Wednesday, November 25th is a big day for fans of scientific breakthroughs that re-shape our understanding of how the universe operates. One hundred years ago, Albert Einstein discovered the general theory of relativity.

When actor Alan Alda was 11, he wondered what a flame was. He asked his teacher who told him a flame was “oxidation.” Not exactly helpful, Alda said. “That’s like calling it by another name,” said Alda. “‘A flame, that’s Fred.’” That frustrating moment decades ago resulted in something great—the Flame Challenge, in which scientists compete to accurately and succinctly explain a simple question like “what is a flame?” in a way that an 11-year-old can understand.

The last day of the 2015 World Science Festival saw entertaining discussions of the purpose of sleep, the nature of time, and the potential ways we might harness quantum mechanics—plus a science takeover of Washington Square Park.

Seven days, lots of science in the news. And many of this week’s most notable and quotable items tie directly to our 2015 festival programs. We thought it’d be cool to link the two to show, you know, we have our finger on the pulse of science. Team of scientists, led by Professor Lee Berger, discovers two-million-year-old skin, thought to possibly be the oldest fossilized skin ever found, near Johannesburg, in South Africa. Related 2015 WSF program: Lee Berger will be participating in our Pioneers in Science program on Friday, May 29, 2015 and our Planet of the Humans: Leap to the Top program on May 29. Scientists announced the discovery of a new microbe that’s being called “the missing link between single cells and complex life.” Related 2015 WSF program: How humans evolved from single-celled organisms to walking on the moon is the subject of Planet of the Humans on Friday, May 29. A blood test may be able to predict cancer years in advance, thanks to new research into telomeres, the end caps on DNA. Such predictions are based on probability, the backbone of science. Related 2015 WSF program: How well do you understand probability? Find out at our Wizards of Odds event on Saturday, May 30. …

Scientists who developed the theory of cosmic inflation, pushed the limits of microscopy, and discovered brain networks devoted to memory and cognition received top honors at this year’s Kavli Prizes. Awarded once every two years, the Kavli Prizes offer $1 million, a gold medal, and a scroll to exceptional researchers in astrophysics, nanoscience, and neuroscience—those who work to unravel the natures of big, small, and complex forces around us. This year’s winners were announced on Thursday, May 29 in Oslo, Norway and simulcasted at the 2014 World Science Festival. Alan Guth (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Andrei Linde (Stanford University) and Alexei Starobinsky (Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics) won the 2014 Kavli Prize in astrophysics for their work in formulating the theory that the universe exponentially expanded in the first fraction of a second after the Big Bang. “When I first came up with the idea, I was extremely nervous that it would be wrong in some obvious way,” Guth, who was in attendance at the Festival’s Kavli Breakfast, said. “Fortunately, it didn’t fall apart.” The 2014 Kavli Breakfast Linde, whose work has focused on the possibility of multiple Big Bangs occurring, giving rise to a many-faceted multiverse, told the Kavli …