Let's play highbrow Blankety Blank. 'Last night, Londonist attended the Royal BLANK Summer Exhibition'. If your answer was 'Academy', then you've gone for the obvious answer. You are Una Stubbs. If your answer was 'Society', then you've just won a Blankety Blank cheque book and pen. Well done, you. Yes, the Royal Society Summer Exhibition is in full swing. This jamboree of science and technology covers 27 stands throughout the marbled halls of the......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 10th March 1906: The Baker Street & Waterloo Railway opens, running between Baker Street and Elephant & Castle stations. It would soon become known as the Bakerloo Line. Tuesday – 11th March 1692: The Royal Chelsea Hospital is founded by Charles II. Designed by Christopher Wren, the hospital would also become the model for Greenwich’s Royal Navel Hospital. Wednesday – 12th March 1988: The Bank of England......

The Royal British Society of Sculptors? No, we hadn't heard of its existence either. Well, if there exists a Royal Society of Holographers, there must be a Royal Society for this slightly more ancient artistic medium. With its headquarters tucked away in on Old Brompton Road in West London, it has existed for just over 100 years and currently has over 500 members. They are working sculptors, from all over the world (they removed......

The book grocer’s coffers are chockfull of goodies this week, so let’s jump right in and get shopping... Monday: Crikey. Take a look at author and critic George Steiner’s publishing credits and you have to wonder whether the man has actually slept in the past fifty years. Yet the premise of the prolific writer’s most recent work, My Unwritten Books, is that there are actually some subjects that Steiner has purposely left unexplored. Join......

35. London UFOs Part One When the new millennium dawned, many UFO buffs, researchers and spotters packed up their binoculars and disposed of their files because UFOs weren’t ‘in’ anymore. Sightings had allegedly dissipated and the sceptics were rubbing their hands. However, whilst no strange craft appeared to be crashing in the deserts of the U.S. or buzzing witnesses in Mexico with any frequency, the millennium still offered much in the way of alleged......

The past few years haven't been kind to Brighton's finest Goth punk psychobilly exports, Eighties Matchbox B-Line Disaster. In the years since 2004's phenomenal "The Royal Society" album, they were scandalously dropped by their record label, parted with guitarist and founding member Andy Huxley and witnessed The Horrors steal the hearts of the nations Goth youth. They have a lot to prove tonight. Within 30 seconds of taking to the stage lead singer Guy......

This Week In London’s History Monday – 2nd July 1865: One-time Methodist minister William Booth preaches to a large crowd at an open-air ‘mission’ in Whitechapel, founding the ‘East London Christian Mission’, which would later be renamed ‘The Salvation Army’. Tuesday – 3rd July 1981: A punk concert at the Hamborough Tavern in Southall, West London, leads to fighting between skinheads and Asian youths. The riot is just one of many violent ‘uprisings’ to......

Fresh this Week: Two hundred years ago, in 1807, the British turned their backs on the Atlantic slave trade, though for 150 years they had grown fat on its proceeds. Why did they change their minds about it? And what significance should we attach to this, two centuries later? James Walvin, until recently Professor of History at the University of York and winner of the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for Black and White......

Event of the Week Battle of Ideas at the Royal College of Art, all weekend The Battle of Ideas is, according to their website, 'an annual festival of social, political, scientific, academic and cultural discussion'. In other, more juvenile words, it's a mass debate. And it's probably going to get quite messy. The panel-led discussions, organised by the Institute of Ideas, are designed to cut through the crap and get down to some genuine......

Event of the Week Structure and the Living Cell, Royal Society tonight The cell, despite its microscopic nature, is a vast, multiscale subject. Over the past 350 years, we've found increasingly tricksy ways of probing into cells at ever-deeper levels. Starting with a basic understanding that God's creatures are made of these little fuzzy circles, we moved on to catalogue all kinds of subcellular bits and blobs that function a bit like organs in......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition, from Monday Roll up, roll up, for the premier event in London’s popular science calendar. The annual Summer Science Exhibition is when the Royal Society fills up its halls with (a) top British scientists, (b) cool stuff to play with......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Carnal Knowledge at the Dana Centre, tonight We’ve seen innumerable attempts to make science sexy, but this one really does take the sticky biscuit. Does the G-spot exist? If so, where is it? Can vibrators beat the blues? Join the sexperts and test your carnal......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Hearing Colours, Seeing Sounds at the Dana Centre, tonight What flavour is Londonist? Salt and vinegar with an unwelcome hint of mustard? Or like the smell of a satellite, with green-tasting screeches? What sounds like nonsense to most of us can smell perfectly to people......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week So you want to be a brain surgeon?, Thursday at the Dana Centre Sometimes it’s hard trying to pick an Event of the Week. We were struggling this time, too, until spotting the following magic words in one of the listings: Then it's your turn.......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Are you comfortably numb?, Royal Society of Medicine, Friday The nature of consciousness is one of the great unanswereds. For scientists, it’s right up there with tapping cold fusion, curing cancer and understanding exactly why TV units insist on filming their labs with moody purple......

Sunday 23rd April is St George's Day and the Mayor of London has muscled in on celebrations with three events over the weekend. Saturday - Festival For St George at Covent Garden The sadism and shrill abuse of Punch and Judy shows are an acquired taste and Morris Dancing is less than enticing as a Saturday afternoon treat... however, that's what you're going to get at the Royal Society of St George organised Festival......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Why Creationism is Wrong and Evolution is Right, The Royal Society If Steve Jones was called something just a little bit more exciting than Steve Jones, he’d probably be in the Lord Winston or Richard Dawkins league of household names by now. His impeccable books, columns......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com No ‘Event of the Week’ in today’s listings. Sorry. Two reasons. (1) Nothing really catches the eye this week (the big event - Richard Dawkins talking about The Selfish Gene 30 Years On - is sold out). (2) This Londonista is getting married in a few days and, frankly,......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Breaking the spell at the RSA on Monday Science and religion. The two have been at loggerheads since the garden of Eden. ‘Eve,’ says Adam, ‘Did you know that we were created by the Lord, in His image?’. After a long pause, Eve says, ‘Really?......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week NODE.London, various events throughout March For one week only, allow us to stray away from our scientific comfort zone towards the techy hinterlands of our remit. NODE.London (a somewhat contrived acronym for Networked, Open, Distributed, Events. London) comprises a string of events around the city......

Note to RSS readers: This is not about Abu Hamza. Found: a very old and valuable manuscript from the dawn of modern science. Wanted: a ‘white knight’ with lots of cash to secure it for the nation. That’s the nub of the gist, anyway. The minutes of the Royal Society from 1661-1682 have been rediscovered in a private Hampshire home during an evaluation of the owner’s antiques. ‘I thought it must be too good......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Speed Dating: Laws of Attraction, at the Dana Centre What is it with trying to pair off sciency types? First we had that shindig over at the British Library, now the Dana Centre have decided to see if cupid’s arrow obeys Newton’s First Law. On......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Pure Iceland at the Science Museum Given the cheesy promotional video and the long list of sponsoring Icelandic companies, it’s easy to view this new exhibition as one big advert for the Icelandic tourist industry. And it’s certainly that. But there is an important message......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Bio-Bling: Bone jewellery, at the Dana Centre This one really is as creepy as it sounds. You can't give the one you love your heart. But you can grow him or her a ring from your bone tissue! At least it would be more pleasant......

Photograph based on actual events These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Making sense of our world at the Royal Institution Most of us are fortunate enough to be blessed with a full complement of senses. And those who are not, or who live with an impairment, are usually able to establish......

Photograph based on actual events. These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event Of The Week Beautiful Minds Mingle at the British Library ‘Cuddle a chemist and see the reaction.’ Remember that? If you’re of a certain vintage, you might recall this somewhat ill-advised campaign by a well-known chemistry society. The aim was to coax youngsters......

Photograph based on actual events. These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event of the Week Einstein vs. Newton debate at the Royal Society Bit of a hoary old chestnut, this one. With apologies to Darwin, these two heavyweights would easily top a 100-greatest-scientists-of-all-time poll. Channel 4: get commissioning! But which of the pair made the......

When it comes to Georgian house museums, London already has a lovely bunch of coconuts. Dickens, Johnson, John Soane and Handel have all opened up their abodes to us (as well as Jimi Hendrix who, rather improbably, was a latter-day ‘flatmate’ of Handel’s). On February 1st, the London home of Benjamin Franklin joins the troupe, to celebrate the polymath’s 300th birthday. If anyone can find a way to blow out so many candles in......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event Of The Week Ice Skating at the Natural History Museum Ice skating? Ice skating? By the beard of Copernicus what are we thinking, you might well enquire. Where’s the science in that? Well, we could talk about how the low sliding coefficient of friction facilitates experiments in Newtonian......

These listings appear every Wednesday. If you want to let us know about any upcoming science or technology events, you can contact us on LondonistSciTech@Gmail.com Event Of The Week Tomorrow’s Tower Blocks: the Dana Centre Here’s a strange thought. Many Londoners can recall a time, only a little more than 40 years ago, when nothing was taller than St Paul’s. Now, there are around 20 structures that outreach the cathedral, with many more on......