Talking Science at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL)

Talking Science at RAL is a series of fascinating and FREE monthly scientific lectures by invited speakers that takes place at STFC's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory every month between September and June.  More information about these talks can be found on our website: www.stfc.ac.uk/rltalkingscience.  Once a talk is fully booked we start a waiting list - if you would like to be added to our waiting list, please email rltalkingscience@stfc.ac.uk.

Booking for our winter talks will open on 6 November 2017.

Please note that in order to allow you to book all Talking Science tickets from the same page, the date / calendar function in Eventbrite may not reflect the time of the talk for which you have booked.  The time and date of your booked talk is show in the ticket name you have chosen.

Dangerous worlds
Friday 8 September 2017, 1:30pm / 7pm, audience 10+

Dr Elizabeth Tasker, Japan Space Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
We thought the planets of our Solar System were weird worlds, until we began to see the lands harboured by our neighbouring stars. Huge Jupiters snuggle so close to their star that years last days. Worlds like Star Wars’ Tatooine begin their nights with dual sunsets, while rogue planets float in perpetual darkness with no sun at all. Other planets are split lands with hemispheres of eternal day and night, while still more drown in global oceans or seas of lava and tar. Elizabeth will take you on a journey to visit worlds more extreme than anything in fiction and ask if any could be called home.

A is for Arsenic: The poisons of Agatha Christie
Friday 13 October 2017, 1:30pm / 7pm, audience 14+
Dr Kathryn Harkup, freelance science communicator and writer
No one has used more poisons, more often and more accurately than Dame Agatha Christie in her classic crime novels. Her toxic tally totals over 30 different compounds which she used to bump off over 100 characters. The Queen of crime may have been writing fiction, but it wasn’t all made up. Chemist and author, Kathryn Harkup, will explore the science and history of just a few of Christie’s killer compounds.  Expect country houses, red herrings, chemical clues and magnificent moustaches!

Pressing FIRE on the most powerful laser in the world
Friday 24 November 2017, 1:30pm / 7pm, audience 14+
Dr Ceri Brenner, STFC Central Laser Facility
RAL is home to two of the world’s most powerful lasers. They heat matter to millions of degrees in less than a trillionth of a second, rip apart the atom and generate the fourth state of matter, plasma. But why go to all this effort? These machines aren’t just a physicist’s playground. Super powerful lasers were developed for the
hugely inspiring quest of fusion energy as a sustainable, clean heat source for power stations. Now they’re driving innovation in medical imaging, security inspection and nuclear waste management. Not bad for a fancy form of light.