Geoengineering: a brave new world?
Tuesday 19 January 2010 at 6.30pm
Curator: Professor John Shepherd FRS, University of Southampton
Speakers: Professor Brian Launder FREng FRS, University of Manchester; Dr David Santillo, Greenpeace; Professor Corinne Le Quéré, University of East Anglia and the British Antarctic Survery; and Professor Steve Rayner, University of Oxford.
Since the industrial revolution, mankind has made choices that have led to significant emissions of greenhouse gases, causing climate change that is expected to become much more serious during this century. Several proposals have been put forward to reduce future climate change by intervening directly in the Earth's natural climate system and these have collectively become known as geoengineering. This is a very new and rapidly developing area of science and technology and the proposals range from placing giant mirrors in space to reflect sunlight to fertilising the oceans with nutrients in order to produce more phytoplankton to soak up atmospheric carbon dioxide.
This event will introduce the science, technology and governance of geoengineering, discuss the possible benefits, drawbacks and uncertainties of the various options that have been proposed and provide an opportunity to discuss the prospects and problems that may arise with further research into this area.
This lecture is free - no ticket or advanced booking required. Doors open at 5.45pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.
This lecture will be webcast live at royalsociety.org/live and available to view on demand within 48 hours of delivery at royalsociety.tv
The eerie silence: are we alone in the universe?
Tuesday 26 January 2010 at 6.30pm
Professor Paul Davies FRS, Arizona State University, USA
Fifty years ago, a young astronomer named Frank Drake pointed a radio telescope at nearby stars in the hope of picking up a signal from an alien civilisation. Thus began one of the boldest scientific projects in history - the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). However, after half a century of scanning the skies, astronomers have little to report but an eerie silence - eerie, because many scientists are convinced that the universe is teeming with life. The problem could be that we've been looking in the wrong place at the wrong time and in the wrong way. In this lecture, Professor Davies will offer a new and exciting roadmap for the future of SETI, arguing that we need to be far more expansive in our efforts, by questioning existing ideas of what form an alien intelligence might take, how it might try to communicate with us, and how we should respond if we ever do make contact.
This lecture is free - no ticket or advanced booking required. Doors open at 5.45pm and seats will be allocated on a first-come-first-served basis.This lecture will be webcast live at royalsociety.org/live and available to view on demand within 48 hours of delivery at royalsociety.tv
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