Celebration of science coming to Halifax
Posted Oct 29, 2018 03:11:37 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An international festival of science, technology, engineering and math will take over the Halifax Convention Centre and several other venues in the city starting Saturday.
The director of Saint Mary's University's Science Outreach Centre said StemFEST will bring together experts, students and the public for a week-long celebration of science.
“This is not just meant to be for people who do science, it is meant to be for everyone,” explained Rob Thacker. “You've got science in your phone, you've got science in your car, you've got science everywhere. Come out and learn a bit more.”
Jay Ingram, the former co-host of the Discovery Channel's Daily Planet will be giving a public talk this weekend.
“Jay is fascinated by aging and how old can we live to be. He's doing a talk at the convention centre on Saturday night called Can we Live 200 Years?“
Thacker said thanks to a donor, the event will be free, but space is limited so those interested in attending will need to pre-register.
There will also be an Engineering Olympics where students between grades 4 to 9 will attempt to solve a series of challenges.
Dalhousie University's Dr. Shelley Adamo will give a lecture entitled Zombies in the Natural World: How a Parasitic Wasp Hijacks the Brain of its Caterpillar Host where she'll discuss how some parasites can exploit communication links between a host's body and brain.
“And then a science slam as well,” Thacker told NEWS 95.7's The Rick Howe Show. “A science slam is where people get up and talk about the science they do in different, unusual ways for 5 minutes, kind of like a poetry slam for science.”
Over 600 students from around the province are expected to attend the event that runs from Nov. 3 to 10.
A full list of events can be found online.
