World Science Festival 2012 in NYC

Details

Parent Category: Other Festivals

Category: Video/TV

Published on Friday, 01 June 2012 22:04

Written by Renzo Adler

From May 30 to June 3, 2012, New York City will become a gigantic playground and monument to science.

The World Science Festival was launched in 2008 by the Science Festival Foundation whose mission is to cultivate a general public informed by science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future.

Kicking off the festival is the multimedia event, Icarus at the Edge of Time at the United Palace Theater (4140 Broadway). Part movie, part concert, the film is accompanied by a live orchestra performing an original score by Philip Glass and live narration by LeVar Burton (yes, of Star Trek: TNG and Reading Rainbow fame). Based on the children’s book by physicist Brian Greene, Icarus is about a young boy’s journey into a black hole.

Celebrating man’s scientific endeavor to alchemize rotting grains into liquid gold Cheers to Science! A Drinkable Feast of Beer, Biotechnology and Archaeology examines the science and history behind beer.

Being held at the La Scuola Grande & La Birreria at Eataly (NYC’s colossal temple to Italian cooking at 11 West 23 Street), biomolecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern and pioneering brewmaster Sam Calagione explore ancient ales from around the world and retrace their journey to Italy to reconstruct an Etruscan fermented beverage circa 800 to 700 BC. The event is followed by a tasting of a recreation of this ancient ale on Eataly’s rooftop.

A sobering examination of mankind’s fluctuating mental resilience, How We Bounce Back: The New Science of Human Resilience (Tishman Auditoriam at The New School, 66 West 12 Street) is a discussion moderated by ABC News Correspondent Bill Blakemore looks at how science can be used to reduce post-stress trauma, as well as look at the human mind’s ability or inability to cope with trauma.

The World Science Festival also includes appearances by:

• Nobel Laureates Bill Phillips and Harold Varmus
• Renowned scientists and best-selling authors Oliver Sacks and E.O. Wilson 
• Leading researchers Kay Redfield Jamison and Eric Lander
• Pulitzer-Prize winners Siddhartha Mukherjee and Richard Rhodes
• President Obama’s chief science adviser John Holdren

These three events only represent a small sampling of the city-wide events for the World Science Festival, but even if you can’t attend any or all the events, they will also be streamed live as webcasts from the World Science Festival website.

A truly unique, captivating, and enlightening event, the World Science Festival helps foster a better sense of understanding and passionate enthusiasm for science with events for all ages.

To learn more, go to www.worldsciencefestival.com

The World Science Festival
May 30 – June 3, 2012

Various Locations In Manhattan

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