In central London on a Tuesday or Thursday, with a spare hour over lunch? You can gain nourishment for the mind by heading to University College London. A new season of lunch hour lectures begins tomorrow. Simply turn up, walk in for free, and listen to some of London's best researchers describe their work.
The season stretches into December, and you should check out the full programme for details. But to give you a flavour, here's what's on offer over the next month.
3 October: Inaugural Lecture from new President and Provost
Michael Arthur just got the top job at UCL. He opens the lecture season with an inaugural address about the future of UCL under his stewardship.
9 October: LOLZ! The Science of Laughter
Sophie Scott outlines the many reasons that we laugh and smile — not always in response to jokes.
10 October: Dr Dre in the Classroom
John Sutherland discusses the cultural importance of rap and hip hop, and whether they should be included in the school syllabus.
15 October: Global Growth Versus Human Health - Finding the Balance
Judith Stephenson looks at the big challenges of the 21st century, including population growth, climate change and economic development.
17 October: Patterns of Nature
Sophia Olhede outlines statistical methods to spot patterns in data so that we can model complex phenomena.
22 October: Holding it Straight - Sexual Orientation in the Middle Ages
Bob Mills re-examines Medieval sex lives, finding clues in art.
24 October: Technology for Nature
Technology for monitoring the environment and climate has come on leaps and bounds in the past few years. But how do we analyse the wealth of data? Kate Jones has some thoughts.
29 October: A Good Start in Life
Yvonne Kelly looks at the factors during pregnancy and early childhood that give children the best start in life.
31 October: Animating Architecture
As robots, sensors and complex software increasingly pervade our lives, how will the built environment around us change? Ollie Palmer speaks.
Remember, all talks are free, and you just need to turn up to the Darwin Lecture for 1.15pm start (1pm at Bloomsbury Theatre for the inaugural talk). More info on each talk here.
