The best science events around town this week.

Matt Brown

Event of the week
Live Surgery, at the Wellcome Collection
Spurred on by a sell-out event in July, the Wellcome Collection offers the public another chance to witness open-heart surgery. Via a live video link, the audience can watch and ask questions of cardiothoracic surgeon Francis Wells at Papworth Hospital, as he reconstructs a heart valve.

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Public events
On 30 October at the Croydon Clocktower, Ron Douglas from City University reveals how animals see through the inky depths of the oceans. The same evening, the Royal Society hosts a session on the importance of R&D to the UK economy, delivered by Imperial’s David Edgerton. The Dana Centre examines nightmares and sleep paralysis the following evening, as a Hallowe’en tie-in. On 1 November, UCL’s lunchtime lecture tackles the relationship between plants and global warming.

Do scientists and the media make good bedfellows? asks Imperial College on 1 November. Journalists from the Guardian, New Scientist and the BBC share a panel with Imperial academics. The session explores whether the media helps or hinders science, and forms part of Imperial’s centenary celebrations.

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Academic seminars
On 31 October, Slawek Nasuto from the University of Reading talks at Goldsmiths, University of London about computing with neurons. The Mill Hill Lecture, on the same day, explores diabetes from molecule to malady. The seminar, at the National Institute for Medical Research, is given by Frances Ashcroft from the University of Oxford. On 1 November, Polly Matzinger from the US National Institutes of Health delivers the enigmatically titled Is Cancer Dangerous? at Cancer Research UK.

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Meetings
The London Structural Biology Club gets together on 30 October at Birkbeck College. Speakers include Anne Dell from Imperial College and Jon Wilson from the Institute of Cancer Research. On 1–2 November, the Zoological Society of London holds a meeting on the trade-offs in conservation. With limited resources and so many endangered species, how do we decide what to save?

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And finally…
Don’t forget Nature Network London’s monthly drinks evening on 31 October. Join our discussion forum to ask questions and continue conversations.