NoosFest: From Microcosm to Cyberpunk. Science Festival in Belgrade

On May 11th and 12th, the first science popularization festival "NoseFest" will take place in the center of Belgrade, aimed at anyone concerned about the future of the planet, issues of brain aging and creative thinking, those ready to debate whether morality is just an inevitable outcome of evolution, wanting to know if Artificial Intelligence can help create new antibiotics, and whether real zombies surround us?!

Our festival brings together amazing scientists, science popularizers, and bloggers who explore space, nature, and the brain, uncovering secrets and debunking pseudoscientific myths through critical thinking and evidence-based methodology.

Over the course of two days, we will listen to lectures and participate in discussions, ask questions, and meet with fellow passionate enthusiasts of scientific knowledge. We will discuss complex scientific concepts in simple and accessible language. So come with your families and friends!

More information on the festival website: NOOSFEST.COM

If your payment is in rubles, please write to us at [email protected]

Speakers at the festival will include:

Asya Kazantseva, science journalist, traveling lecturer

Alexander Panchin, biologist, myth buster

Vladimir Surdin, extraterrestrial astronomer

Vitaly Egorov, space popularizer and green cat

Olga Kosnikova, food technologist, specialist in non-scary food

Anna Ivanova, bioinformatician, GMO defender

Dmitry Vetrov, tamer of artificial intelligence

Ilya Zakharov, psychophysiologist, popularizer

Location: Mona Plaza Hotel, Cara Uroša 62-64

Program:

May 11th, Saturday
10:30 Olga Kosnikova: Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates - our enemies? How humanity has rejected food and where it led
Throughout human history, numerous myths have arisen around the topic of food and nutrition. Today, our main enemy is sugar: supposedly it is a white death that causes narcotic addiction and accelerates aging. Before that, people blamed fat for all sins and advocated for cutting out fats. Before that, they feared... proteins, both plant-based and animal, vigorously arguing why proteins are harmful to the body. During the lecture, we will discuss why people demonize food, how to overcome fear and learn to think critically and analyze the compositions of the food we consume.

12:30 Anna Ivanova: From bloodletting to ChatGPT. Evolution of Drug Development. You are here
In the 21st century, the invention and emergence of new drugs are reaching unprecedented levels. All the coolest drugs have been invented in recent years. But how has humanity's approach to searching for and creating drugs evolved? During the lecture, we will learn how a modern pharmaceutical laboratory works and why drugs are so expensive. We will discuss how artificial intelligence can be used in pharmaceutics, what drug design, drug discovery, and drug repurposing are. And finally, how ChatGPT might break our old notions about science (and build new ones).

Break

16:00 Alexander Panchin: Your Brain Manipulates You. Critical Thinking for Russell's Teapots
Alexander Panchin fights against pseudoscience and debunks myths surrounding scientific knowledge. During the lecture, he will engagingly talk about the errors in thinking that often underlie common misconceptions and pseudoscience. The aim of the lecture is to teach people to think more often about the correctness of their reasoning and the arguments they hear from others. Alexander Panchin: "If I were given exactly one and a half hours, in all educational institutions in the world, to increase rationality on a planetary scale - I would give this lecture."

18:00 Asya Kazantseva: Creative Thinking: How to Help Your Brain Come Up with Something?
Professional tasks can be divided into two types. "Get it together, doormat" is when you have a chain of consecutive logical steps, and you just need to go ahead and do it. "Go there, I don't know where, bring me that, I don't know what" is when there is no single correct answer; different performers will come up with completely different results, and often they themselves do not know in advance what they will come to. Can science study the second group of tasks at all? How to reproduce them in a laboratory? How to measure the quality of completing a creative task? Is it possible to see in a tomograph what happens in the brain when a person builds completely new chains of associations between phenomena? And what can experimental psychologists advise a regular person who wants to find unconventional solutions more often and apply them in their professional activities?

May 12, Sunday

10:30 Ilya Zakharov: Is it possible to make a human cyborg and what Ilon Musk is really doing?

At the lecture we will talk about the history and everyday life of brain-computer interface research, the principles of feedback in cybernetics and biology, and whether it is possible to make a cyborg out of a human being (spoiler: cyborgs have been among us for a long time). We will also talk about hype and real technology, and understand what to expect from neuroscience in the near future.

12:30 Dmitry Vetrov: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning: In Search of New Paths

Artificial Intelligence has long been an integral part of our lives. It helps us in various spheres: from basic science to the simplest tasks of everyday life. Some people cannot imagine their lives without it, others feel AI as a threat, and others are not even aware of its role. In this lecture we will talk in detail about the progress of machine learning technologies, from the first models of mathematical perception (perceptrons) to modern giant neural networks such as GPT and BERT. In addition, we will discuss possible risk scenarios they may pose to the future of humanity.

Break

16:00 Vitaliy Egorov: The Sun and Us
The Sun - our main natural source of heat and light that gives life to planet Earth. But in addition to this, the Sun emits ultraviolet rays that harm our skin, carries streams of solar wind leading to magnetic storms, and generates flashes of cosmic radiation that irradiate the crews of spacecraft. Popularizer of cosmonautics Vitaliy Egorov will talk about how the Sun appeared, its importance for Earth, how dangerous it is for Earthlings, and how to reduce this harm on Earth and in space.

18:00 Vladimir Surdin: Cosmic Threats to Earth
Earth is not alone in the universe. The surrounding cosmos is not emptiness, but a multitude of interesting and dangerous objects and phenomena. Some of them support life on Earth, while others threaten it. What threats from space are facing Earth and when can these threats arrive? How do astronomers try to warn humanity about threats from space? We will discuss the inevitable and probable threats to life on our planet.

All lectures and discussions will be conducted in Russian.
Audiences can purchase tickets for one or both days.