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Media Lab @ 2023 Cambridge Science Festival

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Cambridge Science Festival

Cambridge Science Festival

Monday — Sunday
September 25, 2023 —
October 1, 2023

Cambridge Science Festival (CSF), the first of its kind in the United States, is an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM).  A multifaceted, multicultural event, the festival makes science accessible, interactive and fun, highlighting the impact of STEAM in all our lives. 

Founded and produced by the MIT Museum, a small dedicated festival team creates and manages the annual week-long program with a robust group of some of the most intelligent scientists, generous sponsors, creative non-profits, dedicated volunteers, and curious university students in the world.

Explore Media Lab contributions to the festivities below: all of these events and performances are free, but many require registration, as space is limited.

All times are Eastern Time. 

#IfThenSheCan: Former Labber Katy Croff Bell is one of the women featured in this exhibit—a collection of 120 3D-printed statues celebrating contemporary women innovators in science, technology, engineering, and math. Thirty of the sculptures, including Dr. Croff Bell's, are featured in this pop-up exhibition at the Cambridge Science Festival; additional events, including an opening celebration and a meet-and-greet, will be held throughout the week.

Ethics in AI and Art, 9/27, 12–1pm, MIT Media Lab. 
The NSF Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Fundamental Interactions (IAIFI) will host a workshop to share how generative AI tools work and what ethical concerns arise in relation to them. Attendees will then be invited to submit AI-generated poetry and prose to be read and displayed at a reception. Refreshments will be provided. Led by Carolina Cuesta-Lazaro (NSF) and Hope Schroeder (MIT Center for Constructive Communication).

Mind-Controlled at MIT: Designing the Fiction and Reality of Brain-Computer Interfaces, 9/28, 7–8pm, Cambridge Public Library: Main Branch.
Join Nataliya Kosmyna (Fluid Interfaces) and the NeuraFutures team as they outline how they design full-stack brain sensing systems that help paralyzed patients communicate, astronauts stay attentive and productive, and keep kids around the globe inspired by what comes next.

Guided Tour of NeuraFutures Installation, 9/28, 8–8:45pm, Cambridge Public Library: Main Branch
Explore the NeuraFutures installation at Cambridge Public Library with a captivating 30-minute tour, offering a glimpse into the future of brain-computer interfacing and answering questions like: is it possible to implant memories? Read your dreams while you sleep? Communicate a thought between two different people on different continents?

Brain Sensing: From Science Fiction to Reality, 9/29, 12–1pm, MIT Media Lab
A lunch-and-learn session focused on brain-computer interfaces, touching on such topics as implanting memories, reading your dreams while you sleep, and communicating a thought between two different people throughout the continents. Explore a multitude of scenarios, use cases, and form-factors for some of the most futuristic systems imagined by humans over the past 500 years, see how close we are to realizing those systems, and try to answer that very important question—do you really need to get that implant tomorrow? Lunch will be provided

Guided Tour of NeuraFutures Installation, 9/30, 9am–5pm, Cambridge Public Library: Main Branch
Explore the NeuraFutures installation at Cambridge Public Library on your own or during  a guided tour! 

OctoStudio Play Time, 9/30, 10:30am–12pm, Cambridge Public Library: Main Branch
Come try out a new family-centric creative play and coding app on the phone, brought to you by the developers of Scratch.

How to Train Your Robot, 10/1, 12–4pm, Kendall/MIT Open Space
Come explore robots and artificial intelligence with the Personal Robots group! They will demo their social robot Jibo and share interactive activities to help participants learn about AI.

Guided Tour of NeuraFutures Installation, 10/1, 1–5pm, Cambridge Public Library: Main Branch
Explore the NeuraFutures installation at Cambridge Public Library on your own or during  a guided tour! 

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