In 1935, Albert Einstein and two colleagues published a landmark paper revealing that quantum mechanics allows widely separated objects to influence one another, even though nothing travels between them. Einstein called it spooky and rejected the idea, arguing instead that it exposed a major deficiency in the quantum theory. But, decades later, experiments established this unsettling concept correct, upending conventional notions of reality. This program, back by popular demand, takes the audience on a journey that brings this insight and the remarkable history of reality-bending quantum mechanics vividly to life.

Brewing beer may be humankind’s first biotechnology, representing our earliest attempt to harness the power of living organisms.  Dating back to 9000 BC, the craft galvanized the cultivation of barley and wheat, transforming hunter-gatherers into farmers. What did those ancient brews taste like? Find out when you join biomolecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern and pioneering brewmaster Sam Calagione as they explore ancient ales from around the world and retrace their journey to reconstruct a 3,500 year old Nordic Grog. It’s a sensational evening of science, talk, and tasting inspired by the innovative practices of our prehistoric ancestors.

Researchers are racing to uncover the implications for the Arctic of rapidly vanishing polar ice – and they’re enlisting help from the very creatures that stand to gain the most from their discoveries: the Narwhal, Bowhead and Beluga whales, three of the most elusive species on Earth. Join a riveting discussion with explorers and scientists who are using daring new tactics to “recruit” these animals, featuring spectacular photographs, rare footage, and musical performances inspired by whale song. Program includes special private access to the museum’s exhibit, “Whales: Giants of the Deep.”

We’re bringing scientists of varied disciplines together with leaders in culinary innovation for a program that is part science lab, part cocktail dinatoire.  This multi-course tasting program will showcase the potential for scientific discovery via gastronomic experimentation.  It will be an extraordinary exploration of biology, chemistry, neuroscience, physics and more, illuminated by experimental cocktails and cutting-edge cuisine. Expect scintillating science, stimulating company, and a few surprises.

Pills the size of molecules to seek and destroy tumors. Miniscule robots performing surgery inside patients with a precision never before achieved.  Nanobots, a billionth of a meter across, fixing mutations in DNA, or repairing neurons in your brain.  Such are the possibilities as medicine enters the nano-era. Join leading researchers who are pushing these frontiers, to learn of new cures in the coming nano-revolution and possible risks of the molecular E.R.

In 1935, Albert Einstein and two colleagues published a landmark paper revealing that quantum mechanics allows widely separated objects to influence one another, even though nothing travels between them. Einstein called it spooky and rejected the idea, arguing instead that it exposed a major deficiency in the quantum theory. But, decades later, experiments established this unsettling concept correct, upending conventional notions of reality. This program, back by popular demand, takes the audience on a journey that brings this insight and the remarkable history of reality-bending quantum mechanics vividly to life.

It’s an old question:  what is consciousness?  Today, sophisticated brain imaging technologies, clinical studies, as well as the newfound ability to listen to the whisper of even an individual nerve cell, are bringing scientists closer than ever to the neurobiological basis of consciousness.  Join some of the world’s leading researchers who are primed to determine if Homo sapiens are the only conscious species, if consciousness lives only within our brain or also outside of it, and ultimately, the fundamental biochemical processes underlying the life of the mind.

NPR and WYNC partner with the World Science Festival to create an exciting science-based episode of their wildly popular national show. Join host Ophira Eisenberg as she invites mathematician, author and New York Times contributor, Steven Strogatz, to the stage. In-studio guests and listeners alike will stretch their noggins, tickle their funny bones, and enjoy witty banter and guitar riffs from house musician Jonathan Coulton.

Pioneers in Science gives high school students from around the world rare and intimate access to Nobel Laureates, presidential advisors and other trailblazing scientists. In an engaging town-hall-style discussion, each year’s pioneer shares personal stories, life challenges, and career highlights, all with the goal of inspiring by example. This year’s sixth annual Pioneers in Science program features esteemed scientist, Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Born in Mexico, Dr. Volkow will conduct the first ever multi-lingual Pioneers in Science program, speaking to students in both English and Spanish.

This program brings together leading researchers on the forefront of scientific efforts to understand and attack the virus that causes AIDS. With the rate of HIV infection on the rise once more in New York, it’s a critical time to evaluate where we stand in the battle against HIV and AIDS and to explore the most promising opportunities for future breakthroughs. The World Science Festival invites this esteemed ensemble of experts to challenge one another, collaborate, and craft their shared vision of an AIDS-free future. The program also includes a special advance preview of the New-York Historical Society’s fascinating new exhibit, AIDS in New York: The First Five Years, which opens to the public June 7.

Pioneers in Science gives high school students from around the world rare and intimate access to Nobel Laureates, presidential advisors and other trailblazing scientists. In an engaging town-hall-style discussion, each year’s pioneer shares personal stories, life challenges, and career highlights, all with the goal of inspiring by example. This year’s sixth annual Pioneers in Science program features esteemed scientist, Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Born in Mexico, Dr. Volkow will conduct the first ever multi-lingual Pioneers in Science program, speaking to students in both English and Spanish.

In 1984, Harold McGee’s beloved book, On Food and Cooking renewed our awareness of the inextricable link between science and cooking, and we began to shift our attention towards the value of that relationship.  In 2011, Modernist Cuisine took the science of food to a new aesthetic extreme.  In that span of 30 years, the culture and attitudes surrounding food science have evolved as much as its tools and technology. Harold McGee, Maxime Bilet, and Anne McBride discuss these advances, illustrated in the contrasts between these two ground-breaking books.

New York City’s culinary gems open their kitchen doors for you and our roster of renowned scientists in this series of hands-on workshops that untangle the mysteries of science through food and cooking.

Pie
Demystify the concept of phase behavior and the formation of gluten protein networks and understand the critical role science plays in pie baking success.

Join a unique night of cocktails, courtship, and conversation with leading experts about how insects and humans attract their mates. The fun begins aboard the Staten Island Ferry as we cruise through New York Harbor at sunset, and continues when we arrive at the Staten Island Museum for insect-inspired cocktails and an after-hours talk and tour of the museum’s cicada collection, the largest in North America. Explore the strange and innovative mating strategies of the insect world—from flashy displays to arresting scents to symphonies of sound—along with some surprising parallels to human behavior. Outside, a DJ spins and insects swarm around Brandon Ballengee’s new light sculpture and insect observatory, “Love Motel For Insects.”

Ten stories, three teams of judges, one winner. Peabody award-winning storytelling collective, The Moth, joins the World Science Festival for a science-themed StorySLAM. At the beginning of the show, would-be storytellers (perhaps you?) put their names into a hat, and ten are selected to take the stage to share a true story, five minutes long, based on the theme “Natural Selection.” Wooing the audience with tales of Darwinian dominance, inherited traits, survival of the fittest, and other evolutionary adaptations, contestants will be judged on sticking to the five-minute time frame, working within the theme, and presenting a story with a coherent structure and resolution.

Join us for a screening of Valley of Saints, winner of the 2012 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation feature film prize at Sundance.  Set on beautiful Dal Lake in the troubled region of Kashmir, Valley of Saints tells the moving story of a restless young boatman and his budding relationship with an alluring scientist who is investigating the lake for environmental pollutants. Shot on location with local talent in the midst of a military curfew, the film inspires a follow-up discussion of how scientific insight can have a profound impact on vital ecosystems, and even help heal long-simmering conflict zones.

Is the human brain an elaborate organic computer? Since the time of the earliest electronic computers, some have imagined that with sufficiently robust memory, processing speed, and programming, a functioning human brain can be replicated in silicon. Others disagree, arguing that central to the workings of the brain are inherently non-computational processes. Do we differ from complex computer algorithms? Are there essential features of the physical make-up and workings of a brain that will prevent us from creating a machine that thinks? And if we should succeed in constructing a computer that claims to be sentient, how would we know if it really is?

In 1935, Albert Einstein and two colleagues published a landmark paper revealing that quantum mechanics allows widely separated objects to influence one another, even though nothing travels between them. Einstein called it spooky and rejected the idea, arguing instead that it exposed a major deficiency in the quantum theory. But, decades later, experiments established this unsettling concept correct, upending conventional notions of reality. This program, back by popular demand, takes the audience on a journey that brings this insight and the remarkable history of reality-bending quantum mechanics vividly to life.

Legendary deep-sea explorer Sylvia Earle takes the stage to share stories of her groundbreaking expeditions, following a Manhattan Theatre Club production of “The Explorers Club,” a madcap comedy by Tony-nominated playwright Nell Benjamin. In 1879, the prestigious Explorers Club in London faces the worst crisis in their history: their acting president wants to admit a woman, and their bartender is terrible. True, the female candidate is brilliant, beautiful, and has discovered a legendary Lost City, but the decision to let in a woman could shake the very foundation of the British Empire, and how do you make such a decision without a decent drink? Join the fun and stay for some slightly more sober tales of discovery featuring daring women explorers whose work has expanded our view of the world.

“The infinite! No other question has ever moved so profoundly the spirit of man,” said David Hilbert, one of the most influential mathematicians of the 19th century. A subject extensively studied by philosophers, mathematicians, and more recently, physicists and cosmologists, infinity still stands as an enigma of the intellectual world. Thinkers clash over questions such as: Does infinity exist? Can it be found in the physical world? What types of infinity are there? Through an interdisciplinary discussion with some of the world’s leading thinkers, this program will delve into the many facets of infinity and address some of the deepest questions and controversies that mention of the infinite continues to inspire.

The World Science Festival and New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) team up to launch Science Hack Day in New York City. This two-day event will bring together scientists, designers, developers, and innovators on an unprecedented level of collaboration. Hackers work in groups to mash up ideas, media, and technologies to create quick solutions: use bacteria from dollar bills to collect NYC’s genomic data, hack micro satellites to reflect sunlight, build a distributed computer simulation of the Large Hadron Collider, and much more. Join us for hacking, workshops, and the opportunity to work side-by-side with scientists. See what you can accomplish in just two days.

Join the World Science Festival as we transform a picturesque quad in downtown Brooklyn into a staging ground for future-shaping innovations. It’s an unforgettable day of amazing robots, interactive video games, 3-D printed wares, and hi-tech installations—a showcase of the “best of the best” in the fields of science and technology. This year we have robots that fly and robots that save lives; cocktails made with a super evaporator; amazing live performances by Blue Man Group Tech-Guru Bill Swartz. As always, a well curated selection of talks, demos, and workshops suitable for tech enthusiasts everywhere.

Every generation benefits from the insights and discoveries of the generations who came before. “If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” wrote Isaac Newton. In a special series, the World Science Festival invites audiences to stand on the shoulders of modern-day giants. This year’s address will be given by James Watson, Chancellor Emeritus of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who, along with Francis Crick, stunned the world by cracking the code of life. Their Nobel Prize-winning discovery of the double helix in 1953 launched molecular biology and has had a breathtaking impact on modern science and medicine. Watson will speak about what he considers his “most important work since the double helix”—finding the elusive cure for cancer.

What if we could peer into a brain and see guilt or innocence? Brain scanning technology is trying to break its way into the courtroom, but can we—and should we—determine criminal fate based on high-tech images of the brain? Join a distinguished group of neuroscientists and legal experts who will debate how and if neuroscience should inform our laws and how we treat criminals.

When we’re born, our genes click on and whir away to produce our personalities, diseases and physical appearances. Or do they? Research has now revealed that genes can turn on and off; they can be expressed for years and then silenced, or never even used. And what controls them? Scientists have recently discovered our epigenome, biological markers along our DNA that regulate gene expression in response to features like age or environment, and which can influence the traits we pass onto our children. Join a glimpse of the future with scientists at the forefront of the emerging field of epigenetics as they reveal the role our genetic markers play in steering our biological destiny.

Raise the sails on the schooner Mystic Whaler and learn how to navigate a ship by the sun and the stars. Explore the constellations that still guide sailors and discover how the moon controls the tides. Enjoy sailing on-board a tall ship, sing some traditional sea songs, and enjoy a day of science on the New York Harbor that you’ll never forget.

3:00 - 5:00 PM*

7:00 - 9:00 PM*

5:30 - 6:30 PM | Free deck tours, conditions permitting.

New York City’s culinary gems open their kitchen doors for you and our roster of renowned scientists in this series of hands-on workshops that untangle the mysteries of science through food and cooking.

Ice Cream
Find out what your favorite cold confection can teach you about biology, chemistry and physics.

These programs are sold out, but additional tickets may become available. If you would like to join the waiting list, please sign up here.

Cheese
Take a close—really close—look at the microbiology of cheese and taste the big results of small-scale fermentation.

These programs are sold out, but additional tickets may become available. If you would like to join the waiting list, please sign up here.

Science grapples with some of the most abstract of ideas. Making these concepts relevant and engaging to a broad audience is a significant and vital cultural challenge. Can science be translated into accessible language without compromising its content? What role should the narrative of scientific exploration play in communicating scientific insights? Join a group of award-winning writers, including both scientists and journalists, who will illuminate from a broad range of perspectives the process of creating literary entryways into otherwise impenetrable subjects.

After 17 years underground, cicadas throughout the Northeast are emerging in time for the 2013 World Science Festival to sing, mate and die. Amid a buzzing, whirring chorus, we examine the extraordinary mating rituals of these and other six-legged creatures to find out what their songs are saying, why they’re saying it, and how this knowledge is impacting our understanding of communication, behavior, and the ecosystem. The conversation is punctuated by a musical performance between the bugs and their human collaborators. Ticket price includes one All-Garden Pass for the day to The New York Botanical Garden, granting access to exhibitions and programs including Wild Medicine: Healing Plants Around the World, The Edible Garden, and Science Open House behind-the-scenes tours (first come, first served).

Presented in collaboration with New York’s most innovative storytelling collective, The Moth, esteemed scientists, writers, and artists take to the stage to tell stories of their personal relationship with science. In keeping with Moth tradition, each story must be true and told within 10 minutes, without notes. The result is a sometimes poignant, often hilarious, and always enjoyably unpredictable evening that’s sure to intrigue and surely hard to forget.

Not long ago, the idea of a computer beating a human at chess was the stuff of science fiction. But some of the most creative programmers of the 1980s and 90s were determined to make it a reality. And they did. In two matches that riveted the world, Deep Blue, the IBM supercomputer, took on the brilliant world chess champion Garry Kasparov, and finally the computer won. The program begins with a secret screening of a feature film that will have its New York premiere in June—a darkly comic, fictional take on those early programming efforts, which won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at Sundance—and is followed by a fascinating discussion with some of the real-life programmers and chess masters involved in the epic match-up between man and machine.

Warning: The film includes some adult content: nudity and drug use.

At once provocative, hilarious, intelligent and scientifically accurate, The Rap Guide is an unusual exposition of Charles Darwin’s theories, navigating natural selection, sexual selection and the evolutionary roots of human behavior, all in the setting of the world’s first peer-reviewed hip-hop show. How is bling like a peacock’s tail? What do scorpions, geese and gangster rappers have in common? Can white people be Afro-centric? Through clever re-workings of popular rap songs and original character driven story lines, explore a culturally evolved take on Darwinian evolution.

“Dance” under the stars and join professional and amateur astronomers for a free evening of urban stargazing. It’s an outdoor party beneath the Brooklyn Bridge and the twinkling canvas of the night sky, and a night to explore and discover the vast wonders of the cosmos. Bring your telescope if you have one, or use one of the dozens we’ll have on hand. Enjoy conversations with leading astronomers and live music to celebrate the astronomical event “Dance of the Planets,” at this communal stargazing experience. The festivities will feature astronomy groups from around the Tri-State Area, family-friendly activities, twilight sailing of the Schooner Mystic Whaler, refreshments, local food trucks, and more.

The nature of time is an age-old conundrum for physicists, philosophers, biologists and theologians. The Newtonian picture of time—a kind of cosmic clock that ticks off time in a manner that applies identically to everyone and everything—tightly aligns with our experience. But with special and general relativity, Einstein showed the fallacy inherent in experience: the rate at which time elapses depends on circumstance and environment. These discoveries raise even more basic, long-standing puzzles: What is time? Is it a fundamental feature of reality or something we humans impose on experience? Does time come into existence with the universe or does it transcend it? Why does time exist at all?

The inflationary theory of cosmology, an enduring theory about our universe and how it was formed, explains that just after the Big Bang, the universe went through a period of rapid expansion. This theory has been critical to understanding what’s going on in the cosmos today. But now, this long-held notion—which seems to suggest as-yet-unproven and perhaps unprovable features such as the multiverse—is under increasing attack. Through informed debate among architects of the inflationary theory and its prime competitors, this program will explore our best attempts to understand where we came from.

Head into the field with Evolutionary Biologist, John Cooley, of the University of Connecticut. Using the tools of a scientist, gather cicadas from the wild and learn to speak their language. Gain observation and data collection skills and understand why cicadas are so unique and important

Roll up your sleeves and dig into science through all-new interactive exhibits, games, shows, and performances at the Ultimate Science Street Fair. Aspiring scientists of all ages investigate in “Science Centers” of biology, climate change, energy, math and technology, chemistry, and more. Earn an Ultimate Scientist certificate by logging experiences throughout the day.

Start your full day of fun by producing energy comparing walrus and warthog teeth,  code your own computer game, learn how your brain works, examine live mutant worms, and more! 

Register your family for the Ultimate Science Street Fair to receive the latest updates on events, a handy map, schedule, scientist data log to track your activities, and more, to get the most out of this exciting day!

Learn how insects speak and sing through sound analysis. Ron Hoy will use digital voice analysis, musical instruments, and maybe a Madagascar cockroach to demonstrate the similarities between the sounds that bugs make and the human voice.
Parents: This is a drop-off program for children. There is a waiting area nearby.

Ever wonder what a whale sounds like and how we know? Join Arctic whale research scientist Kate Stafford, University of Washington,  to use spectrograms, listen to whale sounds and record your own whale calls.

The World Science Festival’s highly celebrated program, Cool Jobs, is back with an astounding line-up of the coolest scientists around. Curious about developing a team of robots that can search and rescue while mapping their surroundings? Did you know it takes a scientist to make our grocery store foods delicious? Think it’s possible to shrink a lab test so small that you can’t see it? Or make interactive games that aren’t in a computer? Look no further! The World Science Festival has assembled the coolest group of scientists with the coolest jobs who will answer these questions and much more. Start on your own quest to find your Cool Job—a science Job!

Examine the cellular structure of a plant using a microscope with NYU biology professor Kenneth Birnbaum. Determine how plants move and respond to gravity, all in a working lab, alongside real scientists.

Join science journalist, Cara Santa Maria, for a one-of-a-kind experience to scope out a good story, craft it into a solid piece of journalism and publish it on the World Science Festival’s website

Have you ever wondered how bridges with enormous spans can stand hundreds of feet above land or water? In this apprentice program, apprentices design, build, and test their own balsawood bridges and other types of bridges to study structural loads.

What do you get when you mix engineering, computer science, and math? A robot. In this apprentice program, students will work with University of Michigan’s Edwin Olson to program and drive a robot through obstacles and mazes.

What Is Time? When you’re having fun, time flies, but when you’re bored, time moves like molasses. Do animals experience time like we do? How about time travel? Is it possible? What did Einstein figure out about time? Experts on physics, psychology and animal cognition take a crack at answering these complex questions with the help of actor and science lover Alan Alda and an audience full of curious kids like you.

What happens in our brains when we see artwork that we find beautiful?  Why do we react this way, and what does it mean? Scientists in the emerging field of neuroaesthetics are probing what it is about art that moves us, using technologies that allow us to study the brain’s response in astounding detail. Their insights are providing us with a new way to look at art and the mind.  This World Science Festival program brings together leading researchers in the field of neuroaesthetics, along with the dynamic painter and sculptor, Matthew Ritchie, to explore the power of visual art and the biology behind it.

Join University of Massachusetts Amherst food scientist, Amanda Kinchla to see what’s cooking in a food lab and just how much science you need to know in this yummy apprentice program. Test the strength of gel by creating gummies, pull real iron out of cereal with magnetics and evaluate your senses by experiencing just how much color influences your taste.

Think your brain looks like a walnut or a big wrinkly sponge? Take a look deep inside the brain of a sheep in this dissecting lab with New York University’s Wendy Suzuki. Research alongside our neuroscientist to explore just what makes us move, think and grow strong.