Events for Londoners with curious minds.
Monday 6 June
BOOKS: Jennifer Rohn's lablit bookclub returns to the Royal Institution tonight. This month's book is Neal Stephenson's Zodiac. FREE, 7pm
STEAMPUNK: The largest exhibition of steampunk arts, craft and design in the world opened at Kew Bridge Steam Museum over the weekend. £9.50, runs until 29 Aug
Tuesday 7 June
GENETICS: Ever heard of atomic gardening? Apparently it was a 1950s/60s fad for irradiating plants to create mutants. Blogger Paige Johnson reveals all at the Garden Museum. £10, 2pm
TECH: The Inspire Conference at Senate House is a two-day meeting that bills itself as an affordable version of a TED conference (although 'affordable' is a subjective term, of course). See some of the big names from the tech business, including reps from Rovio, Spotify and Mozilla. Tickets around £500, full price
PUB: Scientists in the Pub returns to the Ritzy in Brixton (in the upper-most bar). Expect short talks, boozy chat and an audience experiment (last time, we had to distinguish red from white wine while blindfolded, then discuss the variables we'd need to control to make it a fair test). It's not just for scientists: anyone with an inquiring mind is welcome. FREE, 7.30pm, #PubSci
MAKING: Weekly open evening at London Hackspace, a venue for anyone interested in making, building, coding. FREE, 7pm
Wednesday 8 June
TECH: Could the pace of innovation actually be slowing down? The FT's Tim Harford argues that 'long shot' technologies are increasingly expensive to attempt, hence stymying innovation. Is he right? Find out at the Royal Institution tonight. £10/£7, 7pm
SCI-FI: Tonight's British Library talk focuses on the work of HG Wells. Speakers include Stephen Baxter. £7.50/£5, 6.30pm
FILM: The British Interplanetary Society in Lambeth host an HD screening of First Orbit, the story of Yuri Gagarin's pioneering space voyage. £5, 7pm
Thursday 9 June
NEURO: Why are pleasure and pain addictive? Those in the know talk about what happens in the brain when we experience these sensations, at the Dana Centre tonight. FREE, 7pm
SPACE: Ted Nield is at the Royal Observatory Greenwich talking about his new book on the friendly face of asteroid impacts Incoming! Or, Why We Should Stop Worrying And Learn To Love The Meteorite. £10/£7.50, 7pm
SPACE: A new exhibition of photos of Yuri Gagarin opens today in the Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room. Finishes 4 July. FREE
SMELLS: An evening dedicated to our nasal sense at Wellcome Collection this evening. Plenty of drop-in activities and a couple of bookable talks on the biochemistry of smell and the art of perfumery. FREE, 7-10pm
Friday 10 June
SCI-FI: Another talk at the British Library, this time tackling time travel. A magnificent line up includes Stephen Baxter (again), Audrey Niffenegger, John Gribbin and Paul Cornell. £7.50/£5, 6.30pm
Saturday 11 June
LOCKPICKING: London Hackspace in Hoxton teaches the 'sport' of lockpicking. FREE, 3pm
SCI-FI: Regular meetup of the London Science Fiction and Fantasy group. Join to find the location. FREE, 6pm
