Manchester Science Festival launched this year's programme at a glitzy late night event at the Liverpool Road museum last night.
With food from Manchester chef Mary-Ellen McTague and DJing duties from our very own Everything Everything, it was quite the star studded night and a great taster for what's in store.
The event, which runs from October 22 to November 1, is programmed by the Museum of Science & Industry but involves over 50 venues from around the Greater Manchester region.
So we thought we'd pick out some must dos in this year's calendar so you can get booking those essential events now.
Play in the adult ball pool
We have all - and I mean ALL - stood enviously on the sidelines of the kiddies' ball pool dreaming of an excuse to leap in.
Well, now you can with grown up playground Jump In - and this time the children are barred! Bounce and swim in this pure white pool of 81,000 balls as much as you like. But the museum would also like visitors to see this is a creative space and feel the powerful effect of fun on our ability to think of ideas.
Massive party fun happens twice! The Ball Pool Ball – complete with disco tunes, lights, a bar, DJs, and drag queens - happens on October 23 (9pm, £6), and there's spooky raving to be had in this space on October 31 when cult indie clubnight Underachievers Please Try Harder host a one-off Halloween special (9pm, over-18s only, £5).
MOSI, Liverpool Road / October 22-November 1 (various times) / 5pm (groups must book)
Take in a late night retro movie
October 21 - the night before the festival opens - is now known as #futureday, or the exact date that Marty McFly travelled back to in Back To The Future II.
To mark it, Whitworth Street West bar and club Gorilla is screening Back To The Future II followed by a discussion with University of Salford scientists about the film’s technological predictions. Get the body warmers and basketball boots out: fancy dress is 'encouraged'.
Double bills of The Fifth Element and The Matrix (October 26), plus E.T. and the original Back To The Future (October 27), as well as TV series Red Dwarf (October 28) are also lined up for screenings at Manchester Cathedral and now booking.
Gorilla, Whitworth St West / October 21 / 7.30pm-10.30pm / £10
Have a laugh at science
Housewives' favourite and top scientist Professor Brian Cox is headed for Manchester with ace comedian Robin Ince to bring their award-winning BBC Radio 4 science and comedy show The Infinite Monkey Cage to the launch night.
Scientists and science enthusiasts will join them on stage to show that learning about the world and what makes it work doesn't have to be dry.
MOSI, Liverpool Road / October 22 / 7pm-9pm (show starts at 7.30pm) / Free, but booking essential
Learn how to mummify your cat
But please don't do it!!!
This fascinating exhibition about votive animals - from cats to crocodiles - which were mummified and offered to the gods in hope they would honour a prayer looks not only at the reason why, but the misconceptions we've developed about its meaning, and has a peek underneath the bandages with some incredible science.
Gifts For The Gods: Animal Mummies Revealed host Manchester Museum is also running a talk on October 23 (1pm-2pm) with Doctors Lidija McKnight and Stephanie Woolham of The University of Manchester’s Animal Bio Bank.
Manchester Museum, Oxford Road / Now open / Daily / Free
Walk in the shoes of Alan Turing
One of Manchester's eminent scientists, Dr Alan Turing is the man who broke the Nazi's Enigma code during the Second World War, allowing the Allies to decipher war winning coded communications.
Your guide on this tour is Ed Glinert, who'll walk you around the mathematician’s Manchester haunts and explain the story of his untimely death, from cyanide poisoning in 1954 - ruled a suicide following his chemical castration for then-criminalised homosexual activities.
Not before time, Turning was granted a posthumous royal pardon in 2013 and his statue sits on a bench in Sackville Park, on the edge of the Gay Village, as a permanent memorial to his life and work.
And if the tour convinces you of his brilliance, make sure you vote for him in the festival's Your Manchester Scientist search, looking for the city's brightest light. You can vote for your favourite Manchester scientist via @TheJohnRylands on Twitter.
Meet at the Manchester Museum reception / October 24 / 11am-12.30pm / £8
Become a gin bore
For scientific research purposes, natch, we're all invited down to Manchester Museum for a late night look at what goes in - and makes the tastiest - gin.
Two master distillers explain the origins, scientific background and development of one of the UK’s biggest selling boozes.
Manchester Museum, Oxford Road / October 29 / 7pm-10pm / £21.85 (inc booking fee)
Get an expert opinion
To mark the launch of his new book, The Science of Everyday Life, Marty Jopson (of The One Show) pops in to share scientific facts about the world around us.
Expect brilliant answers to what you thought were terrible questions: why do fingers wrinkle in the bath, and why shouldn't we keep bread in the fridge?
International Anthony Burgess Foundation, Chorlton Mill, Cambridge Street / October 29 / 6.30pm / £4
Science stand-up - it really exists...
Mathematician Matt Parker, experiments maestro Steve ‘Danger’ Mould and geek songstress Helen Arney are back with Just For Graphs.
The show picks up where last years Full Frontal Nerdity left off, with 'electrifying live experiments, statistically significant laughter and a retro Fax machine solo'.
The Lowry, Salford Quays / October 25 / 8pm / £18 / Over 14s advisory due to language
Journey into outer space
British ESA astronaut Tim Peake will face microgravity, meteorites and the most terrifying commute home one day.
But the prospect of life on the International Space Station mission from December makes all that worth while. This show, Destination Space, reveals how he’ll cope - via experiments and expert chat.
Jodrell Bank Discovery Centre, Macclesfield / October 26-30 / Various times / Free as part of admission ticket to the centre
Crack the code at HackManchester
Fancy yourself as a bit of a coding genius? HackManchester's 24-hour coding marathon will separate the nerds from the know-it-alls as teams of developers and designers have just 24 hours to wow the judges.
There's an adult version on October 24-25 at MOSI (doors from 11am, £20), plus a junior competition on October 26-27 (10am-4pm, Free but book).
Later on, star of Channel 4's Cucumber and local comic Bethany Black hosts a celebration of the coding marathon for over-18s. Find out what the coders came up with, and watch videos of the challenges faced by participants, plus enjoy food and drink (£10, booking required).
The junior awards for under-18s are on October 27, 6pm-8pm (also free, but book).
