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Odyssey Science Programme
Dec. 14th, 2009 10:54 amI haven't been posting much here, because most of my free time these days seems to be spent working on programme for Odyssey.
I thought you might like to see how it's progressing...
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rockwell_666 and I present you with (fanfare of trumpets) the Odyssey Science Programme!
There may be minor changes, but this is essentially it. All these items are definitely going to happen (unless a speaker has to drop for any reason). Timeslots may have minor changes, but you should get the general idea.
We present you with:
Friday 11am Connaught Animatronics - Artificial Intelligence? Is Jetta's PLEO baby dinosaur a real example of artificial intelligence, or
just the product of simple programming?
Friday Noon 12 (Tetworth) Life of a Hydrogen Atom --The universe around us is made up of many different types of atoms, yet only two
types, hydrogen and helium, were created in the Big Bang. Other elements have been formed by a wide variety of fascinating astrophysical
processes since then. This talk will take you on a quick tour of some of these processes by following the life story of one of the simplest
things in the universe – a proton - from its birth in the Big Bang to its death, swallowed up by a black hole.
Friday 1pm 12 (Tetworth) Big Biology - What are the Biggest Biological Tropes in SF? -- What biological ideas are being explored in
current SF? Are there any important themes that are being overlooked?
Friday 3pm 41 (Winchester) Alien Archeology -- What will our panel of 'experts' make of the various items they are presented with? Is it a
Denebian ritual object, or simply a salt shaker?
Friday 5pm Royal C+D (Edwd/Vic) Kids Science Lab - Catapults, Spinners and Identifying Objects! Discovery. Identify objects by touch,
make a colour spinner and design a catapult ! Suitable for all ages, though younger kids will need an adult lab assistant. Unaccompanied
grown-ups also welcome!
Friday 7pm Connaught Patent your Flying Saucer! -- Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf presents some of the wonderful SF-style creations that people have patented (or had patent applications turned down for) in Sweden, Germany France, UK and USA. Perpetual motion machines are just the beginning...
Saturday 9am Connaught Living Forever - Is it a Good Thing? -- Many SF writers,eg Moon, Morgan, Heinlein, Banks have speculated about
rejuvenation or other possibilities for extending life for 100 years or even longer. Scientists and others discuss whether it can be done, and
whether it would be ethical/desirable if it could be done.
Saturday 11am Connaught Quantum Computing for Beginners -- Modern computers store information as electric charges and work by moving these charges along metal wires. New forms of computers have been built that harness the weirdness of the quantum world to perform calculations far faster than their electronic counterparts. This talk will provide a brief introduction to these fascinating new machines.
Saturday Noon Commonwealth Bad Science - Ben Goldacre -- Dr Ben Goldacre is a medical doctor and journalist, best known for his 'Bad
Science' column. He campaigns against biased research, fraudulent claims (from both makers of nutritional supplements and the
pharmaceutical industry) and poor media reporting of scientific research.
Saturday 1pm Commonwealth Geoengineering - George Hay Lecture - sponsored by SF Foundation -- Oliver Morton is the speaker for this
year's George Hay Memorial Lecture.
Saturday 3pm 12 (Tetworth) Geoengineering - A broader perspective -- A discussion of the issues and ideas raised in the George Hay Lecture
Saturday 3pm Commonwealth Clanger Symposium - Study of a Knitted Alien Race. -- A serious scientific conference studying the Clangers.
We hope to have papers presented to study their diet (blue string pudding), genetics (knit 1, purl 2), physics (the lifting power of musical notes) and other topics worthy of dedicated study.
Saturday 4pm Connaught A hyperbolic talk about non-Euclidean geometry -- "The geometry of the place was all wrong" A mathematical
talk on spaces unlike our own.
Saturday 5pm Connaught LabLit - Fiction set in the Laboratory -- Not so much Science Fiction as Scientific Fiction. LabLit is an emerging
form of fiction that even has its own web site at www.lablit.com
Sunday 11am Commonwealth Guest of Honour Talk: Alastair Reynolds
Sunday Noon Connaught Exobiology 1.02 -- Jonathan Cowie is an environmental scientist who was for 15 years with the Institute of
Biology and now works in (bio)science communications. He has had a lifelong interest in SF and a curiosity about the possibility of alien
life. His original probability of alien life talk has been given at over a dozen of conventions (and also to biologists at a couple of
universities). This talk very quickly recaps part 1 and then goes on to new material in part 2.
Sunday 1pm Royal C+D (Edwd/Vic) Kids Science Lab - Cars, boats and jet-engines -- Come and design your own boat, car and balloon-powered jet engine! Suitable for all ages though younger kids will need an adult lab assistant. Unaccompanied grown-ups also welcome!
Sunday 3pm Commonwealth Fusion Power and the Joint European Torus -- Anthony Webster, our guest speaker from JET, will talk about the physics of fusion.
Can you say 'magnetohydrodynamics'...
Sunday 5pm Royal C+D (Edwd/Vic) Physics of Weapons - for Children of all ages -- What makes weapons dangerous? Why does armour protect people? How do we make the biggest and most destructive weapon ever? This is an “RI Christmas Lecture”-style talk, with plenty of
opportunities for members of the audience to take part in demonstrations. Parents (and other adults) are welcome.
Sunday 5pm 12 (Tetworth) Information Decay and Archiving -- Throughout history, there has been a trade-off between ease of storing
data and speed of accessing that data. Our speaker will look at data storage from the papyrus strip through to the Internet age and discuss
the compromises necessary.
Sunday 6pm Connaught Cutting your Carbon Footprint -- Keeping global temperature rise under 2C (3.7F) will be almost impossible unless carbon emissions begin to fall within a decade. How can we reduce our footprint?
Monday Noon 12 (Tetworth) Black Holes for Beginners -- Black holes are a staple part of the science fiction diet – stellar corpses around
which the laws of physics break down and strange things start to happen. This talk explains what black holes are, how they’re formed and what’s likely to happen if you get too close to one.
Monday 1pm 12 (Tetworth) Climate Scepticism: Pros and Cons
Monday 3pm 12 (Tetworth) Physics of BDSM -- How does the tesla coil in a violet wand actually work? What's the maths of load-spreading? Ever wondered about the Young's modulus of a cane? Our knowledgeable(!) presenters explain all. No children without a parent.
Monday 4pm Connaught Intelligent Life in the Universe: Still a Believable Concept? -- The last fifty years have brought great
advances in astronomy but aliens remain undetected. Is it time to relegate the idea to the same limbo as FTL?
Monday 6pm Connaught Clarke's Law - Is today's technology 'magic' to most people? -- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic." Is the average (reasonably educated) person finding science and technology easier to understand or is it
increasingly seeming like magic? What are the likely consequences?
Monday 8pm Connaught Alien Invasions - How would they Attack? How do we Defend? -- Suppose the aliens really did invade... What would be the most effective way for them to attack? What could Earth practically do to defend itself? What can we do in advance to make Earth more secure?
I thought you might like to see how it's progressing...
rockwell_666 and I present you with (fanfare of trumpets) the Odyssey Science Programme!There may be minor changes, but this is essentially it. All these items are definitely going to happen (unless a speaker has to drop for any reason). Timeslots may have minor changes, but you should get the general idea.
We present you with:
Friday 11am Connaught Animatronics - Artificial Intelligence? Is Jetta's PLEO baby dinosaur a real example of artificial intelligence, or
just the product of simple programming?
Friday Noon 12 (Tetworth) Life of a Hydrogen Atom --The universe around us is made up of many different types of atoms, yet only two
types, hydrogen and helium, were created in the Big Bang. Other elements have been formed by a wide variety of fascinating astrophysical
processes since then. This talk will take you on a quick tour of some of these processes by following the life story of one of the simplest
things in the universe – a proton - from its birth in the Big Bang to its death, swallowed up by a black hole.
Friday 1pm 12 (Tetworth) Big Biology - What are the Biggest Biological Tropes in SF? -- What biological ideas are being explored in
current SF? Are there any important themes that are being overlooked?
Friday 3pm 41 (Winchester) Alien Archeology -- What will our panel of 'experts' make of the various items they are presented with? Is it a
Denebian ritual object, or simply a salt shaker?
Friday 5pm Royal C+D (Edwd/Vic) Kids Science Lab - Catapults, Spinners and Identifying Objects! Discovery. Identify objects by touch,
make a colour spinner and design a catapult ! Suitable for all ages, though younger kids will need an adult lab assistant. Unaccompanied
grown-ups also welcome!
Friday 7pm Connaught Patent your Flying Saucer! -- Carolina Gomez Lagerlöf presents some of the wonderful SF-style creations that people have patented (or had patent applications turned down for) in Sweden, Germany France, UK and USA. Perpetual motion machines are just the beginning...
Saturday 9am Connaught Living Forever - Is it a Good Thing? -- Many SF writers,eg Moon, Morgan, Heinlein, Banks have speculated about
rejuvenation or other possibilities for extending life for 100 years or even longer. Scientists and others discuss whether it can be done, and
whether it would be ethical/desirable if it could be done.
Saturday 11am Connaught Quantum Computing for Beginners -- Modern computers store information as electric charges and work by moving these charges along metal wires. New forms of computers have been built that harness the weirdness of the quantum world to perform calculations far faster than their electronic counterparts. This talk will provide a brief introduction to these fascinating new machines.
Saturday Noon Commonwealth Bad Science - Ben Goldacre -- Dr Ben Goldacre is a medical doctor and journalist, best known for his 'Bad
Science' column. He campaigns against biased research, fraudulent claims (from both makers of nutritional supplements and the
pharmaceutical industry) and poor media reporting of scientific research.
Saturday 1pm Commonwealth Geoengineering - George Hay Lecture - sponsored by SF Foundation -- Oliver Morton is the speaker for this
year's George Hay Memorial Lecture.
Saturday 3pm 12 (Tetworth) Geoengineering - A broader perspective -- A discussion of the issues and ideas raised in the George Hay Lecture
Saturday 3pm Commonwealth Clanger Symposium - Study of a Knitted Alien Race. -- A serious scientific conference studying the Clangers.
We hope to have papers presented to study their diet (blue string pudding), genetics (knit 1, purl 2), physics (the lifting power of musical notes) and other topics worthy of dedicated study.
Saturday 4pm Connaught A hyperbolic talk about non-Euclidean geometry -- "The geometry of the place was all wrong" A mathematical
talk on spaces unlike our own.
Saturday 5pm Connaught LabLit - Fiction set in the Laboratory -- Not so much Science Fiction as Scientific Fiction. LabLit is an emerging
form of fiction that even has its own web site at www.lablit.com
Sunday 11am Commonwealth Guest of Honour Talk: Alastair Reynolds
Sunday Noon Connaught Exobiology 1.02 -- Jonathan Cowie is an environmental scientist who was for 15 years with the Institute of
Biology and now works in (bio)science communications. He has had a lifelong interest in SF and a curiosity about the possibility of alien
life. His original probability of alien life talk has been given at over a dozen of conventions (and also to biologists at a couple of
universities). This talk very quickly recaps part 1 and then goes on to new material in part 2.
Sunday 1pm Royal C+D (Edwd/Vic) Kids Science Lab - Cars, boats and jet-engines -- Come and design your own boat, car and balloon-powered jet engine! Suitable for all ages though younger kids will need an adult lab assistant. Unaccompanied grown-ups also welcome!
Sunday 3pm Commonwealth Fusion Power and the Joint European Torus -- Anthony Webster, our guest speaker from JET, will talk about the physics of fusion.
Can you say 'magnetohydrodynamics'...
Sunday 5pm Royal C+D (Edwd/Vic) Physics of Weapons - for Children of all ages -- What makes weapons dangerous? Why does armour protect people? How do we make the biggest and most destructive weapon ever? This is an “RI Christmas Lecture”-style talk, with plenty of
opportunities for members of the audience to take part in demonstrations. Parents (and other adults) are welcome.
Sunday 5pm 12 (Tetworth) Information Decay and Archiving -- Throughout history, there has been a trade-off between ease of storing
data and speed of accessing that data. Our speaker will look at data storage from the papyrus strip through to the Internet age and discuss
the compromises necessary.
Sunday 6pm Connaught Cutting your Carbon Footprint -- Keeping global temperature rise under 2C (3.7F) will be almost impossible unless carbon emissions begin to fall within a decade. How can we reduce our footprint?
Monday Noon 12 (Tetworth) Black Holes for Beginners -- Black holes are a staple part of the science fiction diet – stellar corpses around
which the laws of physics break down and strange things start to happen. This talk explains what black holes are, how they’re formed and what’s likely to happen if you get too close to one.
Monday 1pm 12 (Tetworth) Climate Scepticism: Pros and Cons
Monday 3pm 12 (Tetworth) Physics of BDSM -- How does the tesla coil in a violet wand actually work? What's the maths of load-spreading? Ever wondered about the Young's modulus of a cane? Our knowledgeable(!) presenters explain all. No children without a parent.
Monday 4pm Connaught Intelligent Life in the Universe: Still a Believable Concept? -- The last fifty years have brought great
advances in astronomy but aliens remain undetected. Is it time to relegate the idea to the same limbo as FTL?
Monday 6pm Connaught Clarke's Law - Is today's technology 'magic' to most people? -- "Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic." Is the average (reasonably educated) person finding science and technology easier to understand or is it
increasingly seeming like magic? What are the likely consequences?
Monday 8pm Connaught Alien Invasions - How would they Attack? How do we Defend? -- Suppose the aliens really did invade... What would be the most effective way for them to attack? What could Earth practically do to defend itself? What can we do in advance to make Earth more secure?
