The 2018 festival, which runs from 21 to 25 March, will focus on the theme of Humanity, as scientists from across the globe delve into what makes us human, how humanity has advanced, and how science is working to ensure we live better for longer.
The centrepiece of the 2018 festival will be the exclusive world premiere of Steven Spielberg’s 1977 masterpiece Close Encounters of the Third Kind In Concert. This performance brings together cinema, science and music, featuring an 84 piece orchestra and an 80 voice choir live and in sync with the classic science-fiction film.
Professor Brian Greene, World Science Festival co-founder, will be returning in 2018 when he headlines a new mainstage event, In Search of the Spiritual Brain, to examine one of the most profound and elusive mysteries of our existence – the origins of spirituality.
The festival also boasts the attendance of two Australian of the Year recipients: Professor Alan Mackay-Sim, a pioneer in the discovery and use of adult stem cells from the nose for medical applications including spinal cord injury and understanding brain diseases, and Professor Fiona Wood, the inventor of spray-on skin. They will be taking part in the Pioneers in Science program, which gives high school students rare access to some of the world’s most renowned scientists.
Other key speakers include Dr Jennifer Wiseman, Senior Astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre; Charles T. Gray “mathbassador” for the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute’s Choose Maths program; and Dr Joanna McMillian, Australia’s most well-known nutrition scientist, who will tackle gut health.
Renowned science guru Dr Karl Kruszelnicki will present Extreme Moments in Science, tackling everything from sublime moments of deep thought to the arcane and bizarre.
Other presentations during the festival cover topics including cryptology, anti-biotics, psychiatry, human regeneration and evolution.
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