Global eye
Our highlights from the fantastic festival of scientific and technological ideas
What we learned at this year’s New Scientist Live event
For the third consecutive year, the annual New Scientist Live at Excel London proved to be another wildly successful event. More than 30,000 people visited over four days to experience immersive exhibitions and hands-on activities inspired by the latest ideas in science and technology.
The show featured five engaging zones: Humans, Engineering, Technology, Earth, and Cosmos, hosting some of the biggest speakers in the industry, including Tim Peake, Chris Packham and Lucy Hawking. An important event to inspire the next generation of scientists, children dressed up in NASA spacesuits to meet their favourite astronauts and had the chance to get up close to unusual animals, such as stick insects and bizarre-looking naked mole rats!
The four-day exhibit explored some of humanity’s biggest questions, such as how can we slow down aging and how will we get to Mars. Curious minds were invited to build their own microdrones, construct and race their own saltwater cars, or help scientists conduct research on their project about mosquitos and repellents. Pepper the robot made an appearance too, with guests able to interact with the humanoid social robot, the first such droid able to perceive human emotions, adapting his behaviour to the mood of the person interacting with him. Thrill-seekers were treated with a virtual reality rollercoaster, while visitors could also test their crime scene skills with a team of forensic scientists.
The event allowed enthusiasts from all over the country (and beyond) to meet the people shaping scientific innovation and discovery.