Hooray and Huzzah for the British Science Association, that organisation supporting science communication across the UK without feeling the need to put ‘Royal’ in front of its name*. And** hooray for their Science Communication Conference, where a bunch of the UK’s professionals get together to work out how they can share science even better.
But*** most of all hooray for us. Because**** we’re organising a special gig to celebrate the conference, with some amazing communicators of science who don’t usually get down to the filthy, crime-ridden metropolis*****, and some classic home bankers.
The gig is on Wednesday May 15th at the Star of Kings on York Way in London, two doors up from the Science Communication Conference venue (Kings Place). Doors will be at 7pm, with the gig running until 10pm (with an intermission).
You can find out more about how Science Showoff works here
Note for regular Showoff fans - this is the only London Science Showoff in May. Do come along and see some fantastic talent from outside the capital perform. We promise it’ll be good and the Star of Kings does some fantastic ales.
We’ll announce performers one-by-one as they email in details of their sets. So to start you off:
Compere Steve Cross - will tell jokes, keep acts to time, lead the cheering and get science wrong for comic purposes. If you want to know what to expect, why not come and see him as part of an amazing Bright Club lineup on May 9th at the Bloomsbury Theatre.
Ian Simmons be talking about his relationships with dead animals.
Suze Kundu - Shaken or Stirred; the science behind the great Martini debate. Will require volunteers – kindly line stomachs before embarking on this rollercoaster ride through some of the science behind beverages containing everyone’s favourite molecule, CH3CH2OH.
Ian Wilson – What happens when Evolution has a bad day? I’ll be taking a look at some of Nature’s more unfortunate-looking creations and asking what Evolution was thinking… if anything. Expect birds, mammals and a deep-sea fish that looks like John Prescott.
Liz Granger - Isn’t beer just the bees knees? Hangovers though, not so much. Liz Granger is going to explore the biology behind hangovers and investigate whether there’s a way we can avoid them using *science*.
Rick Hall - You can not be serious, man! YOU CAN NOT BE SERIOUS!!! With the pace of innovation going wild, how can we distinguish science fact from science fiction? Rick Hall will help, with red and green cards you can wave in the air.
Holly Rogers - I will be talking about the science behind that well known evolutionary textbook, the film “Megashark vs Giant Octopus”. This is all you need to know.
Kate Cross researches psychological differences between men and women. This has, of course, never before been the subject of stand-up comedy. So don’t miss her set on sex, skydiving, meta-analysis, and what happens when it all goes off for peer review.
Hayley Frend - Showing how science can help you kick ass! A whistle-stop tour of the science of martial arts- accompanied by lots of kicking, punching and breaking.
Lewis Dean - Can you tell a googly from a doosra? As an Ashes summer dawns, I shall examine the science behind cricket and I’ll even show you a silly mid-off.
1 more act to follow…
ENTRY TO THE GIG IS FREE BUT WE WILL BE COLLECTING ON THE DOOR FOR THE SHELTER FROM THE STORM CHARITY (http://www.sfts.org.uk/). We suggest a donation of £5.
* – because nothing says “rigorous and evidence-based learning” like “God put a special family in charge”.
** – yes, I started a sentence with ‘And’. All complaints to the usual address.
*** – and ‘but’. I’m really just trying to discourage pedantic readers.
**** – I have never done sentence structure-based trolling before. It’s great.
***** – Why is the city in Superman called Metropolis? That’s stupid. It might as well be called City.
