A bluedot tradition is to present some science between bands on the main Lovell Stage. Professor Tim O’Brien, Associate Director of Jodrell Bank and a science curator at bluedot, will speak on each of the four days of the festival. 

On Thursday, he will open the festival with a discussion of the pale blue dot of the Earth seen form space. 

On Friday, he will present the Greatest Hits of Jodrell Bank, a review of some of the incredible science that has gone on here from the 1940s to the present day. He will also talk live with Dr Andrew Siemion at the University of California,  Berkeley, to discuss the latest efforts to find signals from extraterrestrial intelligence in the Breakthrough Listen project. 

On Saturday, he will look at big telescopes, focusing especially on the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA). He will speak on stage with Professor Ben Stappers and Dr Tana Joseph about how they plan to use the newly opened MeerKAT telesccope in South Africa, an SKA precursor. Then he will connect to Sydney to speak with Dr Lisa Harvey-Smith about the Australian SKA precursor, ASKAP and her own science. 

Finally, on Sunday, he will play the Sounds of Space, from dying stars to the Big Bang, an audio tour of the Universe. Including a premiere of his latest collaboration with Jim Spencer and David Tolan of O Genesis Records.