Interested in learning all of the ways that science and popular culture intersect? We have hours of excellent panels from NASA and the SETI Institute that explore topics like whether or not Pluto was more awesome in Sci-Fi or reality.
NASA: What would superheroes look like on other worlds?
Friday, June 17, 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Room 601
Southwest Research Institute presents a pop-culture, sci-fi and physics cross-over. Using our new understanding of exoplanets and our own planetary system, we will figure out what superpowers would be most useful on other planets.
NASA: Sci-fi or Exoplanet? How do Newly Discovered Worlds Compare to Those We’ve Imagined?
Friday, June 17, 4:45 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Room 601
Southwest Research Institute compares the climates predicted in sci-fi to the strange ones we’re currently discovering in exoplanets.
NASA: Women in Science
Friday, June 17, 11:45 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.
Room 601
Southwest Research Institute presents a talk aimed supporting young women and their dreams of working in STEAM. Panel members will talk about their experiences, their traditional and non-traditional career routes and what science can offer women.
NASA: Futurama: Learning Science with Fry and the Gang
Friday, June 17, 10:30 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.
Room 601
Southwest Research Institute examines many of the inventions and experiences in the prime time animated series Futurama to look at our current technology development and science knowledge.
NASA: Was Pluto more awesome in sci-fi or reality?
Saturday, June 18, 10:30 a.m. -11:20 a.m.
Room 601
Southwest Research Institute presents a panel discussion of how Pluto has been depicted in sci-fi and what we actually found with New Horizons.
NASA: Science & Tech of “The Martian”
Saturday, June 18, 11:45 a.m. – 12:35 p.m.
Room 601
Southwest Research Institute examines whether Mark Watney in the book (and movie) “The Martian” could have actually survived. What are the biggest challenges for colonizing Mars? Could the Hab survive for that long? Would the MAV have really tipped? All these questions are answered and more, including one of our own scientist’s success in trying to grow potatoes in Martian simulant soil.
Science of SETI
Saturday, June 18, 12:15 p.m. – 1:05 p.m.
Room 603
Flying saucers, lights in the sky, alien abductions — is any of it real? Dr. Angela Zalucha, Principal Investigator at the SETI Institute, will present the ways professional scientists are looking for alien life as part of the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, and how you can participate.
NASA: Science of Star Wars
Sunday, June 19, 10: 30 a.m. – 11:20 a.m.
Room 601
With a new trilogy of Stars Wars brings new story lines, new characters, new inventions and also new physics. But how much of it could happen? For example, could the Millennium Falcon really be able to fly after 30 years and could Han and Chewbacca have found it that quickly?
NASA: Is there life on Saturn’s Moons?
Sunday, June 19, 2:15 p.m. -3:05 p.m.
Room 601
Ground-based, Hubble and Cassini have all enabled us to better understand the Saturn-system and its weird moons. Enceladus, Saturn’s UK-sized active moon, might be one of best chances for alien life in our solar system but why do we think so, and how could we tell if alien life existed? This panel looks at little Enceladus and these big questions, as well as some of the weirdest things about its neighbors.
Click here to see the full programming schedule.
Programming schedule subject to change. Please check the schedule on the day of the convention.