Foo Camp is an informal conference format pioneered by O'Reilly, a leading publisher of books on information technology.

There is no predefined agenda, instead attendees collaboratively create one during the first evening of the event, having shared ideas in advance through a wiki. Since the first O'Reilly Foo Camp in 2003, these events have become legendary (and much imitated) among technologists.

Nature is therefore delighted to have collaborated with Google and O'Reilly to organise the fourth annual Science Foo Camp, once again hosted at the Googleplex. About 200 leading scientists, technologists, writers and other thought-leaders will gather for a weekend of discussion, demonstration and debate.

Sci Foo on film
All the flavour and spirit of the science geek Foo camp, as Nature's Charlotte Stoddart captured 2009's unique meeting of minds on film.

You can read past and present coverage of Science Foo Camp here.