Curiouser and curiouser – Festival to shed light on science

A new festival celebrating science, curiosity and discovery opened in Dublin yesterday. The Festival of Curiosity will feature more than 70 events over the nect three days.

It includes a range of free daytime events for families and children, as well as an evening programme of interactive science debates, discussions and shows. Tonight (Friday) Dara O Briain will perform a live show about how science will transform our lives, as part of BBC Science Club, at the Mansion House.

Festival co-founders Ellen Byrne and Vincent McCarthy decided to establish an annual science festival following the success of last year's Dublin City of Science and the Euroscience Open Forum.Those initiatives saw 600,000 people take part in science-related events.

Mr McCarthy said they wanted to create an environment that would engage curiosity and where people could ask questions. He pointed to research from Trinity College which has established a link between curiosity and happiness. “The best three words in the English language are ‘I don’t know’ because they’re the start of getting real knowlege,” he said.

festivalofcuriosity.ie