The queue tailed back along Exhibition Road, looped round Museum Lane and snaked its way down Cromwell Road. ‘That’s what happens when you put ‘sex’ in the title,’ said the twenty-something girl next to me, but after a scientific survey of around 10 museum workers, I can assure you that every late event at the Science Museum is this popular. It’s official: geeks are hot.
Held once a month, Science Museum Lates is free, and strictly for adults only. This month’s event, ‘an evening of sex and science’, was, admittedly, skewed towards the popular vote, but each Lates event attracts a crowd of up to 3,000 people, and although one man in the queue was animatedly discussing the flaws of a werewolf-slayer website, very few of them were what might traditionally be termed ‘geeks’. It’s a bit like fresher’s week but with the hope you might actually learn something — and to that end there was speed dating, a ‘lurve’ pub quiz, a silent disco, salsa dancing and an interactive session to scientifically discover if you’re hot on the dance floor. There was also brass rubbing.
Due to the enormous queue, I was too late for speed dating (a word to the wise — there was a markedly uneven female to male ratio all night) and opted instead for Punk Science: Sexy Bits, which involved the reenactment of unusual mating methods in the animal kingdom. It was one of the best things I’ve seen this year.
Events aside, the real joy of Lates at the Science Museum is that you get to play with all the gadgets (I particularly recommend the bouncy launch pad floor) and have a beer, too. The wonders of science, eh?
The next Lates is 25 November. Go early, or be prepared to queue.
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