Manchester Science Festival 2024: Full line-up revealed including giant spiders, space quiz nights and museum after hours events

One of the most popular science festivals in the UK is returning to Manchester later this year - with ten days of installations and interactive events.

Manchester Science Festival 2024 will take place from October 18 to 27 at the Science and Industry Museum and across Manchester with a host of free and ticketed quizzes, panel discussions, exhibits, and activity zones.

The festival will also see the arrival of a giant Arachnobot spider, created by Artistic Director Tim Davies and controlled by a puppeteer, which will be making an appearance at the Arndale Centre ahead of Halloween from October 19 to 20.

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Throughout the entire run of the festival, there will also be a large-scale immersive installation, named State of Mind, located within the 1830 Warehouse of Science and Industry Museum from pioneering light, sound and technology artists Squidsoup. Using rhythm in light, the installation creates an ‘abstract and playful representation of a digitised world saturated with sensory stimuli from ever-changing media technologies’.

Citizen Science – The Brain & Body Study, also at the museum throughout the festival, will feature activities looking into the brain and body, and how you can improve your cognition through video games and physical activities.

Manchester Science Festival 2024 will also feature, on October 18, a ticketed interactive forum on AI’s place in space with computer scientist Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon MBE and Libby Jackson OBE, the UK Space Agency’s Head of Space Exploration.

On October 19, Dr Imafidon and Libby Jackson will return for a Cosmic Quiz, featuring commissioned content from The Poetry Place,