but in this year’s Genetics Society JBS Haldane Lecture, Aoife McLysaght will explain how researchers are unlocking the secrets of how new genes evolve, how they sometimes become essential and how they can cause diseases like cancer. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. How to win games and beat peoplee Friday 11 November, 6.00pm – 7.15pm “It’s not the winning that counts, it’s the taking part” is the battle cry of the loser. From an aerodynamicist’s advice on paper aeroplanes to a game theorist’s thoughts on Monopoly, Tom Whipple has spoken to preposterously overqualified experts to learn some of the surprising science of winning. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Kitchen chemistry: Secondss Friday 18 November, 6.00pm – 7.15pm Stephen Ashworth returns to the Ri to serve up another helping of the science of the everyday. Find out what links washing up liquid, a sports drink and the battery in your phone in this energetic exploration of the chemicals around us. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Operating at the boundaries: The science and art of getting things done Wednesday 23 November, 7.00pm – 8.30pm A panel of high-profile experts from science and industry divulge the secrets of efficiency and effectiveness in the second ‘Operating at the boundaries’ talk this autumn. This event is presented in partnership with QuantumBlack. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. The real building blocks of the Universee Friday 25 November, 7.20pm – 8.45pm According to our best theories of physics, the fundamental building blocks of matter are not particles, but continuous fluid-like substances known as ‘quantum fields’. In this Discourse, David Tong will explain what we know about these fields and how they fit into our understanding of the Universe. Tickets: £18/£15 concession. Free for Ri Members What’s the use of consciousness?s Monday 28 November, 7.00pm – 8.30pm What has consciousness ever done for us? When can actions be farmed out to non-conscious systems? Join Cecilia Heyes and a panel of leading leading neuroscientists and philosophers for a discussion of what our consciousness offers us and learn how it feels to be a subject in some of the key experiments trying to answer these questions. Tickets: £14/£10 concession. Discounts for Ri Members. Discourse Discourse Discourse Ages 7+ Ages 7+ Ages 12+ Ages 7+ Ages 12+
