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This event costs £47. Participants wishing to attend the evening comedy event are eligible for a 20% discount on the comedy event (telephone bookings only 01865 305305).

Chaired by: Georgina Ferry, science writer and author

2.00 – 2.10
Introduction

We still have much to learn about the nature of the Universe. And we continually set ourselves new questions about the impacts that technology and social change will make on us and our environment. So how we deal with uncertainty in science?

Professor Ian Goldin, Director, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford

2.10 – 3.10pm
Into the unknown

As our tools for studying the Universe get bigger and more expensive, the questions that still need answering become ever more intractable. Will the latest experiments find the answers? Or will there just be more questions? And does it matter?

Professor Frank Close, Department of Physics, University of Oxford, author of The Infinity Puzzle, the story of the search for the elusive Higgs particle; Joanna Dunkley, lecturer in astrophysics, University of Oxford, researching the nature of dark matter and dark energy – without which the Universe would collapse, but which have never been seen; and William Hartston, chess columnist and writer of the Daily Express ‘Beachcomber’ column, and author of The Things Nobody Knows: 501 Mysteries of Life, the Universe and Everything.

3.10 – 3.45pm Tea

3.45 – 4.45pm
Working with Uncertainty

Quantum physics and climate prediction are two areas of science particularly burdened with uncertainty. But can we use our understanding of that uncertainty for practical ends?

John Gribbin, science writer and author of In Search of Schrödinger’s Cat and Erwin Schrödinger and the Quantum Revolution, a new biography of one of the fathers of quantum theory; Tim Palmer, Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Oxford, and co-director of the programme on modelling and predicting climate at the Oxford Martin School; and the artist Tim Head, whose works include projections based on quasi-random computer programs that explore the elusive material substance of the digital medium.

5– 6pm
Are we safe (and do we need to be)?

Technology is changing our world at a breathless pace. How important is it to assess its risks accurately? And is there a place for risk in both artistic and scientific creativity?

Anders Sandberg, research fellow in the Future of Humanity Institute at the Oxford Martin School, working on social and ethical issues surrounding new technology; Jon Turney, author of The Rough Guide to the Future, shortlisted for the 2011 Royal Society Science Books Prize; and Sara Wheeler, polar traveller, author of Terra Incognita and The Magnetic North..

6.00 – 6.30pm Drinks reception.

Science and the Future is presented in partnership with the Oxford Martin School of the University of Oxford and Science Oxford

Event 121
Comedy Event: Hosted by Helen Arney
Unknown Unknowns: A fusion of stand-up comedy and science.
6.30pm / Merton College: TS Eliot Lecture Theatre / £10 (£8 with Science and the Future telephone bookings only 01865 305305)

Your host is geek songstress and comedian Helen Arney, as heard on Radio 4 and as seen on last year’s Uncaged Monkeys national tour. Joining her will be Festival of the Spoken Nerd’s Steve Mould, Edinburgh Fringe regular Rob Wells, and Oxford’s own Dr Andrew Pontzen, all taking a look at the known—and unknown—universe with wit and comedic wisdom.

To book this event online, please see separate event listing.