Starmus Festival

Well, we've asked him loads of questions.

He's just about to receive a medal, a Stephen Hawkins medal for, uh, science communication, um, at a festival called Starmus, and, uh, we asked him what the weirdest thing in the universe was, and his answer was just one word.

"Life."

[gasps]

Out today.

And as well as all of that, there's two fantastic competitions that you can get involved with as well.

One to design a dream car of the future and one to win a, um, ticket, family ticket s- for all your family to the Starmus Festival in Tenerife.

So very exciting.

Today on the newscast, we speak with Christiana Figueres, the former executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, perhaps best known for her work in leading the negotiating process for the Paris Climate Agreement.

We also speak with astrophysicist Garak Israelian, who is the co-founder of the upcoming Starmus Festival, an international gathering of scientists, musicians, artists, and experts to celebrate science, space, and its intersection with the arts and communication.

Figueres will appear at the eighth edition of the Starmus Festival to accept the inaugural Jane Goodall Earth Medal.

She shares her thoughts on receiving this award and on Goodall's legacy.

Israelian explains why this medal was created in Goodall's honor.

how the Starmus Festival highlights the importance of nature, and what he hopes science communication can achieve.

The two of them discuss the theme of the upcoming festival, the search for truth, in an age where the truth is becoming increasingly hard for the public to discern.

We discuss the negative impacts of social media and the tech companies that own and run algorithms designed for engagement and profit, rather than communicating factual or truthful information.