From dark matter over breakfast to gravitational waves at lunch, the streets of Southbank were packed to the brim with a platter of mind boggling science for the Brisbane Science Festival, where 14-year-old inventor Maxwell Loughan pushed for a future he could be proud of.
"To be honest our world is dying," the young American said.
The inventor was a panelist at a discussion on the future of science, hosted by Australian Nobel laureate Professor Brian Schmidt, earlier this week and said science needed to inspire people to become part of a better society.
"Humans have damaged the planet so much that our climate is becoming irreversible to the point where it could cause the destruction of mankind," he said.
"I think if we can inspire as many people as possible to take initiative to try and help our planet we can invent and become a part of a better society."
The festival, its second year in the Sunshine state, hosted numberous international movers and shakers in the realm of science and kicked off on World Water Day, as the festival's theme dived deep into our oceans and reached far into the future.
A water talk series flowed across the five days looking for solutions to the United Nations Global Sustainability Goal for clean, accessible and sustainably managed water by 2030.
A panel of experts discussed the possibility of water beyond our planet and questioned why 1.2 billion people lack access to clean drinking water and why we continue to litter our oceans with plastic bottles.
Astrophysicist Dr Alan Duffy, who elaborated on the theory that life hitched a ride to earth on an asteroid, said he expected the next scientific breakthrough would lie in the very glue that holds our universe together, dark matter.
"My hope is that in the next 10 years we will actually find out what this [dark matter] is, we'll identify it and that will advance our understanding of the basic building blocks of the universe in the same way that splitting the atom did in the '30s," he said.
Physicist Barry Barish and Australia's Chief Scientist Alan Finkel were among the distinguished scientific leaders who discussed the challenges of pledging millions of dollars to expensive and long-term scientific research that can't guarantee potential benefits to society.
Environmental scientist Associate Professor Kerrie Wilson said the biggest advancement over the next decade would be making sure government decisions were all evidence based.
"Let's use the data we have already, better, and let's use the decision making process and work together. That's the challenge." She said.
Associate Professor Kerrie Wilson, who wrapped the festival's final event, urged women with an interest in science to get involved.
"If young women have an interest in science they should peruse it and not look back, there's a huge momentum behind improving access to science to females and it's never been a better time," she said.
The Queensland Women in STEM awards were presented on Sunday afternoon at the festival to UQ's Dr Nasim Amiralian for her research into improving latex using Australian native grass and UQ PhD student Jordan DeBono for her research into snake venom and how it could improve blood medication for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.