NEW: Thu, Jul 11, 09:16PM We are at a unique moment in history where technology is finally catching up to our imagination and creative ambitions--voice, sound, touch, augmented reality, virtual reality, the Internet of Things and beyond. The next generation of gaming technology will allow completely new kinds of experiences for players. Join the Godfather of Video Games Nolan Bushnell (Atari, X2 Games) and Hollywood creative director and 3D visionary behind the J.A.R.V.I.S. system holograms in Marvel’s Iron ManZai Ortiz (Dark Matter, X2 Games) alongside connected play innovator and analyst Valerie Vacante (Collabsco) in a discussion on gamifying technology and designing the future of gaming. Learn how Nolan and Zai co-created their first game together, St. Noire, the world’s first murder mystery game powered by Alexa, fusing cinematic sound and Hollywood-level voice acting. Hear perspectives on pioneering the video game industry, bridging artistic storytelling with technical innovations, and take a glimpse into the near future of gaming.
Thursday July 18, 2019 11:45am - 12:45pm PDT
Room 6BCF
UPDATED: Thu, Jul 11, 06:46PM Many of the technological achievements in recent decades were ideas prophetically described in science fiction literature long before they became a reality. From voice recognition commands to smart watches, our world is beginning to look like the sci-fi shows that have long intrigued us. What do some of America's smartest people think will be next? American Mensa, the high IQ society, hosts a panel of writers, academics, and sci-fi fans in a discussion on what the future may hold. Moderated by LaRae Bakerink, chair of American Mensa, with panelists Doug Ecks, Esq. (attorney, writer, and Mensa member), Nevin Millan (writer, actor, and Mensa member), Dr. John Putman (professor and Star Trek expert), Dr. Jenny Rankin (professor, writer, and Mensa member), and Ian Randal Strock (writer, publisher, and Mensa member).
Thursday July 18, 2019 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT
Room 24ABC
Ted Schilowitz, futurist at Paramount Pictures, and Ben Wolstenholme, founder and comic book artist at MadeFire discuss the creative and technological evolution of the comic art form in wearable mixed reality technology. They'll show screen-capture sneak peeks of comic book characters and comic universes in mixed reality utilizing Magic Leap and Hololens wearable devices. At the end of the session, Ben and Ted will hold a trivia contest, and five winners will get a firsthand look at comic creation in Magic Leap and Hololens at Comic-Con, and one winner will be invited to lunch with Ted at the Executive Dining Room at Paramount Pictures in Hollywood and a visit to MadeFire HQ, as well as snowcones with Ben in Emeryville, CA!
Thursday July 18, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm PDT
Room 7AB
Stars of Quantic Dream's narrative-driven video game experiences join the games' writer and director David Cage to discuss how storytelling and performances enabled by technology are evolving the way video games are perceived as forms of cultural expression.
Thursday July 18, 2019 5:30pm - 6:30pm PDT
Room 6A
UPDATED: Tue, Jul 09, 12:13AM To boldly go where no one has gone before . . . but science may have. If you believe that elsewhere in our galaxy, familiar worlds from Star Trek and sci-fi exist, this is the panel for you. Panelists Dr. Morgan Cable (NASA planetary scientist), Tiffany Kataria (NASA exoplanet scientist), Erika Lippoldt (writer and producer for Star Trek: Discovery and Trek spinoff series with Michelle Yeoh), Phil Plait (SYFY's The Bad Astronomer and Bill Nye Saves the World), and Andre Bormanis (science consultant for Star Trek, The Orville, and Cosmos) discuss the real science behind sci-fi's most beloved universes.
Thursday July 18, 2019 5:45pm - 6:45pm PDT
Room 6DE
To say this expansion is fast and furious would not be an understatement. Tournaments and sponsorships continue to grow. This panel of gamers, producers, and sponsors will discuss its massive engagement and where the future leads. Featuring representatives from Blizzard, Hyper-X, Axiomatic/Team Liquid, CVRE League, Dreamleague, the TV Academy, and Dell/Alienware. Moderated by Anastasia Staten, executive director at ESA Foundation.
Thursday July 18, 2019 6:00pm - 7:00pm PDT
Room 5AB
UPDATED: Wed, Jul 10, 05:54PM Everybody knows that one of the best ways to accelerate your superhero career path is to get yourself involved in the right kind of "lab accident"-ideally one that gives you superhuman strength and abilities but doesn't maim you too badly. After all, accidents do happen. Join the Fleet Science Center and Robin Gunn, PhD (Senior Scientist and Project Manager at Structure Based Design), Sierra Simpson (PhD Candidate in Molecular Neuroscience at the Scripps Research Institute), Michelle Nolasco, Phd (Technical Communications at Agena Bioscience), Allison Fowler (EH & S Manager at Inova Diagnostics), Alexander Battey (PhD Candidate in Plasma Physics at Columbia University), Todd Maxwell (Radiation Safety Officer at Scripps Research Institute) and Dina Zangwill (Research Assistant at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies) as we discuss the strange dynamics of lab accidents. How often do they happen in real life? What are the potential effects? What are the wildest, scariest, or most serendipitous accidents these panelists have been involved with?
Thursday July 18, 2019 7:00pm - 8:00pm PDT
Room 6DE
UPDATED: Fri, Jul 19, 12:03AM Do recent shows like The Hot Zone and Chernobyl peak your interest in what calamities the human race may face in the future? Have you ever wondered how reality relates to what we see in the entertainment space? Join an illustrious group of scientific experts and advisors to discuss some of the real challenges facing mankind and how to separate fiction from fact. Featuring Dr. Elaine Seasly, NASA deputy planetary protection officer; FBI Special Agent John Gill, FBI San Diego weapons of mass destruction coordinator; Dr. Jessica Petrillo, State Department senior health security officer; Dr. Gregory Bernard, Homeland Security innovation officer and former Domestic Nuclear Detection Office assistant director; and Dr.Joe Masiero, group supervisor of Near-Earth Object survey projects at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the panel will discuss such existential risks as asteroids, emerging biological technologies, nuclear terrorism, and threats from space and beyond, and engage the audience in their questions about where the real risks to our planet and society may lie and how this often translates into popular fiction.
E.T., Jabba the Hutt, Predator. You've seen aliens in science fiction, but did you know NASA missions are really looking for extraterrestrial life? Dr. Morgan Cable (NASA planetary scientist), Dr. Cynthia Phillips (NASA's Europa mission), Dr. Tiffany Kataria (NASA's Exoplanet Exploration Program), and Dr. Robert Hurt (visualization scientist at Caltech) will describe new planets found beyond our solar system, the planet found around Spock's home star, and the latest news in the search for life on alien worlds. From science discoveries to iconic images to visualizations, find out how NASA is bringing these intriguing worlds to life for people on Earth.
Friday July 19, 2019 4:30pm - 5:30pm PDT
Room 26AB
UPDATED: Mon, Jul 08, 07:49PM Decades before the emergence of Nick Fury, Black Widow, and Agent 37 of Spyral, spies and espionage had been pervasive in comics and graphic novels. Central to these tales revolving around espionage, advanced technology, and gadgetry have been pivotal elements. In this panel, moderator Steve Broback (co-founder, Dent the Future) will engage with experts, detectives, and former spies like Jonna Mendez (former chief of disguise for the CIA), Josh Ray (global cyber defense lead for Accenture Security), Barbara Rae-Venter (genetic genealogist), and Jason Hanson (former CIA officer and a security specialist) to discuss spy technologies of the past, present, and future.
Spotlighting contributors from the gaming, virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, sustainable tech, and world of robotics.Topics will include support available in cities and states for tech and gaming start-ups. Expected participants to include Sony Koov Robotics, Nvidia, Pixal Crush, Raymond, LSU Digital Lab, VR Leo, and Blu Atom VR. Moderated by Forbes contributor David Bloom.
Randall Munroe, creator of xkcd, discusses his new book How To, a guide to using science to turn everyday problems into much bigger, more exciting problems. Learn how to cross a river by boiling it, get tips on how to make skiing much more dangerous using liquid oxygen, and hear about his experience asking famous experts the most ridiculous questions he could think of.
Saturday July 20, 2019 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Room 4
Samantha Wynns (biologist and educator, National Park Service), Alonso Nunez (artist and proprietor, Little Fish Comic Book Studio), Alex Warneke (chemical ecologist and science communicator, the Climate Science Alliance), and Garfield Kwan (marine biologist and director, Squidtoons) discuss how art is an incredible tool to tell the story of science, changing STEM to STEAM. Moderated by Paul Wynns (aerospace engineer and director, the Kevin Workman Foundation). There will be a live demonstration, and audience participation is encouraged.
Love comics? Love technology? Hear from some of the leaders of both fields as they discuss ways to "increase the pie" for the comics industry, as well as innovations in technology that allow us broader and great access to comics than ever before. Panelists Jordan Plosky (founder, ComicBlitz), Atom Freeman (Sales & BizDev, ComicHub), Shing Yin Khor (Ignatz Award winner, Thought Leader at Kickstarter), and Nick Coglianese (founder, Key Collector Comic App) will give attendees an in-depth look at some new technology, ideas, and innovations on the horizon. Moderated by Brett Schenker (founder, Graphic Policy).
Kelley Boston (epidemiology and infection prevention), Bobbiejean Garcia (public health epidemiology), Debesh Das (infection prevention), and Tyler Houston (art and culture) discuss representations of infectious disease in art and fiction and how medical and public health systems would respond to real-life outbreaks of fictional infectious diseases.
2018 Pop Culture Educator of the Year Jim McClain (Solution Squad), Tracy Edmunds (Think Earth, Tracy's Teaching Tools), and game designer Jon Loftus (University of Notre Dame's Center for Environmental Science and Technology) introduce a program to motivate students (grades 4 and up) to do research in any subject area (not just S.T.E.A.M.) by turning the details of their research into the qualities of their very own self-created superheroes who square off in mock combat using a simple dice game that reinforces computation skills.
Together with Jacqueline Gardy (content editor, U.S. Department of State), Mega Llama and Ultra Chuy discuss a new way to teach English for diplomacy-drawing comic strips. Moderator Manuel Pereira Colocci (strategic designer, U.S. Department of State) is joined by Dan Ryder (2018 Horace Mann Award for Teaching Excellence recipient), Fabricio Rivas Marmanillo, (teacher, illustrator, Bestial Comics), and Josh Alves (national illustrator, Surprise!) to discuss identifying future collaborations to meet global learners where they are, superheroes and all.
Saturday July 20, 2019 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Room 24ABC
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission that first put humans on the moon, this panel brings together some of the engineers who actually built the spacecraft that got us there. Moderated by Benjamin Dickow, president of the Columbia Memorial Space Center, and science educator Ray Hedgpeth, several former members of the Apollo program, including retired engineer Jerry Blackburn, talk about the excitement and challenge of getting astronauts to the moon. The discussion will include rare photos and delve into how sci-fi and comics from the '40s and '50s drove the dreams of these professionals during the '60s The panelists will be joined by a current aerospace engineer to give a glimpse into what the next 50 years may hold. The Columbia Memorial Space Center is located outside of downtown Los Angeles on the former NASA site where all of the Apollo spacecraft and all of the Space Shuttles were designed and built.
Saturday July 20, 2019 3:30pm - 4:30pm PDT
Room 5AB
UPDATED: Mon, Jul 08, 08:20PM Shane Campbell-Staton, ph.D. (assistant professor of Biology at UCLA) moderates a conversation between scientists and one “superhuman” athlete that will delve into how the technology of the modern world is changing how humans evolve. Panelists Mandy-Rae Krack (world champion free-diver and record-holder), Poppy Crum, ph.D. (chief scientist at Dolby Laboratories), Brian Brown, ph.D. (professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai),Nathan H. Lents, ph.D. (professor of Biology, John Jay College), and Peter Ward, ph.D. (professor, University of Washington Department of Biology) will discuss how modern science is making people more (and also less) “super.”
Saturday July 20, 2019 4:30pm - 5:30pm PDT
Room 24ABC
Now that the Game of Thrones finale has left fans reeling, this fellowship of experts explore the real-world origins behind tales of dragons, magic, wildfire, and more. When science shines its light on the fantastic elements, some of it holds up amazingly well. Featuring Dr. Travis Langley (Game of Thrones Psychology: The Mind Is Dark and Full of Terrors; The Joker Psychology: Evil Clowns and the Women Who Love Them), Roger Freedman (University of California, Santa Barbara), Tamara Robertson (MythBusters Jr., SciJinks), Allen Pan (Sufficiently Advanced, MythBusters), Steve Huff (weapons expert), New York Times bestselling author Jonathan Maberry (Joe Ledger series, Rot & Ruin, V-Wars), and Jennifer Yen (Baylor College of Medicine). Moderated by Jenna Busch (Legion of Leia, Black Panther Psychology: Hidden Kingdoms). You will believe a dragon can fly!
UPDATED: Wed, Jul 10, 05:46PM Movies make time travel look easy. All it takes is a flux capacitor or some Stark Industries ingenuity and you should be able to safely zip back a few decades, right? The Fleet Science Center brings together Christopher Markus (writer and co-producer, Avengers: Endgame), Elizabeth Simmons PhD (physicist and Executive Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at UC San Diego), Eric Michelsen PhD (physicist and Lecturer at UC San Diego), Kim Griest PhD (physicist and Professor Emeritus at UC San Diego) and Clifford Johnson PhD (Professor of Physics at USC) to talk about how time travel and the quantum realm could be more accurately portrayed in fiction, and how close we really are to making it a reality. The big question is: What would you do with your time machine?
Saturday July 20, 2019 6:00pm - 7:00pm PDT
Room 25ABC
The FGGGbT Brain Trust (Daniel J. Glenn, Dr. Michael Dennin, and Ben Siepser) takes a closer look at the gadgets and gizmos Spider-Man's villains use against him. They will examine Electro, Shocker, Green Goblin, Sandman, and Scorpion.
Reviewing the incredible year of discoveries, advances, and milestones that include The EHT black hole image, more super massive black holes and exoplanets confirmed, gravity waves (what are they?), evidence of quantum entanglement, private space flight milestones, the ISS "Organoids" mission (micro brains in space), and the results of the "space twin" study. Moderated by Stuart Volkow, project manager for the Ax Center for Experimental Cosmology (ACEC) at UCSD. Featuring some of the leading scientists in the cosmology world, including Dr. Brian Keating (director of the Simons Observatory, the world's most ambitious, and most sensitive instrument ever designed to study the origins of the universe), Dr. Andrew Friedman, Dr. Shelley Wright (experimental and observational astrophysicist), and Dr. Greg Chamitoff (former NASA astronaut and professor at Texas A&M and the University of Sydney).
Saturday July 20, 2019 8:00pm - 9:00pm PDT
Room 25ABC
Do you want to know what it takes to build your own droid from the Star Wars galaxy? Southern California R2 builders Mike Senna, Michael McMaster, William Miyamoto, Thomas Roeoesli, Chris Romines, and Victor Franco discuss how their robots are built and how they work. Topics include materials, blueprints, techniques, tools, and electronics used to bring their droids to life.
Sunday July 21, 2019 10:00am - 11:00am PDT
Room 11
David Rosing (NASA JPL Mars Sample Return system engineer), Shonte J. Tucker (JPL thermal engineer), Kobie Boykins (JPL Mechatronics Engineer), and Laura Kerber (NASA JPL Mars research scientist) discuss how they go boldly where there's no one around to fix it. Hear stories from the trenches of the heartbreaks, close calls, and adventures of real-life solar system exploration on the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Q&A session following.
Sunday July 21, 2019 2:00pm - 3:00pm PDT
Room 32AB
Following up on his hit WonderCon panel The Science of Avengers: Endgame, Nerdist's science editor and host of Because ScienceKyle Hill (The Science of Mortal Kombat,MythBusters: The Search) breaks down the actual science behind Marvel's latest web-slinging adventure, with help from star YouTubers Allen Pan (Sufficiently Advanced, MythBusters: The Search), Dianna Cowern (Physics Girl), Alie Caldwell (Neuro Transmissions,SciShow), and Kishore Hari (community organizer for Adam Savage's Tested website). Q&A session to follow.
The ultimate way to say sayanora to SDCC 50 will be with this legendary panel in which these experts determine who will win the highly coveted Smackdown title. Can the Starship Enterprise defeat an Imperial Star Destroyer? Will the Battlestar Galactica be assimilated by a Borg Cube? Will the Nostromo be taken over by Rathars? And will the Jefferson Starship disappear forever after Thanos snaps his fingers? Only if you're lucky. This panel of sage spaceshipologists includes Ashley E. Miller (Red Sonja, Thor), Steven Melching (Star Wars Rebels, Star Wars Resistance), Kay Reindl (Freakish, Millennium), Robert Meyer Burnett (Free Enterprise, Agent Cody Banks), Daren Dochterman (Westworld, Master and Commander), Jeff Bond (The World of The Orville, The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen), Shawna Benson (The 100, Green Arrow), and your jocular host, the Mr. Rourke of the stars, Mark A. Altman (Pandora, The Librarians). 12 ships enter. One starship survives. Accept no substitute, this is the one, the only San Diego Comic-Con Starship Smackdown-and there can be only one.
A diverse panel explore where Hollywood and technology is headed in 2019 and beyond. They'll discuss the future of content distribution and access from some of the top providers of tech and content. Moderated by Forbes contributor David Bloom. Featuring participants from Paramount, AMC, Netflix, Disney, the TV Academy, and NBC/Universal.
Sunday July 21, 2019 3:00pm - 4:00pm PDT
Room 24ABC