Highlights of this week’s science events in London

Matt Brown

Conferences and symposiums
The Guardian Climate Change Summit, at Victoria Park Plaza on 11 June, explores ways for businesses to prepare for and combat climate change. High profile speakers include Ken Livingstone, Sir David King, Ian Pearson MP, Chris Huhne MP and Jonathon Porritt.

The Zoological Society of London hosts a scientific meeting on global amphibian decline on 12 June.

On 14 June, the Royal Academy of Engineering examines the hot issue of biofuels, in an academy briefing.

Academic lectures
On 12 June, Daniel Davis from Imperial’s Department of Biological Sciences discusses the cell biology of lymphocyte activation. On the same day, Henry Hamilton Roehl from the University of Sheffield tackles genetic analysis of zebrafish musculoskeletal development, at NIMR. Sticking with genetics, Allan Bradley from the Sanger Institute talks about tumour suppressor mouse knockouts at Imperial’s Hammersmith campus.

On 13 June, catch one of the lead authors of the recent IPCC report on climate change. Jonathan Gregory, from the University of Reading, explains the key findings and recommendations at the Institute of Physics.

Other highlights include space-based radar, small RNAs in C. elegans development, and cell based assays for high content screening.

Public events
The Natural History Museum opens a temporary exhibition on June 15 looking at the biodiversity of London. Systema Metropolis is an artist’s view of London’s biodiversity. Alternatively, you could try one of the NHM’s lunchtime talks. On 9 June, they present some of the more obscure specimens from their 70-million-strong collection.

And finally…
Prof Carl Djerassi was one of the key players in the development of the oral contraceptive pill. He’s also a novelist and playwright. A reading from his play Pornography in the age of technical reproduction can be enjoyed at the Freud Museum on 14 June.