Come take a ride in the Tech Time Machine and explore how IT may change our lives in the next fifty years. By employing techniques used by science fiction writers, we can imagine how Artificial Intelligence, extended reality, mobile connectivity, quantum computing, and others will develop. How will they converge, enable and accelerate each other? We can anticipate the opportunities and challenges technology may bring. Why should we fear disruption? Should we instead embrace it? This lecture was recorded by Dr Victoria Baines on 7th May 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London The transcript and do ..read more

What makes a piece of music challenging, bland, intriguing, beautiful or ugly? This lecture explores the concept of ‘musical flavour’ formed by intervallic, rhythmic and timbral components and how they contribute to a sense of consonance and dissonance. In particular we look at the interval vector, a system by which harmonic objects are analysed as a series of ‘handshakes’ between pitches, providing a measure of harmonic ‘bite’. The ‘Hendrix chord’ is used as a case study of such harmonic flavour. This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides on 25th April 2024 at LSO St Luke's Church, Londo ..read more

Boyajian's star, a faint and unprepossessing presence in the constellation of Cygnus, attracted astronomers' attention when it began to flicker alarmingly. We will discuss explanations for its behaviour, from disintegrating comets to alien megastructures, and consider how modern astronomy hunts for the truly unusual objects in the Universe. For this task, the involvement of large numbers of volunteers - citizen scientists - is essential, for example via the Zooniverse platform, which invites you to participate in classifying galaxies and discovering planets. This lecture was recorded by Chris ..read more

This lecture makes a survey of learned ceremonial magic in Europe throughout history and demonstrates that both of the customary claims made for it by practitioners since the Middle Ages are actually correct: that there is a continuous tradition of it and that it is ultimately derived from ancient Egypt. In doing so, it also shows what is distinctive about Western magic. This lecture was recorded by Ronald Hutton on 24th April 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/wa ..read more

Queer urban life has changed dramatically in England over the last seventy years. Shifts in the economy, culture, attitudes, and technology have all played their part in this. London has often been used as the barometer for these shifts, suggesting they were experienced in similar ways across the nation. In an exploration of the queer contours of Leeds, Manchester, Brighton and Plymouth, this lecture takes issue with this assumption and shows how and why LGBTQ scenes, communities and identities could feel very different from place to place. This lecture was recorded by Matt Cook on 23rd April ..read more

In the Great Depression, producers of food and raw materials complained that they received low prices and paid high prices for industrial imports. Latin America adopted ‘import substituting industrialisation’ to encourage production behind tariff barriers. This approach continued after the war as more countries gained independence. Did this policy result in inefficient industries and state regulation without delivering improved welfare? By the 1980s, the policy was in retreat with a turn to market liberalisation and export-led growth. This lecture was recorded by Martin Daunton on 9th April 2 ..read more

Evidence that childhood lead exposure caused stunted intelligence and behavioural problems motivated efforts to ban lead in petrol, with the world finally eradicating leaded fuel in 2021. This is a public health success story, but it took a long time to force industry to take action. The lead released from historic emissions persists within the environment and there is emerging evidence of continuing health effects. The legacy of lead remains and will be explored in this lecture. This lecture was recorded by Dr Ian Mudway on 25th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London The transcript and do ..read more

The Black Welsh singer started out recording cover versions of American songbook classics but rose to international fame after her performance of the title song of Goldfinger. Movie songs, successful albums and popular television specials followed, but so too did personal tragedy and a highly critical (and gendered) reputation of her professional behaviour in the media. The word ‘diva’ has been applied both admiringly and misogynistically to her life and work, typifying her experience as a Black British woman. This lecture was recorded by Dominic Broomfield-McHugh on 21st March 2024 at Barnar ..read more

We often think of evolution as ‘something that happened’ in the past. But of course, evolution is a constant, powerful process and one that is often unleashed by human behaviours. Often this is deliberate, we’ll look at how artificial selection has shaped our crops, livestock and domestic pets, and we’ll find out how modern science is uncovering the genetic changes that lie beneath. But sometimes human behaviours unleash powerful and altogether less welcome evolutionary forces…join us as we uncover them together! This lecture was recorded by Robin May on 20th March 2024 at Barnard's Inn Hall ..read more

Governments increasingly use detention as a central component of immigration and asylum policy. The lecture addresses several important questions. What does immigration detention look like? How is it a reflection of those societies that tolerate its use and the policies that support and endorse its expansion? What place does it have in the journeys of those migrating across borders today? Using photography and testimony, this lecture visually translates several immigration detention systems and shares first-hand stories. This lecture was recorded by Dr Greg Constantine on 18th March 2024 at B ..read more