Guest speaker William Joyce: A guided tour around the inner Solar System reveals links between our planet and its siblings, with fascinating discoveries and new mysteries revealed by spectacular space missions. This discussion provides a quick introduction to the nearest planets in our Solar System, presenting their characters, unique features, and comparisons with our own planet. […]
The Chelsea, Everton, Scotland (and now BBC 5 Live) legend Pat Nevin joins us in Brighton to launch his new memoir, with a special In Conversation evening. 'Football and How to Survive It' is the follow-up to 2021's acclaimed 'The Accidental Footballer' and traces Pat's journey into a less glamorous side of football. From Tranmere to Kilmarnock, […]
Please note: book and ticket option includes a copy of Good Material (RRP £18.99) available for collection on the night. Waterstones are thrilled to host an evening with the bestselling and beloved author of Ghosts, Dear Dolly and Everything I know About Love. Dolly Alderton joins us to celebrate and discuss the publication of her new novel, Good Material- a deliciously witty and wise […]
Speaker: Dr Robert Massey | Royal Astronomical Society 65 years ago the Soviet Union placed the first satellite in space. There are now around 5,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO), the region up to 2,000 km above the ground, and their deployment is accelerating. 2019 saw the launch of Starlink, a satellite constellation built and […]
Join vegan activist, educator and influencer Ed Winters as he talks about his brand new book tackling one of the thorniest topics of all….How To Argue With a Meat Eater (and Win Every Time) Ed will be in conversation with award winning journalist Hannah Ewens. How to Argue With a Meat Eater (and Win Every […]
Speaker: Professor Malcolm Longair | University of Cambridge I have been fortunate enough to be at the forefront of all the developments which have led to the launch and incredible success of the JWST. These include the development of infrared and submillimetre astronomy, of the Hubble Space Telescope, of ALMA and the JWST. These projects […]
Speaker: Dr Jo Murray is a geneticist who runs a lab at the Genome Damage and Stability Centre at the University of Sussex. This is a research centre investigating the responses of cells to DNA damage and the relationship to cancer and other aspects of human disease. She is interested in how cells deal with […]
Speaker: James Croft | University of Sussex All throughout history, and all across the world, eclipses have been viewed as significant events. The civilisations of ancient China, ancient Egypt, and ancient Britain have seen in them signs and symbols, portents of things to come. What can we learn about our history - and about ourselves […]
Human brains are nature’s own ‘prediction machines’ - evolved organs that are constantly trying to predict flows of sensation, both from within our own body and from the wider world. This casts perception and feeling as forms of ‘controlled hallucination’ in which raw sensory information delivers experience only relative to our brain’s best predictions. These […]
Speaker: Neil Phillipson Neil explains the incredible achievements of the post-Moon era – showing how the vast body of work the scientific community has done since the Moon landings has led us to the moment when we shall, at last, become a space-faring civilisation, ready to explore and colonise the Solar System and beyond – […]
You have probably met lasers in your day-to-day life, perhaps to bring a music concert to life, or to direct your gaze in a PowerPoint presentation. Lasers are beams of amplified light which we can control very precisely. They are powerful tools inside and outside of science. Laser uses include quantum computing, precision cutting, medicine […]
Speaker: Dr Sonali Shukla Stars and planets are distinct astronomical objects yet their formation processes are intertwined. Brown dwarfs straddle both categories, exhibiting characteristics of both stars and planets but not quite fitting into either category. This talk will explore the history, discovery and latest results from the study of brown dwarfs, drawing parallels with […]
Speaker: Dr Eva-Maria MuellerUniversity of Sussex Join me on a journey into the enigmatic realm of dark energy, the unseen force accelerating the expansion of our universe. In this talk, I will guide you from the ground-breaking discovery of dark energy to the forefront of current research, unravelling its profound implications for the cosmos. Designed […]
With Prof Jennifer Visser-Rogers We are bombarded with numbers and statistics in the media on a daily basis and are expected to use these to make decisions about our day-to-day lives. But what do these numbers really mean? Real life involves risks. From cycling without a helmet, visiting a country with contagious diseases, to living […]
Ever wanted to go to space, like… for real? Well, now you can! Come and learn how budding astronauts Louis and Russ launched their DNA to the edge of space… and even managed to retrieve it! Come and learn exactly how they did it, how you could do it too, and if their DNA has […]
With Dr Valentina Scarponi and Alice Clark Up until the late 1980's, Sussex Bay harboured dense kelp beds. However, since then, 96% of the kelp beds have been lost from the Bay, resulting in a degraded habitat. It is thought that the kelp was lost as a result of decades of trawling, increased water temperatures, […]
Speaker: Will Joyce Spacecraft exploration of the outer planets and their extensive systems of moons discovered a variety of strange new worlds, some planet-sized, many challenging conventional science, and some being downright bizarre. Plus, several may even be home to life, despite being well outside the Sun's "Habitable Zone"! This discussion surveys many of these […]
Following her sold out 'Girlcrush' event from last year, Florence Given returns to Brighton Waterstones to discuss her much anticipated new book, 'Women Living Deliciously'. In 'Women Living Deliciously', Florence encourages us to fall in love with our lives and uncover the sense of wonder in ourselves that has been buried by shame, perfectionism and […]
With Dr Corina Ciocan Over the past 80 years, glass reinforced plastic boats (GRP or composite boats) have become a mainstay of the boating industry while little attention has been given to the consequences of GRP degradation or boat disposal. Recent studies reveal widespread glass fibre pollution in heavily trafficked waterways while research and policy […]
Speaker: Amber Shepherd, University of Sussex There is still a lot that we do not understand about our universe, such as dark matter and dark energy. Much of our understanding of dark matter comes from observations made from far out galaxies. We are building a very sensitive tabletop device to gather data which may help […]