Abstract

FREE ENTRY

A panel debate that asks: Do aliens really exist? What might they look like? And how might science and society react if we found them?

Human beings have long speculated on the existence of life elsewhere in the universe, but only now are we tackling the question with science. Astronomers are using increasingly sophisticated techniques to find and analyse exoplanets. Meanwhile, biologists are searching for life in our solar system. Science fiction has imagined a wide variety of alien life. We’ll be asking if the aliens of literature, art and film have a basis in science and, if not, we’ll find out what biologists really think aliens look like.

Join us for a lively and informative evening of scientific speculation in search of the answers to all of these questions and more. Refreshments will be available after the talk and Q&A session.

Panel: Dr Jack Cohen (co-author of The Science of Discworld and Evolving the Alien)

Dr Lewis Dartnell (Centre for Planetary Sciences, UCL )

Dr Carolin Crawford (Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge)

Prof Mark Brake (University of Glamorgan)

Chairwoman: Dr Monica Grady (The Open University and 2003 lecturer for The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures)