London events for people with curious minds.
Monday 17 September
FOTSN: The Festival of the Spoken Nerd crew are back with a new run of their anarchic geeky comedy. Tonight's show is at the Cockpit in Marylebone, with another on 22 October if you can't make it. £8, 7.30pm
Tuesday 18 September
SUSTAINABILITY: Can chemistry help us build a sustainable future? John Emsley is at SCI headquarters in Belgrave Square to throw some ideas around. FREE, 6.30pm
BATS!: Wellcome Collection organises a bat walk through Regent's Park for quiet bat-people. Bring your own torch and Batman impression. FREE, 6.45pm
COMPLICATED PHYSICS STUFF: John Hamilton is guest speaker at this month's Science In The Pub. He will fill the upstairs of the Ritzy in Brixton with singularities and strings. FREE, 6.45pm
BRIGHT CLUB: This month's Bright Club at the Wilmington Arms features academics and comedians talking about things that are tiny. £5, 7.30pm
Wednesday 19 September
WE CAN REBUILD YOU: Meet a robotic exoskeleton that could help paralysed people walk again, at Wellcome Collection. FREE, 2pm
ELECTRIC CARS: The Dana Centre, the Science Museum's adults-only venue, returns after a summer break with a screening of a documentary and a talk about electric cars. FREE, 6pm
Thursday 20 September
MEDICINE: A talk at Wellcome Collection looks at the tragedy of thalidomide, with archive footage showing the effects of the drug during its use in the 1950s and 60s. FREE, 3pm
MORE MEDICINE: This week's Hendrick's Lecture at the Last Tuesday Society looks at the surprising history of blood transfusions. £4-£12, 7pm
WE CAN REBUILD YOU...AGAIN: More superhuman intervention at Wellcome Collection, where a team from UCL describes new techniques to build windpipes, noses and other useful bits from a patient's stem cells. FREE, 6pm
TV SCIENCE: The Dana Centre looks back at how Science Museum exhibitions have tied in with TV series. FREE, 6.30pm
NATURAL HISTORY: Wellcome Collection's late opening includes a talk about the long history of bonds between humans and animals. FREE, 7pm
Friday 21 September
TEDxEALING: An independently organised TED conference comes to Ealing, where the theme is storytelling. £47, 9am
COSMIC RAYS: This year marks the 100th anniversary of the discovery of cosmic rays. The origins of these high-energy particles remain obscure to this day. A lunchtime talk at the Royal Society looks back to their discovery, and forward to new experiments. FREE, 1pm
BRAIN STIMULATION: A busy week for Wellcome Collection concludes with this talk about the potential uses of brain stimulation. FREE, 2pm
FILTHY HOBBITSES: It's 75 years since the publication of JRR Tolkein's The Hobbit. The British Library discusses the influence of that tale. £7.50, 6.30pm
Saturday 22 September
OPEN HOUSE: The annual Open House architectural extravaganza returns today and tomorrow, with hundreds of buildings opening their doors to the public. We'll flag up some highlights in a separate post. FREE, 9am-5pm (roughly)
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments, or tip us off about upcoming events by emailing matt@londonist.com