ENTERTAINMENT highlights from across Australia this National Science Week

• Step inside the International Space Station and take a selfie– Melbourne, VIC
• Reaching organism: an adults-only marine science show – Canberra, ACT
• What do experts make of the ‘science’ in Mars Attacks!? – Acton, ACT
• Footy Quake: can a rugby crowd register on the Richter scale? – Canberra, ACT
• Beer quenches scientists’ thirst for knowledge – online and Hobart, TAS
• Dr Karl, dinosaurs, furry friends, and a T-Rex autopsy show: all on the Sydney Science Trail – Mt Annan and Sydney, NSW
• Plant-powered cars, Jurassic poop, the science of piracy, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas 2022 – Hobart, TAS
• Chemistry, marine biology, maths, or biomed: which scientific field is best? – Hindmarsh, SA

More on these highlights below.

Scientists, performers and event organisers are available for interview leading up to and throughout National Science Week: 13 to 21 August.

Great National Science Week ARTS stories up for grabs now around Australia

• Award-winning theatre based on real stories of dementia, with neurobiologist-led audience discussion – Adelaide, SA
• Starlings flock; humans crowd; drones… zizz?  Explore the swarm in this exhibition-cum-experiment – Parkville, VIC
• Explaining cancer biology to young people through pop-culture, art and augmented reality – online
• Antarctic explorers (both artistic and scientific) visualise their predictions for the future of an alien, vital continent – Wollongong

More on these highlights below.

Scientists, performers and event organisers are available for interview leading up to and throughout National Science Week: 13 to 21 August.

Planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic is available to discuss the nature of planets in Hobart this week. It’s part of a national tour of public and school talks promoting opportunities for women in physics. Her free public lecture on Tuesday 9 August is part of National Science Week.

The planets in our solar system are vastly different although they all formed from the same cloud of gas and dust around a star – our sun. Why is this?

Associate Professor Katarina Miljkovic thinks the answers lie in studying how asteroids, comets and meteors bombarded the planets in the past, changing the surface conditions.

She works at Curtin University’s Space Science and Technology Centre and School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and uses data from several NASA missions.

Dozens of Science Week stories around South Australia

• Daleks, racing drones, and dinosaur droppings: Science Alive! is back – Wayville Showgrounds
• South Australian landmarks set alight with science story projections – Barmera, Karoonda, Port Pirie, Quorn and Wallaroo
• Alzheimer’s takes centre stage in acclaimed play – Adelaide
• Insect corn chips and roasted seaweed: what will you be eating in 2050? – online via Adelaide
• Stingrays in the stars: Indigenous knowledge of the sea – Port Adelaide
• Tree scientist encourages gardeners to grow the urban forest – Adelaide, SA
• Smaller, lighter, faster X-rays – Tonsley, SA
• My Science Rulz, Your Science Droolz! – Hindmarsh, SA
• Wattle vs woollybutt: what is Australia’s favourite tree? – online

More on these highlights below.

Scientists, experts and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week.

This year’s festival runs from 13 to 21 August, with thousands of events.

National launch with Minister at Parliament House – Thursday 4 August.

Scientists, experts and event organisers are available for interview leading up to and throughout National Science Week. Here are some early stories:

• National: 88% of Australians trust science and scientists, but scepticism has increased slightly amid social media misinformation – 3M State of Science Index 2022 results reveal what we think of science
• Canberra: First Nations Sciences of the Land: the official launch of National Science Week at Parliament House
• Hobart: Dr Karl, a NASA astrobiologist, and 150 roving scientists walk into a science bar…
• Adelaide: Daleks, racing drones, and dinosaur droppings: Science Alive! is back
• Melbourne & online: Are you smarter than a TV personality? Charlie Pickering quizzes Nate Byrne, Lawrence Leung and scientists
• Melbourne: Step inside the International Space Station and take a selfie
• Perth: What does climate change have to do with human rights?
• National, with Brisbane talent: 1,500+ rockets simultaneously launched around Australia
• Darwin: Thunderbirds are go! Why have they gone? Ask a palaeontologist
• Sydney: Fighting superbugs, big bad tech, caring for sky country, and microfactories making new materials from old – Sydney Science Festival returns.

Karri, tea tree, river red gum… nationwide project to crown Australia’s most loved species.

The poll opens on Monday 1 August. The list will be cut to the top 20 on Friday 12 August, then 10 finalists on Friday 19 August, and the winner will be announced on Friday August 26.

Images available for media use

Meet the 33 contender trees, and the bottom 15 so far!

Participate at: www.abc.net.au/trees from 1 August.

Do you love the water-bulging boab or the towering mountain ash, the world’s tallest flowering tree? Are you intrigued by the carbon capturing power of grey mangrove ecosystems or the ‘living fossil’ story of the Wollemi pine?

The search is on to find Australia’s favourite tree. This National Science Week, ABC Science wants people to go online to explore the wonder and science of the plant kingdom, and vote for their favourite tree.

Planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic is available to discuss the nature of planets in Melbourne this week. It’s part of a national tour of public and school talks promoting opportunities for women in physics.

The planets in our solar system are vastly different although they all formed from the same cloud of gas and dust around a star – our sun. Why is this?

Associate Professor Katarina Miljkovic thinks the answers lie in studying how asteroids, comets and meteors bombarded the planets in the past, changing the surface conditions.

She works at Curtin University’s Space Science and Technology Centre and School of Earth and Planetary Sciences and uses data from several NASA missions.

Aussie astronomers react to NASA Webb first images.

Media contacts: Niall Byrne, niall@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0417-131-977 or
Jane Watkins, jane@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0425 803 204

Nearly 40 researchers across Australia are eagerly awaiting data from Webb for their projects. Many of them are available to talk on Tuesday about what they hope to see with Webb and about their reaction to the first pictures

Now we can sample other planets without leaving home
Published in Nature Communications

• Images
• Video
• Supporting information

Five to ten million years ago an asteroid smashed into Mars. It created a massive crater and propelled a chunk of ancient Martian crust into space as a new meteorite, which eventually crashed into Africa.

We now know where on Mars that meteorite came from, thanks to a supercomputer-powered technology that allows us to explore the geology of planets without leaving home.