There’s more information on the Science Café page
The next Science Café will be Thursday 22nd June
The line up for this Science Café now in place. On the evening we will be covering:
- Immunity in a test tube; engineering Biology for better health
- Why Schrödinger’s Cat Is Hard to Understand: The Physics of Quantum Information
- Exercise and arthritis: a painful story or healthy relationship?
There is more information on our Science Cafés page
In the meantime, here’s a quick look back at the last one:
Next Science Cafe: Thurs 2nd March
Otley Science Festival 2016: Monday 7 Nov – Sat 12 Nov
We have another great week lined up for you in our ninth Festival. See below for the full line-up or you can pick up a printed program from the Courthouse now.
Tickets are available now – have you got yours yet?
Click here for details of the Schools Events
Otley Science Festival is Supported by:
Monday 7 November 11.00 – 12.00 noon
Silly Science Toddler Time – Families 
Our sell out science special for under 5’s is back! Join us and let your child investigate with their senses and explore the scientific world around them. Laid on especially for the Courthouse by the Otley Children’s Centre, this is a very popular ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child, accompanying adults free.
For children aged 5 and under.
Monday 7 November 1.00pm – 2.00pm
Silly Science Toddler Time – Groups
A science fair specifically aimed at groups of under 5s from nurseries, play groups and childminders only. This is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child, accompanying adults free.
For children aged 5 and under.
Monday 7 November 7.30pm
The Science of Everyday Life with Marty Jopson
In this brilliant scientific tour of household science, BBC1 One Show scientist Dr Marty Jopson addresses conundrums such as: What really makes cakes rise? Why do soap bubbles burst? And how you get the quartz out of a clock using a hammer? The accompanying book serves as a guide to life with a dribblesome teapot cure, the solution to shocks from your car and why any of this matters at all. Answers will be provided, electrical devices dismantled and mess created in the name of science.
“That was amazing! I couldn’t believe my eyes!” Cheltenham Science Festival
£10/£8 For families and children aged 7 and upwards.
Tuesday 8 November 7.30pm
Festival Science Café
The perennial favourite of the Otley Science Festival returns once more to bring you a veritable cornucopia of science. Discover what happened when Otley school kids chatted with Astronaut Tim Peake, how to use nylon beads to wash greener and what the 100,000 Genomes Project will mean to Yorkshire. With each speaker given a quarter of an hour to talk there will be plenty of time afterwards for you to further grill them with questions and mingle over a drink.
£5, 18s and under free Adults and young people. Bar.
Wednesday 9 November 7.30pm
Prank Science with Steve Mould
Steve Mould is well known for pulling pranks on unsuspecting members of the public in BBC 1’s Britain’s Brightest. All in the name of science of course. In this show he’ll be sharing his secrets and showing you loads of ways you can prank your friends and annoy your family. Expect mind bending illusions, weird chemistry, explosions and a fart projector. Do try this at home!
£10/£8 Age 7 and upwards. Bar.
Friday 11 November 12.30 to 2pm
Science Lunch: A Life Spent Dyeing
Enjoy a delicious buffet lunch then sit back and listen to Prof David Lewis, from the Department of Colour Science at the University of Leeds, as he explains some of the chemistry of hair care and in particular the way we dye it. Enjoy a cup of tea, or coffee, and a piece of cake as you discover why, despite being chemically identical, the dyeing of wool and hair follow a very different course. Tickets are limited and pre-booking is essential.
£7 including buffet lunch.
Friday 11 November 7.30pm
What We Cannot Know with Prof. Marcus du Sautoy
Are there limits to what we can discover about our physical universe? Are some regions of the future beyond the predictive powers of science and mathematics? Is the universe infinite? Are there ideas so complex that they are beyond the conception of our finite human brains? Can brains even investigate themselves or does the analysis enter an infinite loop from which it is impossible to rescue itself? Marcus du Sautoy takes us to the edge of knowledge to find out what we cannot know.
£12/£10 Age 7 and upwards. Bar
Saturday 12 November 10am-4pm
Otley Science Fair
Join local groups, regional museums and national organisations showing off the best of hands-on science in Yorkshire. From physics to biology and engineering to wildlife, come along to the Otley Courthouse for this year’s even bigger science fair. There really is something for everyone, with stalls, demonstrations, workshops and experiments to have a go at.
Free event. Something for everyone.
Saturday 12 November 7.30pm
Stuff Matters with Mark Miodownik
Concrete that can heal itself, implants that become living bone and magnetic liquids: materials engineer and TV presenter Mark Miodownik explains why the world is about to become a lot stranger.
£12/£10 Age 7 and upwards. Bar.
Further information and tickets:
Tickets from www.otleycourthouse.org.uk
Box office 01943 467216 10am-4pm Mon-Sat inclusive
Where Concessionary Ticket prices are shown these apply to:
- under 16s
- those in receipt of benefits
- those in full time education
- Senior Citizens who are 60+ and retired
Buy in person from Otley Courthouse 10am-4pm Mon-Sat or on the door.
All events at Otley Courthouse
(unless otherwise specified):
Otley Courthouse Arts Centre,
Courthouse Street,
Otley,
West Yorks
LS21 3AN
Tel: 01943 467466
Otley Science Festival 2015: Monday 9 Nov – Sat 14 Nov
We have a fabulous week lined up for you. See below for the full line-up, printed programmes will be available from the Courthouse in September:
Tickets are available now – have you got yours yet?
Click here for details of Schools Events
Otley Science Festival is Supported by:
Otley Town Partnership – Otley Town Council – Needham Geoscience – Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society – Institute of Physics – Rotary Club of Otley MICE Money given by Cllrs Colin Campbell, Ryk Downes and Sandy Lay.
Silly Science Toddler Time – Families
Mon 9 Nov 9.30 – 10.30 am
It’s never too early to start having fun with science! Join us for a special under 5s science fair and let your child investigate with their senses and explore the scientific world around them.
Laid on specially for the Courthouse by the Otley Children’s Centre, this is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child, accompanying adults free. Children 5 and under
Silly Science Toddler Time – Groups
Mon 9 Nov 10.45 – 11.45 am
A science fair specifically aimed at groups of under 5s from nurseries, play groups and child minders only.
Laid on specially for the Courthouse by the Otley Children’s Centre, this is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child, accompanying adults free. Children 5 and under
Bubblology with Marty Jopson
Mon 9 Nov 7.30pm
Join Marty Jopson, the science expert on the BBC1 One Show as he peers into the slippery, soapy world of bubbles on a quest for the perfectly polyhedral bubble. What’s really going on in a bubble, where do the colours come from, how long can a bubble last and why do they burst?
There will be flaming bubbles, smokey bubbles, exploding bubbles, square bubbles and gargantuan monster bubbles – all in the name of science.
“You just made a scientist!” Lancashire Science Festival, U.C.Lan
£10/£8 Families and children aged 7 upwards.
Festival Science Café
Tues 10 Nov 7:30pm
The Otley Science Festival’s most popular event returns once more to bring you three speakers each with their own bite sized scientific speciality. Join us for a relaxed and fun evening suitable for all ages and all interests – here are the topics:
- Science of the Past: A life & death in the Bronze Age
– Cathy Batt, Senior Lecturer in Archaeological Sciences, Univ. of Bradford - Fishing for clouds: Searching the oceans for ice nucleating particles
– Theo Wilson, Research Fellow, School of Earth & Environment, Univ. of Leeds - Up, up & away (and hopefully back again)
– Phil Robertson, Head of Science, Otley All Saints School
With each speaker given a quarter of an hour to talk there will be plenty of time afterwards for you to further grill them with questions and mingle over a drink.
£4/£3 Adults and young people. Bar.
Graphene and the Unexpected Science in a Pencil Line – Science Festival Lunch
Weds 11 Nov 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Enjoy a delicious buffet lunch then sit back and listen to Dr. Aravind Vijayaraghavan, Lecturer in Nanomaterials at the University of Manchester, as he introduces you to graphene, the world’s first 2-dimensional material. Discover the superlative properties of graphene, its strength, conductivity, flexibility and transparency. Find out how it can be made, even by you, using a piece of pencil lead and a roll of sticky tape and crucially, hear about the exciting future prospects for this wonder material.
Tickets are limited and pre-booking is essential.
£6 including buffet lunch.
Darwin’s Brilliant Blunder: A Guided Reading with Prof Gregory Radick
Wed 11, Thur 12, Fri 13 Nov, 6.30pm each evening 
In 1868, Charles Darwin published his hypothesis of “pangenesis”. Intended by Darwin to explain inheritance and related topics, it has gone down in history as one of Darwin’s biggest failures. So what was pangenesis and why did Darwin back it? This group, meeting three evenings in a row, will be a chance to read and discuss one of Darwin’s least understood but most fascinating ideas. One ticket covers attendance to all three, one hour long sessions.
Tickets are extremely limited, so please book early.
£10 . Adults and young people.
The Element in the Room: A Radioactive Musical Comedy about the Death and Life of Marie Curie
Wed 11 Nov 7.30pm
A new musical comedy about Marie Curie and her scientific research. Tangram Theatre’s John Hinton and Daniel Goldman bring their trademark irreverence, comedy songs and interactive on-stage experiments to explain radioactivity, X-Ray technology and the on-going search for a cancer cure. With an emphasis on making big ideas exciting, fun and accessible to audiences of all ages and backgrounds. The show explains the science behind Curie’s ground-breaking work, bringing her research right up to date, and exploring some of the most important scientific challenges of the modern day.
£12/£10 Age 7 and upwards. Bar.
The Theory of Everything
Thur 12 Nov 7.45pm
A special Science Festival screening of The Theory of Everything by Otley Film Society. The Theory of Everything is the story of the most brilliant and celebrated physicist of our time, Stephen Hawking, and Jane Wilde the arts student he fell in love with whilst studying at Cambridge in the 1960s. Over the course of their marriage as Stephen’s body collapsed and his academic renown soared, fault lines were exposed that tested the lineaments of their relationship and dramatically altered the course of both of their lives.
£4 / Film Society members free. Certificate 12A. Bar
Limited Tickets available in advance from The Courthouse
Bat Based Biology and the Bat Man of Leeds
Fri 13 Nov 7.30pm
Join Prof. John Altringham from Leeds University on a journey from Wharfedale to the Western Ghats, and many places in between, to look at the fascinating biology of bats, the most successful and diverse of all mammals. How does echolocation work? Why do tequila drinkers love bats? What does the island of Krakatau have to do with bats? Why are some bats so ugly? Why is one species of bat worth 20 billion dollars a year to the US economy? Just some of the questions that will be answered.
£6/£4 Age 7 and upwards. Bar.
Otley Science Fair
Sat 14 Nov 10am – 4pm
From physics to biology and engineering to wildlife, come along to the Otley Courthouse for this year’s even bigger science fair. With stalls, demonstrations, workshops and experiments to have a go at, there really is something for everyone. Join local groups, regional museums and national organisations showing off the best of hands-on science in Yorkshire.
Free Event. Something for everyone.
The Science of Game of Thrones
Sat 14 Nov 7.30pm
Join us for an evening of Ice and Fire (though if we’re honest about it, mostly Fire). Award-winning comedian Helen Keen and explosive science communicator Ian Simmons from Newcastle’s Centre for Life present experiments and demonstrations exploring some of the burning issues raised by George R R Martin’s epic adventure. Are fire breathing dragons likely? What really happens when royal families inter-breed? Could real world pyromancers create green wildfire and destroy a fleet of ships? And can you actually, really, crush someone’s skull with your bare hands? Think you know the answers? Or, do you know nothing (Jon Snow)?
Come along either way, in costume if you want, we would love that!
£10/£8 Age 14 and upwards. Bar.
Further information and tickets:
Tickets from www.otleycourthouse.org.uk
Box office 01943 467216 10am-4pm Mon-Sat inclusive
Where Concessionary Ticket prices are shown these apply to:
- under 16s
- those in receipt of benefits
- those in full time education
- Senior Citizens who are 60+ and retired
Buy in person from Otley Courthouse 10am-4pm Mon-Sat or on the door.
All events at Otley Courthouse
(unless otherwise specified):
Otley Courthouse Arts Centre,
Courthouse Street,
Otley,
West Yorks
LS21 3AN
Tel: 01943 467466
Otley Science Festival: Sunday 3 Nov – Sat 9 Nov
This year, our Science Festival Week kicks off a week and a day earlier than previously on Sunday 3rd November and goes through to Saturday 9th November. Tickets are going fast – have you got yours yet?
We have a fabulous week lined up for you. See below for the full line-up:
Click here for details of Schools Events;
Kids’ Film & Fun with Wall-E – Sold Out
Sun 3 Nov 10.00am – 2.00pm
Come as a family and build a robot from recycled boxes, toilet rolls and milk bottle tops, followed by you and your newly created robots watching the children’s classic Wall-E on the big screen. All materials supplied. This is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
Lunch is not provided and children must be accompanied by an adult.
£4 per ticket, one accompanying adult free. Children 4 to 14.
Silly Science Toddler Time – Families
Mon 4 Nov 9.30 – 10.30 am
Come along with your child and join in the fun science activities aimed specifically at the under 5s. From the earliest age children are natural scientists, using their senses to investigate and explore the world around them.
This is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child. Children 5 and under. Accompanying Adults Free
Silly Science Toddler Time – Groups
Mon 4 Nov 10.45 – 11.45 am
A science session for groups of under 5s from nurseries, play groups and child minders only. Families should book for the 9:30 session above.
This is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child. Children 5 and under. Accompanying Adults Free
Marty Jopson – Zap Crackle and Pop
Mon 4 Nov 7.30pm
Join Dr Marty Jopson, Otley’s resident BBC One Show scientist as he takes a sparky journey through the story of electricity.
From the Ancient Greeks, through Faraday’s genius, Marty brings the story bang up to date with the latest high tech inventions like graphene. Expect a hair raising but electrifying performance.
★★★ “Full of ideas you can take home and set fire to” Fringe Guru, Edinburgh
£9/£7 Families and children aged 7 upwards. Bar.
Festival Science Cafe
Tue 5 Nov 7.30pm
To celebrate Bonfire Night, we have a specially themed Science Café with three speakers each spending 10 minutes talking on a firework related subject followed by our usual lively question and answer session. From natural fireworks to the epidemiology of firework injuries, there may even be a few, perfectly safe, indoor fireworks…
£4/£3 Adults and young people. Bar.
In Search of the Northern Lights
– Science Festival Lunch
Wed 6 Nov 12.30pm – 2.00pm
Enjoy a delicious buffet lunch then sit back and listen as Prof. Jim Wild, explores our planet’s intimate relationship with the Sun and reveals the science behind the northern lights. These mysterious dancing lights in the night sky have captivated observers since ancient times, but what causes these beautiful displays in the polar sky?
Please note that pre-booking of tickets is essential.
£6 including buffet lunch.
Stefan Gates – Gastronaut Live
Fri 8 Nov 7.30pm
CBBC’s Stefan Gates (Incredible Edibles, Gastronuts) performs a big, bad, explosive, world-changing food science show.
BEWARE: there will be flame-throwing and rockets, mind-blowing chemistry, lots of explosions and some very strange food indeed.
“Full of food, fun, science and brilliance!” Cheltenham Science Festival
£9/£7 Families and children aged 7 upwards. Bar.
Helen Keen – Robot Woman of Tomorrow
Fri 8 Nov 9.15pm
Creator of BBC Radio 4s hit space comedy It Is Rocket Science, award-winning comedian Helen Keen returns to Otley to bring us her esoteric mix of stand-up, science fiction and shadow puppetry in a show that will transport you into the exciting, inventive and tinfoil-y world of The Future (by at least an hour!).
“Perfect… highly intelligent, accessible stand-up” Three Weeks
£9/£7 Adults only. Bar.
Otley Science Fair
Sat 9 Nov 10am – 4pm
Get down to this year’s Science Fair for stalls, demonstrations and great experiments to try out. The Courthouse will be alive with local and regional groups showing off the best science Yorkshire has to offer. Cakes, teas, coffees and lunch available in the café all day.
FREE ENTRY.
Small fee for some activities. Something for everyone.
Supported by:
Otley Town Partnership – Otley Town Council – Needham Geoscience
Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society – Institute of Physics
Leeds Bradford Materials Engineering Society
Councillors C.Campbell, R.Downes + S.Lay though MICE Money.
Mike Dilger – The Trials and Tribulations of a Natural History Presenter
Sat 9 Nov 7.30pm
Join the BBC natural history presenter, Mike Dilger on an illuminating and sideways look at what it takes to produce popular and accessible wildlife television. Featuring some clips from The One Show, Mike reveals what often goes on behind the scenes on location and spills the beans on everything you wanted to know about TV presenting but were too afraid to ask.
£9/£7 Adults and young people. Bar.
Further information and tickets:
Tickets from www.otleycourthouse.org.uk
Box office 01943 467216 10am-4pm Mon-Sat inclusive
Where Concessionary Ticket prices are shown these apply to:
- under 16s
- those in receipt of benefits
- those in full time education
- Senior Citizens who are 60+ and retired
Buy in person from Otley Courthouse 10am-4pm Mon-Sat or on the door.
All events at Otley Courthouse
(unless otherwise specified):
Otley Courthouse Arts Centre,
Courthouse Street,
Otley,
West Yorks
LS21 3AN
Tel: 01943 467466
Otley Science Festival: Mon 12 Nov – Sat 17 Nov 2012
This year, festival week kicks off on Monday 12th November and goes through to Saturday 17th November. Tickets are going fast – have you got yours yet?
We have a fabulous week lined up for you. See below for the full line-up:
Silly Science Toddler Time [SOLD OUT]
Mon 12 Nov 9.30 – 11.30 am
Come along with your child and join in the fun science activities aimed specifically at the under 5s. From the earliest age children are natural scientists, using their senses to investigate and explore the world around them. There’ll be lots to do from making “Ice Mountains” to exploring “Gloop”, and who can guess what’s inside the “Feely Boxes”?
£2 per child. Children 5 and under.
Standing on the Shoulders of Giants: A story told with Gravity – Marty Jopson [SOLD OUT]
Mon 12 Nov 7.30pm
Join Dr Marty Jopson, the BBC One Show’s resident scientist as he delves into the story of how Newton came up with his ideas on gravity. From the Ancient Greeks, through Newton’s genius, Marty brings the story bang up to date with the hunt for the Higgs boson. There will be flames and silly machines, and there will almost certainly be a mess.
★★★★ “Full of ideas you can take home and set fire to” Fringe Guru, Edinburgh 2011
£8/£6 Families and children aged 7 upwards. Bar.
Festival Science Cafe
Tue 13 Nov 7.30pm
Your chance to hear three top scientists as they are given 10 minutes each to explain their theories, then you get to pick their brains in our ever popular Science Cafe. From the elements in your phone to artificial intelligence, and Bean physics.
- Dr. John Baruch asks “Is there Life out There?”
- Prof. Robert Cywinski tackles “Could Thorium save the planet?”
- Dr. Hywell Jones illuminates “What things are made of.”
£4/£3 Adults and young people. Bar.
Astronomy on the Beaches of Hawaii – Science Festival Lunch [SOLD OUT]
Wed 14 Nov 12.30-2pm
Enjoy a delicious buffet lunch then sit back and listen to Prof. Ian Robson as he explains why Hawaii is renowned not only for its volcanoes but also as home to the world’s largest array of telescopes on the 14,000ft high summit of Mauna Kea. Professor Robson has been observing there for 40 years and was Director of the UK’s James Clerk Maxwell Telescope for a decade.
£5 including buffet lunch.
Science Book Club – Celebrating Alan Turing’s birthday
Wed 14 Nov 8pm
The Science Book Club returns to the Fleece pub in Otley. Meet like-minded individuals to discuss any book that fits in our topic. This time, as a celebration of Alan Turing’s birthday, the club will be discussing computing and artificial-intelligence. No need to bring a book, just come along and join in the discussion.
Location: The Fleece Pub, Westgate, Otley.
Free. Adults only.
Piled Higher and Deeper: Life (or the lack thereof) in Academia
Thu 15 Nov 7.30pm
The film of the popular online comic strip by Jorge Cham. Filmed on location at California Institute of Technology (Caltech), it follows four graduate students (Cecilia, Mike, Tajel and the ‘Nameless Grad Student’) as they struggle to find balance between research, teaching and their personal lives with humour and heart. Essential viewing for all academics and self-pitying phd students out there!
£3 Adults and young people. Bar.
Engineering, Mathematics and the Nude – Dr Allan McRobie
Fri 16 Nov 7.30pm
A gentle look at how the mathematics that is used to study the stability of ships, oil rigs and building columns can not only be used to weigh distant galaxies but, rather unexpectedly, can also give new insights into art, and particularly the portrayal of the nude.
Warning: this talk contains mathematics and nudity
£7/£5 Adults only. Bar.
Otley Science Fair
Sat 17 Nov 10am-4pm
Get down to this year’s Science Fair for stalls, demonstrations and great experiments to try out. Have a go at programming a robot and pass the time of day with Joseph Priestly, discoverer of oxygen. Cakes, teas, coffees and lunch available in the café all day.
Small fee for some activities. Something for everyone.
Paradox: The Nine Greatest Enigmas in Science – Prof. Jim Al-Khalili [SOLD OUT]
Sat 17 Nov 7.30pm
Why does it get dark at night? Where are all the aliens? And is Schrödinger’s cat dead or alive? The BBC’s Jim Al-Khalili helps us get our heads around some of the world’s most mind-boggling paradoxes. Throughout history, science has been littered with famous paradoxes. All can be resolved with a little thought and lots of mind-bending fun, and each tell us a profound truth about how our universe works.
£8/£6 Adults and young people. Bar.
Further information and tickets:
Tickets from www.otleycourthouse.org.uk
Box office 01943 467216 10am-4pm Mon-Sat inclusive
Buy in person from Otley Courthouse 10am-4pm Mon-Sat or on the door.
All events at Otley Courthouse (unless otherwise specified):
Otley Courthouse Arts Centre,
Courthouse Street,
Otley,
West Yorks
LS21 3AN
Tel: 01943 467466
Otley Science Café – September Roundup
September’s Cafe was a success and we once again enjoyed 3 fabulous speakers:
- The Uncanny Valley – Angela Tinwell (Bolton University)
- Next Generation Cancer Medicines – Kamyar Afarinkia (Bradford University)
- New semi-conductors – Luke Bawazer (Leeds University)
One of our speakers, Dr Kamyar Afarinkia, who gave a very interesting talk about Next Generation Cancer Medicines, made a video of the evening:
Plus, here are a few of our snaps from the evening:
If you missed this cafe, there’s another one coming up very shortly on Tuesday 13th November as part of our week long Science Festival.
Next Science Cafe – Thurs 20th September
We are excited to announce an exciting line up for the next Science Café which takes place on Thursday September 20th at 7.30pm at Otley Courthouse, Courthouse Street Otley. Don’t miss the opportunity to fire questions at top scientists from around the region as they set out to encapsulate a key idea in just 10-15 mins and 20 slides.
Angela Tinwell from the University of Bolton will talk about ways that computer generated imagery makes us uncomfortable, in the Uncanny Valley. Kamyar Afarinkia of the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Bradford will discuss where the next generation of cancer medicines are going to come from. And Luke Bawazer of the University of Leeds will wonder about the impact of nanoparticles on all our lives.
Marty Jopson of BBC TV’s the One Show who helps organise the event said: ‘We’ve got a great line up and it’s always a really fun and inspiring evening. Everyone’s welcome, whether you’re a beginner, an expert or still at school. Science Cafe audience members are aged from 9-90!’
Tickets: £4/£3 concessions, available in person from Otley Courthouse in advance or on the door, by phone from the Courthouse Box Office- 01943 467466, or online from the Courthouse website at www.otleycourthouse.org.uk
Otley Science Cafe – June Roundup
June’s café went down a storm with thanks to our 3 fabulous speakers for such an interesting and insightful evening. Some photos from the event:
… and don’t forget it’s the next Science Book Group at 8pm on Tuesday 26th June at the Fleece pub in Otley. The theme is “Sports Science” so if you fancy a pint and a natter, grab a (vaguely relevant, optional) book and bring it down…
