The sixth edition of Science in the City – European Researchers’ Night will feature a host of innovative activities.

This year’s theme is the Future: Today’s Research; Tomorrow’s Society. Plans include health and dental checks, child-friendly experiments, shows and games, and new activities that find their inspiration in ongoing research projects in Malta.

A main attraction is Light Pushes Stuff, an interactive moving light sculpture, just off Freedom Square. It allows one to control an array of kinetic lights with the light from a torch.

Spazju Kreattiv will be hosting Kids Dig Science, an exhibition Transmission Interrupted by Mcast student Martina Camilleri, and Get Your Act Together  by More or Less Theatre with the support of Valletta 2018 and Malta Arts Fund within Arts Council Malta.

The Cinema Room at St James Cavalier will host a series of talks on the hour by Malta Café Scientifique, while ĊineXjenza, a series of short films, followed by a discussion, will be shown by the steps leading to St James at the entrance to Valletta.

For the third year running, the new parliament building will host an exhibition of research projects by the University of Malta called Science in the House.

An NGO area in De Valette Square will showcase organisations concerned with social, environmental, scientific, artistic and historical issues, while Steam Squared in St George’s Square will host a large number of University of Malta’s student organisations.

Greenhouse Malta, an NGO that takes the threat to the survival of bees very seriously, will be setting up a series of activities to highlight the importance this insect has on the future of food supplies and plant life in general.

Jazz for the Brain, the result of a collaboration between jazz players and a Maltese neuroscientist, will be staged in St Barbara church, where lights and music will display the complexity of a stroke and the technology being used to address the condition.

This year researchers will be giving demos and explaining their work along Republic Street.

There wil also be mini-stages with fire jugglers and experiments, a huge science stage complete and an exhibition on the harm inflicted by plastic waste on ocean life.

And artificial reality will bring art to life, while virtual reality will help players empathise with people with special needs.

Science in the City is taking place in Valletta today from 6pm onwards. For a full programme, log on to: www.scienceinthecity.org.mt.