Thomas GerdesThe history of the Friday Evening Discourse
#history #science #RoyalInstitution #RI
https://www.rigb.org/explore-science/explore/blog/history-friday-evening-discourse
JdeBPThrough the initial part of the second of the #RoyalInstitution #ChristmasLectures this year, I was preparing to moan that they had focussed on the possibility of life on the (major) Solar planets, and missed the idea that #ArthurCClarke popularized via _2010_.
I should not have been so pessimistic.
They went full throttle into the idea of the possibility of extra-terrestrial life not only on #Europa, but also on #Enceladus and #Titan.
Excellent.
Interestingly, since two of the three criteria for IAU Solar planets don't apply to the moons of Saturn and Jupiter *either*, we don't get to entirely rule out dwarf planets like #Ceres yet. They didn't get into that, though.
And like the first lecture was marred by the repeated use of 'criteria' as a singular noun, the second was marred by Maggie Aderin-Pocock repeatedly asking whether people thought that there might be 'life in the Solar system'. 'Criteria' is plural and Terra is in the Solar system, Maggie. (-:
It was sad to see a 17-year-old girl in the #RoyalInstitution #ChristmasLectures this year preaching that billionaires have given us access to space and that Elon Musk is a great guy who will take humanity to Mars.
The reality is that it is governments who gave us access to space.
Billionaires, on the other hand, have given us space *pollution*, the shuttering of NASA and NOAA, wasteful vanity projects, and the extension of the category of 'astronaut' to encompass #KatyPerry.
#ElonMusk is meanwhile recycling 20th century boy's fiction sci-fi fantasies about techno-feudal rich-equals-superior inventors-cum-capitalists, not the least of which is E.E. Smith's 'Skylark' series.
In these male fantasies the rich industrialist hero's girlfriend sometimes does indeed get to be a passenger in his rocketship.
Juvenile pulp sci-fi was not supposed to be the roadmap for the future.
ƧƿѦςɛ♏ѦਹѤʞ7pm BBC Four
Warning: may contain some remnants of science which the BBC thought police didn't spot.
#RI #RIChristmasLectures #BBCFour #science #education #TV #RoyalInstitution
Science | The GuardianLife beyond Earth? Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock on the mysteries of space – podcast https://www.theguardian.com/science/audio/2025/dec/18/life-beyond-earth-dame-maggie-aderin-pocock-on-the-mysteries-of-space-podcast #JamesWebbspacetelescope #RoyalInstitution #Astronomy #Science #Space
Life beyond Earth? Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock on the mysteries of space – podcast
Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock is a space scientist and science educator who has worked on a number of instruments that are revolutionising our view of the cosmos, including the James Webb Space Telescope. This year she will be giving the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, Britain’s most prestigious public science lectures, in which she will be exploring some of the big questions space science still has to answer.
arsCynicFrom impossible to iconic: Rodney Mullen's evolution of skateboarding (2024)
“Rodney Mullen’s innovations defined a generation of skaters and were immortalised in the iconic Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games—now, he’s here to break down the science behind the tricks that changed skateboarding forever.
Watch the Q&A with Rodney here (we’ve made this available for everyone to watch - it was originally exclusively for our Science Supporter YouTube Members): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU9mx1vzcZQ”
Q&A: From impossible to iconic: Rodney Mullen's evolution of skateboarding
Margaret J. LowWatch the live recording of the #RoyalInstitution #ChristmasLectures before they are shown on BBC! Featuring Dame Maggie Aderin-Pocock. WMG at #WarwickUni hosts a FREE livestream 11 & 16 Dec, for ages 11+.
Register here: https://warwick.ac.uk/wmgoutreach/opportunities/richristmaslecture/
Keiran RowellHow benzene changed chemistry forever - with Judy Wu
https://youtube.com/watch?v=0kYMUFzylOs&si=Zlk_kypC6nlARoSP
A nice lecture on the discovery of #benzene to a wide audience at the #RoyalInstitution
#chemistry #dyes #historyofscience #scicomm #purple #petrol #plastics #crystallography
How benzene changed chemistry forever - with Judy Wu
Eine wirklich schöne, ruhige und gleichzeitig fesselnde Weihnachtsvorlesung der #RoyalInstitution von #EricLaithwaite. Statt irgendwelcher doofen Serien am Abend…
#Physik #Mechanik #Invidious
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEdgbRGDRBI
The Jabberwock - Eric Laithwaite's 1974 Christmas Lectures 4/6
NoodlemazOh you spineless wastes of space.
#royalInstitution #farRight #makeNazisAfraidAgain
petersuber (@[email protected])
Update. "Elon #Musk will remain a fellow of the #RoyalSociety after a meeting to discuss revoking his association with the U.K.’s most prestigious science organization ended without any disciplinary action being taken against the world’s richest man…More than 3,400 scientists and academics have also signed an open letter expressing their dismay at the lack of action by the Royal Society." https://www.insidehighered.com/news/global/2025/03/07/elon-musk-survives-royal-society-expulsion-bid