Scientists on a Soapbox

Natural scientists are taking up their soapboxes on Monday, taking a place at Speakers’ Corner in Hyde Park and encouraging the public to engage with science. For one afternoon, Speakers’ Corner will become an arena for public (and scientific) learning and debate centred around the International Year of Biodiversity 2010.

See speaker bios, and post your own questions at: www.zsl.org/speakerscorner, or heckle the speakers in person from 12 – 3pm…

Session One: 12noon – 1pm
EVOLUTION OF THE EARTH

Monica Grady – Life on Mars from Life on Earth?
Anjali Goswami – Lucky breaks in the history of life
Chris Jiggins – Where do species come from anyway?
Sandy Knapp – What we don’t know about biodiversity.
Tristram Wyatt – Pheromones – smells at the heart of life

Session Two: 1pm-2pm
EARTH CHALLENGES

Helen Roy – Alien spotting: recording non-native species in Britain and beyond
Rob Ewers – Why deforestation in the tropics should worry us
Stuart Roberts – Bees in crisis – well known fact or widely held belief?
Michelle Taylor – Trawling and corals: impossible sea-bed partners
Stephan Harrison – Global warming and a cold winter
Alun Anderson – Vanishing arctic

Session Three: 2pm-3pm
EARTH SOLUTIONS

Jonathan Baillie – Saving species on the EDGE
Guy Poppy – Food versus Fuel versus Flora and Fauna – a balancing act for managing the land.
Matt Prescott – Lessons from Ban the Bulb
Patricia Brekke – Back from the brink of extinction
EJ Milner-Gulland – Should we all be vegetarians?

This event is organised by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL)