Edinburgh Science Festival releases digital lineup of videos and online activities

The festival was cancelled due to the coronavirus.

Edinburgh Science Festival has announced a lineup of online activities to partially replace the cancelled event, which was due to run from April 4 to 19.

Some aspects of the festival lineup will go online from 10am tomorrow in a bid to entertain and educate children stuck at home during lockdown.

More will be added by April 11.

Edinburgh Science Festival has put some of its materials online.

Activities will include livestreamed talks from Claudia Hammond, Marcus Chown and Ilan Kelman.

There will also be downloadable dinosaur craft activities, an online photo exhibition celebrating Scotland’s Coasts and Waters and a takeover of the Earth Live Lessons YouTube series.

The online festival will keep to the theme of Elementary, highlighting the role of science in addressing environmental challenges through the four elements of Air, Earth, Fire and Water, and a fifth element, Aether, representing the digital world.

The festival’s photography exhibition Into the Blue will be uploaded to Instagram, one picture of Scotland’s coasts per day.

Claudia Hammond will offer a talk about the importance of rest in a fast-moving world, science writer Marcus Chown will speak about the universe, and Professor Ilan Kelman will share ideas about how the majority of natural disasters are created or worsened by humans.

The Dinosaur Weekend which was due to take place at the Pleasance has been replaced by a series of dinosaur-themed craft activities that children can download and make at home.

Amanda Tyndall, Festival and Creative Director at Edinburgh Science, said: “Two weeks ago, we made the sad but necessary decision to cancel the Edinburgh Science Festival due to the global spread of COVID-19, but it takes more than lockdown to keep us down!

“We’ve reached out to our partners, participants and supporters, wracked our brains and trawled our archives and I’m delighted to announce that our online offering, ‘Elements of #EdSciFest’, will launch on 4 April.

“Using the ancient classifications of Earth, Air, Fire and Water and Aether to explore how science can help address some of the biggest challenges and opportunities facing us as individuals, societies and as a planet, we’ll bring you talks, reading lists, film recommendations, curated articles, downloadable resources and a selection of ‘live’ events that help ensure that everyone – from kids, parents and teachers to the just generally sci-curious – can get still get some science this Easter.’’