Nation's Premier Science Festival Continues Mission to Make America Smart Again

NEW YORK, May 8, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- The World Science Festival has unveiled its 2018 program lineup, which presents many of the world's leading scientists, artists and influential thinkers – bringing science to life in imaginative ways throughout New York City.

The program lineup for the 2018 World Science Festival can be found at https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/festival/world-science-festival-2018/, where tickets for Festival events can also be purchased.

The six-day festival celebrates science with original programming that includes discourse, debate, theatre, film, workshops and interactive installations as well as events for young innovators, scientists-in-the-making, and families, which transform the city and bring the world's leading scientists in direct contact with the broader public.

Many of the large outdoor events are free.

Tracy Day, Co-Founder and CEO of the World Science Festival, understands both the importance and the privilege of bringing science to a mass audience. "We bring together the world's greatest minds so the public can engage with those pushing the frontiers of discovery and grasp the most important issues facing us today."

"It's never been more important to celebrate the power of science," said Columbia University physicist Brian Greene, co-founder of the World Science Festival. "We stand at a crossroads: Embrace science to transform the world for good or turn our backs on the future."

The World Science Festival, now in its 11^th year, promises to be the best yet, featuring some of the most brilliant and captivating thought-leaders in their fields, including Nobel Laureate May-Britt Moser, Steven Pinker, Andrea Ghez, Cumrun Vafa, Max Tegmark, Neil Turok, Jaron Lanier, Martin Blaser, Yann LeCun, Jo Handelsman and Mike Massimino.

Kicking off this year's festivities, The World Science Festival Gala will be held on May 29^th, 2018, featuring an original production honoring the lives and accomplishments of several trailblazing women of science, whose tireless, brilliant, and all-too-often underappreciated work has contributed so much to our understanding of the universe and our place in it.

A few highlights from the Main Stage will include:

Darkness Visible: Shedding New Light on Black Holes Brian Greene and leading black hole experts explore the observational and theoretical frontier of the most extreme objects in the known universe.

The Great Tech Lash: Can Big Tech Grow-Up and Take Responsibility? Big names in Big Tech will offer big thoughts on our massive tech-based societal shift and its terrifying pitfalls, as well as practical solutions for our and future generations.

The Believing Brain: Evolution, Neuroscience, and the Spiritual Instinct God, they say, is in the details. But could God also be in our frontal lobes?  Brian Greene, Steven Pinker and other leading thinkers explore one of the most profound mysteries of existence.

Me, My Microbiome, and I: The Vital Cells of Existence Half of the cells in our body are actually not our own, but rather tiny single-celled creatures that allow us to digest food, breathe air and fight-off disease. Learn from foremost microbiologists what we are doing to fight autoimmune diseases, Alzheimer's, allergies and depression.

Teach Your Robots Well: Will Self-Taught Robots be the End of Us? Are we creating instruments of our own destruction or tools for our future survival? Yann LeCun, Max Tegmark and other leaders in neuroscience, and philosophy tackle the hard questions.

Fun, fascinating activities for all ages:

Saturday Night Lights: Stargazing in Brooklyn Bridge Park
This night has it all: multiple telescopes for planets and stargazing; an LED-lit balloon chain installation; and world-renowned scientists and chefs. Grab your picnic blanket and join us in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

City of Science
Walk on water. Blast balls into orbit. Defy gravity. These are just a few of the dynamic interactive demonstrations, hands-on activities, and exhibitions included in City of Science - where scientific discovery meets family fun!  The World Science Festival produces City of Science events in all five boroughs throughout the year, and the biggest City of Science event is in Manhattan.

Great Fish Count 
Striped bass and bluefish and fluke, oh my! This hugely popular, all-age event is a celebration of New York City marine life. No net needed. We'll provide everything, including the marine biologists and waders. Just head on down and help us count.

Tickets are now on sale here: https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/festival/world-science-festival-2018/

The Big Ideas Series is supported in part by the John Templeton Foundation. 
City of Science is supported by Con Edison.

ABOUT THE WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL
The World Science Festival gathers great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that allows a broad general audience to engage with scientific discoveries. Through discussions, debates, theatrical works, interactive explorations, musical performances, intimate salons, and major outdoor experiences, the Festival takes science out of the laboratory and into the streets, parks, museums, galleries and premier performing arts venues of New York City and beyond. 

The annual live, week-long Festival, which launched in 2008, has collectively drawn more than 2.5 million visitors worldwide, with millions more viewing the programs online. The World Science Festival's original musical and theatrical works tour nationally and internationally. March 2016 marked the launch of World Science Festival Brisbane. World Science U is the organization's online education arm, where students and lifelong learners can dive more deeply through artfully produced digital education content presented by world-renowned scientists.

Cofounded by Brian Greene and Tracy Day, the World Science Festival is a production of the World Science Foundation, a non-profit organization headquartered in New York City.

WORLD SCIENCE FESTIVAL THANKS ITS GENEROUS SUPPORTERS:

FOUNDING BENEFACTORS
Simons Foundation
Alfred P. Sloan
John Templeton Foundation

MAJOR SUPPORTERS 
Ann Ziff
Bezos Family Foundation
Con Edison
Della Pietra Family Foundation
The Kavli Prize
New York University

Web: http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/worldscifest
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/worldsciencefestival
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/worldscifest/

Contact:
Jen Gherardi
[email protected]  
646-784-2697

SOURCE World Science Foundation

Related Links

https://www.worldsciencefestival.com/