Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) —  The International NAUKA 0+ Festival is being held in Tashkent from November 2 to 3.

NAUKA 0+ is one of the largest educational projects globally focused on promoting science. This year, the festival, themed “Science Around Us,” is part of the international program for the Decade of Science and Technology.

For its efforts in advancing scientific achievements and supporting the prestige of scientific work, NAUKA 0+ recently received the prestigious "Faithfulness to Science" award.

Academician and Rector of Moscow State University V.A. Sadovnichiy commented, "Once again, Tashkent will host this unique science festival, an international project on a grand scale that spreads scientific knowledge. We are grateful to our colleagues in Uzbekistan’s academic community for supporting our vision to expand the reach of science, engage youth, and increase society’s awareness of scientific achievements and their practical contributions to socio-economic development."

The Tashkent Polytechnic Museum will be the main venue for the NAUKA 0+ Festival in Tashkent, along with the Tashkent branches of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology, the Institute of Materials Science of Uzbekistan’s Academy of Sciences, Tashkent Chemical-Technological Institute, NUST MISIS branch in Almalyk, and the Russian House in Uzbekistan.

The festival offers popular science lectures, interactive exhibits, virtual labs, science shows, discussions on humanity’s future, film screenings, robot competitions, quizzes, and quests. Lectures will be delivered by leading scientists.

In his lecture “A World Without Viruses,” virologist Nikolai Nikitin of Moscow State University will explore viruses’ role in ecosystems and their effects on all life forms, from microbes to humans. He will discuss what would happen if all viruses disappeared from Earth and how it would impact our planet. Scientist Anna Doroshenko from Belarus’s Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry will explain how chemists and doctors create biocompatible materials to strengthen and repair human bones. Guests can also attend lectures by science communicator Alexander Zaytsev, microbiologist Anna Bareiko on food microbiology, and E. Vasyutina from Russia’s Pushkin State Institute of Russian Language on language and brain research. Digital linguistics will be covered in a lecture by researcher Antonina Laposhina. Additionally, astronaut Salizhan Sharipov will share insights into life and work in space.

Visitors can try controlling robotic dogs and underwater robots, test their knowledge of history, politics, geology, and other scientific fields.

Both children and adults can assemble the skeleton of a large extinct amphibian, see fossils, coral skeletons, and shell fossils, and enjoy a chemistry-themed bar serving molecular cocktails made with liquid nitrogen.

Scientists from Belarus’s National Academy of Sciences will demonstrate gypsum casting, microbiology exhibits, acidity testing with plants, and experiments with non-Newtonian fluids and Chladni figures.

At the MEPhI Tashkent branch booth, visitors will find quizzes on nuclear energy, learn about nuclear plant equipment, and take a VR tour of a research reactor.

The Moscow-Beijing University will offer Chinese painting and calligraphy workshops, a VR tour of China’s scenic spots, and more.

Chemists from Mendeleev University will discuss the chemistry of color, showing that chemistry surrounds us in everyday life.

Specialists from the Pushkin Institute of Russian Language will hold a quiz on language and brain studies and explain how AI "pretends" to understand human speech.

At the Institute of Materials Science’s booth, renewable energy experiments will demonstrate how to boil water and light the Olympic torch using solar power.

The NUST MISIS branch in Almalyk will open its labs and explain their work in detail.

In the Russian House, visitors can watch and discuss the film *The Mountain King* with an expert and participate in masterclasses.

On November 15, at Samarkand State University, guests will glimpse the future of science and technology at labs in the Biochemistry Institute, Quantum Center, Institute of Engineering Physics, and an educational observatory built on the foundation of Ulugh Beg’s medieval scientific center in Samarkand