There were big beasts, big crowds and big ideas at New Scientist Live, an awe-inspiring three-day festival of innovations and discoveries in London last weekend. Visitors young and old enjoyed a huge range of exhibits from leading research groups and companies working in STEM, including King鈥檚 College London鈥檚 hospital of the future and a pop-up planetarium.
Thousands of attendees were treated to close encounters with insects, robots and even a fighter jet, not to mention fearsome dinosaurs stalking the show floor. Thanks to virtual reality, there was also the chance to step inside a nuclear reactor, drive a racing car and ride a rollercoaster.
On five stages, there were enlightening talks covering a vast range of subjects, from the birth of the universe to the power of artificial intelligence. The speakers included Nobel prizewinner Venki Ramakrishnan on why we die, TV anthropologist Alice Roberts on ancient epidemics, psychologist Kimberley Wilson on eating for better brain health and statistician David Spiegelhalter on how chance rules our lives.
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At the schools鈥� day on 14 October, palaeontologist Mike Benton delved into dinosaur behaviour, biologist Camilla Pang explained how to think like a scientist and psychologist Dean Burnett told students why their parents are hung up on their phones.
In the Future of Food and Agriculture area, visitors learned how science is changing the way we feed ourselves, with cutting-edge techniques for improving soil health, tackling methane emissions from cows and discovering new crop varieties.
Festival-goers even had the chance to come up with their own innovations to protect wildlife and build them from LEGO bricks. Master builders constructed the best ideas submitted to our , including a fruit-dispensing 鈥渟ocial hub鈥� and a solar-powered 鈥渟kyspeaker鈥�.
The festival will be back next year from 18 to 20 October 鈥� we hope you can join us for more mind-expanding experiences.