At a festival devoted largely to the farthest reaches of the universe and technology, one prominent guest had a rather more immediate concern. Jane Lubchenco, former head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, took the stage at Starmus, the science-and-music festival founded by Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Sir Brian May, to deliver a reminder that might have seemed almost quaint among the astronauts, Nobel laureates, and proponents of interstellar travel in attendance: We have a planet worth saving.

May, who put his doctoral studies in astrophysics on hold in 1971 when he formed Queen, eventually returned to academia, earning his PhD in 2007. Since then, he’s become something of a rock star in the science world, co-founding Starmus in 2011. The festival has attracted everyone from Stephen Hawking to Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and its latest gathering was, as usual, heavy on cosmic ambition.…