Hetty Helsmoortel, Mission 2026

The most striking science news of the past year In 2026, Hetty turned 40. According to average life expectancy, she is now statistically somewhere in the middle. Urgently time to take stock. Because ever since the day she could read, her existence has been filled with science and curiosity. Collecting stones, drawing robots, or trying to build the most stable sandcastles on the beach of Ostend. But will science remain that loyal ally in the second half of her life? What if she gets a diagnosis at 75 for which there is no treatment yet? Won't she be angry then, because maybe there was too much dawdling somewhere in 2026? Or just grateful for the things that did progress in that year? Will that latest laundry-folding robot, for which the foundation may have been laid in 2026, be a blessing by then... or just an extra appliance that we have to descale? Because have we actually really gained more time since the invention of the dishwasher and the tumble dryer? And will her childlike enthusiasm for the new and ever-further exploration of space - with the moon at the forefront in 2026 - remain intact? Even if that moon might have become a place by then where we have gone to dream as much as to search for raw materials? In Missie 2026, Hetty’s hope, humor, and wonder come together again. She looks at the most remarkable scientific events of 2026 in her own way. For the sixth time in a row, she wants to send everyone back out into the world after the show with gusto and a head full of new insights. Over Hetty Wetenschapswatcher Hetty Helsmoortel is a woman with a mission. She wants to inspire everyone with her passion for science and technology, in the most diverse ways. There is gradually little that you cannot know Hetty Helsmoortel for. She is part of the intergalactically popular Nerdland Podcast, with the Nerdland Scheurkalender she also hangs in many Flemish toilets together with Lieven Scheire, and she wrote several bestsellers in the Nerdland book series. As a science watcher, she is a welcome guest on radio and television. Since 2021, she has been listing the most striking science news of the year in her witty theater tour Missie. Finally, she is the artistic director of Nerdland Festival: the largest science festival in the Benelux, where science is served in an entertaining way and which has easily attracted thirty thousand visitors in recent years. After a doctorate in health sciences and eight years of cancer research, her true calling surfaced. Hetty’s mission is clear: to give science the place it deserves in our society, among the people. Because we live in a world that is becoming increasingly complex and chaotic. And in such a context, science can offer many a foothold.