super/science
super/science is a new series of online events produced by super/collider, in collaboration with guest artists and scientists. to date, the series has been presented in collaboration with institutions including Uncommon, Turner Contemporary Margate, Faith In Strangers and Exposed Art Projects
you can support this ongoing series by joining our ticketed events or by signing up to our Patreon page
super/science episode 15: Nan Shepherd in Space: Writing the Earth and Cosmos in The Living Mountain
Wed, 29 September 2021
19:00 – 21:00 BST
When Nan Shepherd wrote The Living Mountain, she was poised between two moments in earth and human history. Her geological imagination was shaped by scientific discoveries into the deep age of the earth and the forces that shaped mountains, carved valleys and brought living species into being. But she was also writing on the cusp of a new age: one in which human activity would leave traces on this seemingly eternal landscape and begin to disrupt wider global natural systems, from the hydrological system to the carbon cycle. In this talk, I'll explore Shepherd 's temporal and planetary imagination - from the marks mountain industries were leaving on the Cairngorms, to the attempt to imagine the earth and cosmos as one integrated, living whole.
Dr Samantha Walton is Reader in Modern Literature at Bath Spa University, where her research focuses on links between nature and mental health, and the environmental humanities. Her latest books are The Living World: Nan Shepherd and Environmental Thought (2020) and Everybody Needs Beauty: In Search of the Nature Cure (2021)
super/science episode 14: neighbours of a neutron star merger
Wednesday, 15 September 2021
10:00am – 11:00am BST
in 2017, humanity observed the merger of two neutrons stars for the first time. in order to understand the stars that resulted in this violent encounter, we need to understand the stars that lived nearby, and in this talk, Dr Heloise Stevance will talk about how we can use state of the art simulation and data analysis codes to infer the full story, from the birth to death of these exotic explosions
originally born and raised in France, Heloise moved to the UK to study Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield. after working as a support astronomer at the Isaac Newton Group in La Palma for a year, she obtained her Masters of Physics in 2015. she subsequently started a PhD studying the 3D shape of Core Collapse Supernovae, and earned her title in Spring 2019. in July of that year, she joined the University of Auckland as a Research Fellow to research the evolution of massive stars to better understand how they die and produce Supernovae and Kilonovae
super/science episode 13: finding asteroids
Wednesday, 11 August 2021
7:00 pm 8:00 pm
it's believed that an asteroid 10km in size wiped out the dinosaurs. as of April 2021, there are over 25,000 near-Earth objects and many of these are a potential risk to life here on Earth, but in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, there is believed to be over 2 million asteroids, some of which can reach 1000km in size!
scientists are actively searching for new, and tracking known asteroids. often, they won't know for sure where an asteroid will hit or how big an impact it will make until a few days before the collision. when so much is at risk, how can scientists ensure that we are safe from a similar fate as the dinosaurs?
Dr Maggie Lieu is a research fellow in Machine Learning and Cosmology at the University of Nottingham where she lectures the Machine Learning in Science MSc program. prior to this, she worked at the European Space Agency in Madrid on the Euclid mission, a space telescope that is due to launch in 2022. her main research interest is in clusters of galaxies and their role in helping us understand the Universe and the nature of dark matter. besides academic research, Maggie is an avid science communicator who has previously spoken at our events and runs the science YouTube channel Space Mog.
super/science episode 12: dialogues with the substrata
14 July 2021
7.00pm - 8.00pm
Matter, with a necessity inherent in its nature, constantly engenders thinking creatures […] thought is an intrinsic property of matter.
– Cosmology of the Spirit, Evald Ilyenkov
Infinite in time and space, the recycling and resurfacing matter of our planet creates sentient beings time and again. In the ground below our feet, geological underworlds offer a space to consider a shared planetary consciousness: the sentient and non-sentient; organic and mineral; the living, dead and those of the future.
Sophie J Williamson explores entangled ancestral voices amongst ever-turning geological matter. Reading deep-time narratives secreted amongst the permafrost, geological strata and celestial dust of outer space, how might our dialogues with deep-time redirect our futures?
Sophie J Williamson is a curator based in London. Since 2013, she has been Programme Curator (Exhibitions) at Camden Art Centre. From 2009–13, she was part of the inaugural team at Raven Row, and previously worked on various international biennales. Her writing has appeared in frieze, Art Monthly, Elephant and Aesthetica. She was Gasworks Curatorial Fellow (2016) and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity Curatorial Fellow (2020).
Her anthology, Translation (Documents of Contemporary Art, Whitechapel Gallery/MIT Press) brings together writings by artists, poets, authors and theorists to reflect on the urgency of building empathy in an era of global turmoil. Her current independent research project, Undead Matter, is focused on the intimacy of dying and its dialogue with the geological.
This event was accessed via Zoom.
Image: Dirk Spijkers
super/science episode 11: light in the darkness
30 June 2021
7:00 pm 8:00 pm
Award-winning astrophysicist Heino Falcke is a key leader of the greatest scientific achievements of all time—capturing the first image of a black hole with the coordination of telescopes and scientists around the world. Prior to this, black holes existed in the popular imagination merely as a distant concept, but Falcke’s vision has now allowed everyone to witness these celestial wonders. His new book LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS: Black Holes, The Universe, and Us chronicles the journey of this monumental achievement, exploring both the scientific and symbolic significance of black holes, as well as the human quest toward the frontiers of science and beyond.
Heino Falcke is a German professor of radio astronomy and astroparticle physics at the Radboud University Nijmegen, the Netherlands. He is winner of the 2021 Henry Draper medal from the US National Academy of Science and of the 2.5M€ Spinoza Prize, the highest science award of the Netherlands. He was co-founder and chair of the science council of the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration and leads one of the international team involved in the project. He was knighted by the Dutch king in 2014, and in 2019 the International Astronomical Union, IAU, named asteroid 12654 (Heinofalcke) after him.
super/science episode 10: dream big
19 May 2021
7:00 pm 8:00 pm
Join us to hear from Niamh Shaw about the creation of her latest book 'Dream Big' from Mercier Press. What do you do with impossible dreams? When do you let them go? Niamh Shaw, scientist, engineer and performer, had always felt that something was missing in her life. Stepping away from a full-time academic career, she initially thought that it might be acting. But when in that career, she knew that she still hadn't found what she was looking for. While making her first theatre show, looking at her life choices and childhood ambitions, the realisation that she still wanted to fulfil her childhood dream to go to space, but had done nothing to achieve this goal, was painful and disappointing for her. Why had she given up on this dream? She realised that if she didn't pursue it, she would spend the rest of her life regretting that she had given up on herself. And so this 40-year-old woman from Ireland began an art and science journey she is determined to finish.
Niamh Shaw is a communicator, writer and explorer of space activities and her work focuses on sharing the 'bigger perspective' of space to envisage a healthier, fairer and more equal, sustainable planet. Based at International Space University in Strasbourg Niamh wants to use the perspective of space to consider smarter and more sustainable alternatives for all Earth citizens. A polymath with 2 degrees in engineering, a PhD in science and almost 20 years of performance & writing experience, and recently launched a new podcast series 'Humans of Space' and an online family video series 'Galaxy Squad'. She has spoken at prominent events including WIRED Live UK, NASA Johnson Space Centre (USA), TEDxUCD and New Scientist (UK). Her first book 'Dream Big- an Irishwoman's Space Odyssey' from Mercier Press was published in March 2020 and launched virtually during Space week after a 6-month delay due to the pandemic. She writes regularly for BBC’s Sky at Night magazine. Niamh continues to work on her project 'Walking Slowly to Space', a global walking project to meet & chat with diverse communities, & share & exchange ideas about science, space and the wider message of a safer, healthier & fairer planet for all.
Find Niamh's book Dream Big here.
Margate Science Festival: deep time
05 December
4.30PM - 7PM GMT
join us for the first part in our new super/collider Margate Science Festival in association with Faith in Strangers.
our first ever event will focus on the concept of deep time. we will hear from Robert Macfarlane, Timothy Morton and Flora Bowden. this event is supported by Arts Council England.
during the event, we would like visitors to consider the ecological deep time history of Margate and the surrounding areas. the chalk cliffs of Margate were built up by ocean sediment over many thousands of years. as we walk along the cliffside, we view a physical manifestation of layers of compressed time.
within this event we will consider how thinking on a "deep time" scale can alter our perception of our environment. can long term thinking help us to make better decisions that allow us to value and care for our environment?
Robert Macfarlane
Robert MacFarlane will be in conversation with Flora Bowden. Macfarlane will also read from his new book Underland: A Deep Time Journey, published in May 2019. hailed as "the great nature writer of this generation" (Wall Street Journal), Robert Macfarlane is the celebrated author of books about the intersections of the human and the natural realms. in Underland, he delivers his masterpiece: an epic exploration of the Earth's underworlds as they exist in myth, literature, memory, and the land itself.
Robert Macfarlane is the author of Underland, Mountains of the Mind, The Wild Places, The Old Ways, Landmarks, and The Lost Words, co-created with Jackie Morris. Mountains of the Mind won the Guardian First Book Award and the Somerset Maugham Award and The Wild Places won the Boardman-Tasker Award. Both books have been adapted for television by the BBC. the Lost Words won the Books Are My Bag Beautiful Book Award and the Hay Festival Book of the Year. he is a Fellow of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and writes on environmentalism, literature and travel for publications including the Guardian, the Sunday Times and The New York Times.
Timothy Morton
Timothy Morton will discuss deep time in context with a number of his texts, including “Dark Ecology: For A Logic of Future Coexistence” and “Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People”.
Timothy Morton is Rita Shea Guffey Chair in English at Rice University. he has collaborated with Björk, Jennifer Walshe, Jeff Bridges, Olafur Eliasson, and Pharrell Williams. he co-wrote and appears in Living in the Future's Past, a 2018 film about global warming with Jeff Bridges. he is the author of Being Ecological (Penguin, 2018), Humankind: Solidarity with Nonhuman People (Verso, 2017), Dark Ecology: For a Logic of Future Coexistence (Columbia, 2016), Nothing: Three Inquiries in Buddhism (Chicago, 2015), Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology after the End of the World (Minnesota, 2013), Realist Magic: Objects, Ontology, Causality (Open Humanities, 2013), The Ecological Thought (Harvard, 2010), Ecology without Nature (Harvard, 2007), eight other books and 200 essays on philosophy, ecology, literature, music, art, architecture, design and food. his work has been translated into 10 languages. In 2014, Morton gave the Wellek Lectures in Theory.
Flora Bowden
Flora Bowden is a PhD candidate at the Royal College of Art who works across printmaking, painting and sculpture. her work draws on a broad range of research including scientific history, archaeology, digital archives and museology. It is concerned with the multiple temporalities of the image, with the interplay of various pasts and presents in the space of the image, and with the questions of vulnerability, openness and suggestibility that they raise.
her work has been exhibited at galleries including at GroundWork Gallery and APT Gallery among others, and she has taught at institutions including The Royal College of Art, Rice University and Gothenburg University.
Timeline
4.30pm - Introduction by super/collider and Faith In Strangers. Talk by Flora Bowden.
5pm - Talk by Timothy Morton & Q+A
6pm - Robert Macfarlane and Flora Bowden In Conversation, Q+A.
About Faith In Strangers
Faith in Strangers' provide a platform for a diverse range of contributors. Faith In Strangers will create a cultural programme that includes music, film, immersive performance, installations, experimental digital art, academic talks, food & drink, workshops and more. Faith In Strangers is a multi-use space in Margate, housing arts and cultural events as well as a shared workspace for creative individuals.
this event is curated by Louise Beer and Melanie King.
super/science episode 9: lunar yoga
30 November
7PM BST
Join us for the ninth episode in our new online event series, super/science.
during this event, Lucy Newport will lead the group through a yoga class, and Paul Hill will do a live telescope viewing.
we’ll ease into the event with a 30-minute yoga class, moving through a gentle lunar inspired flow of poses to help us feel calm, get out of our heads and ready to learn more about our beautiful Moon. you don’t need any previous yoga experience to enjoy this class, just a bit of space and your most comfortable clothes to move around in.
everyone will also be sent the recording of the lunar inspired class after the event so you can bring this practice more into your daily life. there will be an optional, relaxing moon themed playlist for those who have a Spotify account.
after the yoga session we will hear from astronomer Paul Hill, and view Moon visuals created using Paul’s own telescope.
Paul is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, co-presenter and writer of Awesome Astronomy podcast, a Space Ambassador for ESERO and has appeared on BBC News and Radio to discuss a range of astronomy and space issues.
Lucy guides yoga with an emphasis on listening to our own bodies and responding to what we most need ourselves. this helps us find feel-good movement and enjoy calming pauses for our bodies and minds, building strength and mobility whilst letting go of stress and tension.
as well as teaching under the name of Living Green Yoga, Lucy helps desk workers at sustainable organisations feel happier and healthier whilst giving more back to the planet with her new online yoga programme, Cultivate.
@livinggreenyoga www.cultivateyoga.co.uk
image credits: Melanie Magdalena and Lucy Newport
super/science episode 8: diving into an acidifying ocean
23 September
7PM BST
Join us for the eighth episode in our new online event series, super/science.
how is the ocean reacting to climate change? from a sailing boat to the web we'll explore how the chemistry of the ocean is changing with dramatic consequences for marine life. we'll explore the digital artwork 'Diving into an acidifying ocean', which was realised in collaboration with Google Arts & Culture and is a web experience that uses data to visualise the process and the consequences of ocean acidification.
Cristina Tarquini is an Italian art director + creative technologist based in Paris, designing visual storytelling for immersive experiences. her digital practice is getting more and more focused on climate and social issues that are reshaping the 21st century. Cristina's work has been shown internationally at Somerset House, Experiments With Google Arts & Culture and Ars Electronica.
This event will be accessed on the Zoom platform.
images: Google Arts & Culture
super/science: light reflections
9 July
7PM BST
super/collider and Turner Contemporary Margate present “Light Reflections” with artist Armelle Tulunda and astronomer Paul Hill.
This event is part of the Turner Contemporary’s Margate Sky Live Feed Programme. For centuries artists have been inspired by Margate’s sea and skies. From JMW Turner to Tracey Emin, they have been long revered and are now an Instagram sensation.
The view from Turner Contemporary’s windows looks out over the horizon and often frames mesmerizing sunsets. Whilst closed, the Turner has installed a live camera so that audiences around the world can be inspired by the sea and sky, wherever they are. The live feed will run 24 hours a day for one week via this webpage.
Armelle Tulunda will introduce her most recent project. While studying at École Nationale Supérieure d'Art et de Design de Nancy, she wrote her dissertation, Le sublime cosmique, on the significance of astronomical images in our ways to imagine, and connect to outer space. Armelle will discuss how writing this dissertation led her to create a new body of works using scientific imagery as raw material. Within her work, Armelle uses illusory objects, sound recordings from Voyager, environmental issues, natural and artificial light.
Following Armelle’s talk, Paul Hill will explain in detail about solstices and equinoxes, as well as the phases of the Moon and why we see them as we do. Paul will also explain about the sunset, discussing why we see the vibrant colours within the famous sunsets of Margate.
Paul Hill will tune in from his home town in Wiltshire, providing a live stream of the Sun from his telescope. During this event, we will discuss the celestial objects that we can see in the sky.
Armelle Tulunda is an artist who finds inspiration in astronomy, optics, scientific research and philosophy. Her practice includes works on paper, light installations, photography and video. She questions scientific images and the consequences of the evolution of technologies used in astronomical tools. Throughout her work, Armelle investigates our evolving relationship to the unknowable. Previous projects include exhibitions in Nancy (FR, 2020), London (UK, 2019) as well as a residency in Atina (IT, 2018).
Paul Hill is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, co-presenter and writer of Awesome Astronomy podcast, a Space Ambassador for ESERO and has appeared on BBC News and Radio to discuss a range of astronomy and space issues.
super/science episode 7: sound machines
27 August 2020
7PM BST
join us online for super/science episode 7: sound machines, with Hainbach and Lomond Campbell
the event will feature talks and live performances of Lomond Campbell's harmonographic synth, Hainbach's tape loops and test equipment. This event follows on from Sound Machines at Ace Hotel in 2018, with Look Mum No Computer and Graham Dunning.
Lomond Campbell got tired of trying to make it work in the city so took a chance and bought an old, decrepit 1966 school building that nobody wanted, deep in the rural highlands of Scotland. He took five years out to convert it in to a studio called The Lengths where he now works. Living quietly by a loch, he divides his time between making music and building music making contraptions. Amongst his past glories are winning a BAFTA and recording an album with an orchestra which was released by Heavenly Recordings.
Based out of Berlin, Germany, electro-acoustic music composer and performer Hainbach (Opal Tapes, Seil Records) creates shifting audio landscapes THE WIRE called "One hell of a trip". Using esoteric synthesizers, test equipment, magnetic tape and idiophones his music is both abstract yet very much a corporal experience. He has become known for his immersive live performances for and recently through his YouTube channel, where he brings experimental music techniques to a wider audience.
www.youtube.com/user/hainbach101
www.instagram.com/hainbach101
This event was accessed on the Zoom platform.
super/science episode 6: fantasies of eel ecology
28 July
7PM BST
Kristina Pulejkova will present her work Wedding Journey. This event is in association with Exposed Arts Projects.
Wedding Journey is a live video performance that uses dance, narration and cg animation, to look at the mysterious life cycle and migration of the critically endangered European eel. Told from the eels’ perspective, the project aims to cast a light on the story of this critically endangered animal whose existence is threatened by human action and climate change. Here, the eels are taken as a metaphor for the human strife for self-fulfilment, the seek for the utopian place and state.
Drawing parallels between the lives of humans and eels in the wake of climate change, the piece deals with the struggles of overcoming borders and barriers, in a world where long journeys and migrations are increasingly becoming more difficult.
The script for the work is informed by interviews with Dr. Matthew Gollock, ZSL (Zoological Society London), chair of the AESG (Anguillid Eel Specialist Group) and research from Dr. Zoran Spirkovski, Hydrobiological institute in Ohrid, North Macedonia on the European eel living in the Ohrid lake.
Direction and concept by Kristina Pulejkova, choreography by Georgia Tegou, music by Glen Johnson. Dancers: Amy Dakin Harris, Rebecca Namgauds, Vanessa Michielon, Michalis Theofanous and Antonia Ptohides. Voice actors: Alexandra Wilkinson, Marija Kaeva.
The project has been developed with support through the FLAMIN Fellowship Programme, Arts Council England, Fenton Arts Trust (R&D). The final piece production is supported by the Ministry of Culture, North Macedonia.
Kristina Pulejkova is a Macedonian London-based artist whose practice is informed by science and technology. She is currently artist in residence at Somerset House Studios, London.
Kristina’s work explores how the use of technology might lead to greater forms of sustainability in human-nature relationships. Working across moving image, sound and installation, she aims to build subjective narratives based on scientific data and principles.
In her work, she tends to imagine voices – voices from creatures, objects and even atoms in order to try to inhabit non-human perspectives. Through use of immersive technology, Kristina’s works often deal with environmental issues, telling personal stories that place audiences at the centre of the scene, allowing for a protagonist perspective and a different way of seeing.
Exposed Arts Projects is a think-and-do tank that celebrates the power of arts-based research* to produce an informed multidimensional perspective on the contemporary human condition. It is set to nurture an innovative, mindful and just society that is driven to explore the creative alternatives to the status quo.
This event will be accessed on the Zoom platform.
super/science episode 5: early earth and cyanobacteria
14 July
7PM BST
Join us for the fifth episode in our new online event series, super/science.
During this event, we will hear from Dr Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo about Cyanobacteria and the formation of a habitable world.
Oxygen is essential for complex life forms as it is used during aerobic respiration. During the early Earth there was no oxygen in the atmosphere, and the oxygen we enjoy today has accumulated as the result of biological activity. Blue-green algae, otherwise known as Cyanobacteria, were the first organisms that worked out how to perform photosynthesis - it is during this biological process that oxygen is released into the atmosphere. During this session, we will explore when Cyanobacteria evolved, how Cyanobacteria contributed to making our planet habitable, and why it took so long for complex life to appear in our planet.
Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo is currently a Royal Society University Research Fellow and Reader in Microbiology at Bristol University. She did her PhD in plant evolutionary biology in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. As a postdoctoral researcher, Patricia worked on the molecular ecology of Cyanobacteria at Bristol University. She then had a career break of about five years to look after her young family and returned to science with a Daphne Jackson and Dorothy Hodgkin Royal Society Fellowships in 2011. In 2016, Patricia was awarded a Royal Society University Research Fellowship. Her research interests include photosynthesis, biogeochemical cycles, climate change, microbial comparative genomics, evolutionary biology.
Images: Dr Patricia Sanchez-Baracaldo
super/science episode 4: BepiColombo
30 June 2020
7PM BST
Join us for the fourth episode in our new online event series, super/science.
In April, the space probe BepiColombo came to less than 13,000 km from Earth, steering its trajectory as part of a long journey towards Mercury, the ultimate destination of its scientific mission. During this gravity-assist flyby, the probe snapped black-and-white views of our planet, joining in the space-era tradition of picturing our cosmic home from space. This talk will take viewers on a journey from Earth through planets, stars and galaxies, and discuss the astronomical perspective on our home planet. The talk will also touch upon the BepiColombo mission, a European-Japanese collaboration to investigate Mercury's mysteries, and the science data gathered during the recent Earth flyby.
Claudia Mignone is an astrophysicist, science writer and communicator, originally from the south of Italy. After researching the expansion of the Universe for her PhD at the University of Heidelberg, she engaged full time in public outreach, covering various science communication roles as a contractor for the European Space Agency and working with space missions like Rosetta, Gaia, BepiColombo, and many others. Claudia is passionate about telling the stories of the great women and men that investigate the cosmos, and often collaborates with artists to research new approaches to scientific narration.
super/science episode 3: exploring marine wonders
09 June 2020
7PM BST
During this talk, you will learn about the ecology of the Margate Coastline, in association with Resortful and South East Creatives.This talk with Alice Morley will allow people to learn more about the exciting variety of marine life we have around the Thanet Coast, which is often hidden beneath the waves! Here we will discuss some of the local species we can see on the shores across Kent, as well as the different habitats that species call home. This talk will also touch on the historic and cultural aspects of some offshore sites around the North Kent coast, and we will discuss the importance of marine conservation zones and how they can help to protect and preserve our fascinating marine environment for future generations. Following this talk, super/collider co-director Louise Beer and her partner John Hooper will observe marine objects under a microscope.Alice Morley is a Marine Conservation Officer at Kent Wildlife Trust, with a background in Marine Environmental Management. After finishing her degree, Alice spent a couple of years living and working in Yorkshire before moving down to Kent. Her current role with Kent Wildlife Trust is varied and includes aspects such as commenting on marine and coastal planning proposals; campaigning for stronger marine protection and advocating for better management of marine conservation zones; providing environmental advice to offshore developers; delivering marine consultancy projects; and organising events such as shore surveys and invasive species control events working alongside volunteers and citizen scientists. This event was accessed on the Zoom platform.
super/science episode 2: language of the stars
Join us for the second episode in our new online event series, super/science.
During this online event, we heard from theoretical cosmologist Roberto Trotta about his book The Edge of the Sky, which explains the Universe using just 1000 simple words.
From the big bang to black holes, from dark matter to dark energy, from the origins of the universe to its ultimate destiny, The Edge of the Sky tells the story of the most important discoveries and mysteries in modern cosmology--with a twist. The book's lexicon is limited to the thousand most common words in the English language, excluding physics, energy, galaxy, or even universe. Through the eyes of a fictional scientist (Student-People) hunting for dark matter with one of the biggest telescopes (Big-Seers) on Earth (Home-World), cosmologist Roberto Trotta explores the most important ideas about our universe (All-there-is) in language simple enough for anyone to understand. A unique blend of literary experimentation and science popularization, this delightful book is a perfect gift for any aspiring astronomer. The Edge of the Sky tells the story of the universe on a human scale, and the result is out of this world.
Roberto is a Professor of Astrostatistics in the Astrophysics Group at Imperial College London, an Academic Fellow of the Data Science Institute at Imperial College London and the Director of Imperial’s Centre for Languages, Culture and Communication.
***Roberto donated his share of money raised through tickets to Help Musicians Corona Virus Hardship Fund.
This event was accessed on the Zoom platform.
super/science episode 1: speaking into outer space
are there other life forms in the universe? join us for an exhilarating talk by Dr Jill Stuart and moon viewing event with Paul Hill.the first episode in our new online event series, super/science, presented in association with Uncommon.
Humanity regularly sends information from Earth out into the universe that may be picked up by potential extra-terrestrial intelligence. Should we be sending such messages? If so, how do we represent ourselves in such messages? In searching the universe, what do we find out about ourselves? Dr Jill Stuart explores into her research that covers sending messages into outer space and listening for messages from outer space through SETI and METI systems. After the talk, Paul Hill will be speaking about how the tides on Earth and the movement of the Moon are intrinsically connected through tidal locking. What is the Moon and where did it come from? how has the Moon affected life on Earth and how has it influenced our own human evolution and culture? is the Moon crucial for life on our planet or could we survive without it? after Paul’s talk, we will look at the crescent moon and Venus through several different telescopes. To end, Paul Hill will show the moon on a live stream, through his telescope.
Paul is an elected fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, co-presenter and writer of Awesome Astronomy podcast, a Space Ambassador for ESERO and has appeared on BBC News and Radio to discuss a range of astronomy and space issues.
Dr Jill Stuart is an academic based at the London School of Economics. She specialises in the politics, ethics and law of outer space exploration and exploitation. Dr Stuart is a Trustee of METI International, an organisation that focuses on sending messages from Earth to potential extra-terrestrial life. She is Editor in Chief of the journal Space Policy and was the 2015 Recipient of the British Science Association's Margaret Mead Award.
