Talks & lectures, Science, free events

Tonight: 'The Myths and Realities of CCTV in the UK' – Dr William Webster of Stirling University talks about the UK's 'love affair' with CCTV, where it is said there are more surveillance cameras per person than any other country in the world.

Who do you think you are? The 500 million-year edition – Prof Carol MacKintosh.

Tonight, the question is 'What sort of things are numbers?' Oxford lecturer Alexander Paseau tackles the abstract concept, determining whether numbers are subjective products of mental processes or if they in fact belong to a 'separate realm of ideal existence', as Plato believed.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Tonight: 'Two Faces of Plastics: Destroying and Saving Our Planet' with Dr Michael P Shaver. The professor looks at both the good and bad sides of the easily vilified product.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Tonight: Dealing Reasonably with Irrational Fear.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Part of Manchester International Festival.

Today: Thom Brooks – 'How Not to Save the Planet'. A look at how best (and not best) to correct environmental issues, and whether correction or adaptation is the best route. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Andy Russell – 'Climate Change: The Evidence and the Skeptics'. A look at how well the arguments against climate change stand up. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Jon Timmis – 'Reasons Not to Be Scared of Robots'. It's an interactive one with demonstrations of actual robots, as Timmis allays our fears about a Terminator takeover. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Sophie Scott – 'Sex on the Brain'. The good professor looks at the difficulties of studying sexuality from a neuroscience point of view. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Stevyn Colgan – 'The Skeptical Bobby'. Colgan talks about his heavily skeptical time in the police force, which he joined after a bet with his father. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Thom Scott-Phillips – 'Do Cultures Evolve?' A look at whether or not it's useful to talk of culture in terms used for biological evolution. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Rich Peppiatt – 'One Rogue Reporter'. The former Daily Star columnist reprises his 2012 Fringe show to talk about the Leveson Inquiry and the British press in general. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Mike Fay – 'Nanotechnology: Hype, Fear and Reality'. A look at the history of nano, picking apart the Hollywood fiction from the scientific fact. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Geraint Parry – 'The Science behind GM Crops: What They Are and What Can They Achieve?' A look at the good and bad of the controversial foodstuffs. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Cafe Science Summer Special.

Today: Stuart Ritchie – 'What’s the Point of Going to School?' The psychology PhD looks at which education interventions work, and which are a load of hooey. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Colin Beveridge – 'A Snowball’s Chance: Why million-to-one shots come up nine times out of ten'. A talk that puts probability into perspective for us non-statisticians, using monkeys with typewrtiers and Pratchett's Law to illustrate his point. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Hazel Gibson – 'Living on Frack-tured Earth: Public Perspectives of Hydraulic Fracturing'. The phrase 'fracking' gets bandied about all the time these days, but what does is really entail and what do people really think about it? Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: John Sweeney – 'Oi! Scientology! Church of Fear'. What is Scientology really like? Who is Xenu? More importantly, who is Tom Cruise? The BBC Panorama reporter lays it all out. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Helen Dale – 'Equal Marriage – Just (Not) Married'. A skeptical lawyer’s view of the gay marriage debate. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Alasdair Richmond – 'Philosophy of Time Travel'. Is time travel possible? What does it mean for humankind if it is? Prof Richmond speculates on a Dr Who future. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Matthew Johnson – 'Circumcision, the ‘Anti-Faith’ Agenda, Monotheists and Equality. A look at the historically medical reasons for circumcision and the overwhelmingly cultural reasons for its continued practise today. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Mark Holmes – 'Alt Vet: Why animals appear to respond to alternative medicine'. The Veterinary Preventive Medicine specialist talks about the world of holistic animal care. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Caroline Wilkinson – 'Faces of the Dead: Craniofacial analysis for forensic and archaeological investigation'. A talk about the soft and hard tissues of the face (plus other things!) from the woman who reconstructed the face of Richard III. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Matthew Smith – 'The Million Dollar Psychic'. Smith, a psychologist, talks about his attempts to develop his own 'psychic abilities' for a million dollar psychic challenge. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Simon Singh – 'The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets'. Turns out The Simpsons abounds with complex mathematical jokes. Singh points out what you've probably been missing in a funny and accessible talk. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Peter Harrison – 'Science: Things to Blow Your Mind'. Science has some crazy things to say, and skeptic, biologist and magician Harrison is on hand to shed light on some of its more wacky claims. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Today: Richard Wiseman – 'Weird Stuff: The Inside Story'. The professional magician talks about the impossible and the improbable, and how to achieve it. Part of Edinburgh Festival Fringe.