Sydney Science Festival 2018

Celebrate the weird and wonderful world of science with two weeks of talks, exhibitions and hands-on workshops.
Hudson Brown and Melanie Colwell
August 02, 2018

In partnership with

Overview

Think back to science class at school — chances are you either loved or hated it. Either way, science is much more than Bunsen burners and memorising geological terms from a scrappy textbook — it's about the human body, space, technology and how we live in and interact with the world. With that in mind, Sydney Science Festival is determined to indulge or rekindle your interest in science, with a diverse lineup of the world's best researchers, hands-on workshops, exhibitions and events to suit science fans of all ages.

The festival returns for its fourth year in August, featuring more than 200 events across 90 Sydney venues — that's a sizeable wealth of knowledge and expertise. Some of the headline speakers include leading astronomers Lisa Harvey-Smith and Kirsten Banks and Artificial Intelligence experts Ellen Broad and Toby Walsh.

Sydney Science Festival explores some of the most fascinating issues facing the globe today in an accessible and engaging format. The program begins at the Powerhouse Museum on Thursday, August 9 with the free after-hours event MAASLive Lates: Science, which offers guests hands-on experiences dissecting botanical species and the opportunity to chat to the experts. You will also get a first look at the new exhibition Human Non-Human, featuring commissions from four artists that consider the past and future human experience through the lens of food, work, sex and belief.

Also on the schedule, proving science doesn't always need to be serious, comedian and public health practitioner Alanta Colley will share her cheeky parable on parasites in Parasite Lost. Keynote speeches, interactive family-friendly activities, groundbreaking documentaries and a chance to get a glimpse into the future of A.I. and intelligent machines fill out the remainder of the program. With an entire cosmos of events to choose from, the festival has produced a range of helpful itineraries to make your decision a little bit easier.

The Sydney Science Festival is part of National Science Week, which runs from August 7 to August 19. The festival is led by the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS) and the Australian Museum, in partnership with Inspiring Australia. For the full event program and tickets, head to the website

We're also giving away ten double passes to the Festival's keynote presentation by Lisa Harvey-Smith. To enter, see details below.

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