What *is* January? We just don't know

Hello, friends!

Hope you’re all doing well and that your January is ticking along nicely.

It gets me every year – even three weeks into 2025, I still don’t feel like I’ve quite revved back up to cruising speed (does this analogy make any sense at all? I don’t drive) after taking a break for Christmas. I still want to spend evenings swaddled in softness with some kind of baked good, and sit tight until March.

If that’s you too, I have just the thing this week: no fewer than eight talks to accompany you on the sofa – at least one every evening for the rest of the (work) week. Hurray!

(And to anyone waiting to tick ‘Banksy’ off their KFS bingo card… today’s your lucky day.)

Let’s go!

🍿 online talks and events 🐧

All times are GMT.

Tuesday 21 January

A cultural history told through depictions of the heart: Botticelli to Banksy, online lecture by Balliol College, University of Oxford, 17.00, free: Professor and cardiologist Robin Choudhury explores why we have come to see the heart as we do, referencing images that illustrate the long dance between art, religion, philosophy and ‘scientific’ thinking.

We need to talk… about space junk, hybrid talk by the Royal Astronomical Society, 18.00, free: Professor of space environment physics Mike Lockwood looks at how we can address the problem of space junk, whose runaway destructive effects are making some areas of space unusable.

Understanding our ancestors, hybrid event by the Natural History Museum, 18.30, from £5: Dr Louise Humphrey and Dr Lucile Crété tell our origin story, going back 15,000 years to explore how we evolved to become human.

Wednesday 22 January

From self-control to clutter – exploring impulsivity, compulsivity and hoarding, hybrid event by Anglia Ruskin University, 18.00, free: Professor Sharon Morein looks at the complex relationships we have with our possessions, and how difficulties in self-control relate to hoarding.

Introduction to Indian physics, online event by the Institute of Physics, 18.00, free: Dr Saibal Ray opens this series of webinars about the achievements of physicists from the Indian subcontinent.

Thursday 23 January

Dark matter – why we think 95% of the Universe is missing, online lecture by the Royal Observatory Greenwich, 18.00, free: Dr Elizabeth Cunningham explains the puzzle of dark matter and dark energy – which make up the 95% of the Universe we can’t see – and what scientists are doing to find it.

How the human brain thinks about itself, hybrid lecture by the Royal Society, 18.30, free: Professor Stephen Fleming discusses his work studying metacognition, the human brain’s ability to evaluate its own thinking.

Friday 24 January

A history of women in astronomy, hybrid event by the Institute of Physics, 19.30, free: Mary McIntyre tells the stories of women working in astronomy during the Victorian era and into the 20th century.

🏹 in a sky near you… 🔭

Views from KFS HQ, London. See Stellarium for a personalised view of your night sky after setting your location and time.

Hunt down a hunter: Orion (the hunter) dominates the southern sky at this time of year. It rises in the east at about 5pm, and you should be able to get a good view of it in the southeastern sky by about 8. Follow the three stars of its belt down to spot Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky (which also twinkles).

🐦 closer to Earth 👀

Alright, keep your heron: While the days remain short, it’s a good time to spy the most pensive-looking of this land’s waterway-dwelling fowl, the grey heron. They’re most active during dawn and dusk, and are getting ready for breeding season in February.

Find them around canals, ponds, lakes and rivers across the UK, and listen for their call, which sounds a bit like when you drag your thumb across an inflated balloon.

You might spot them hunting in the shallows, but stay back – they’re a bit skittish. What are these ones doing standing about in this field? They might be digesting their last meal – according to Discover Wildlife, they can swallow eels up to a foot (30cm) long.

💫 we need answers

Last week I asked:

The answer is… Under Pressure.

🤔 until next week…

Which metal, when run backwards, becomes a Japanese wrapper?

Answer comes next week. See you then! x