Sunday 14 August 2022

Highlights from day two of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.

ACT: Footy Quake: can a rugby crowd register on the Richter scale?
NSW: Fighting superbugs, big bad tech, caring for sky country, and microfactories making new materials from old – Sydney Science Festival is back
NSW: What and where the wild things are in Western Sydney
TAS: How an astronomer is helping an ecologist eavesdrop on bats and bitterns – Swansea
ACT: A band of physicists go on a roadtrip to explain quantum and dark matter – Tharwa
VIC: Step inside the International Space Station and take a selfie
ACT: Science while you shop – multiple locations in Canberra
NT: Students survey the Territory’s soil, from Darwin’s dirt to sands in Central Australia

Read on for more on these, including event contact details.

Saturday 13 August

Highlights from day one of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.  

ACT: Reaching organism: an adults-only marine science show
NSW: Orchids, traditional knowledge, and the plant doctors: the secret science inside the Royal Botanic Garden
NSW: Saving the planet by gardening underwater – Lake Macquarie
NT: Will we have enough prawns for Christmas?
QLD: Cultural connection and Indigenous astronomy with Uncle Wayne Fossey – Logan
VIC: Starlings flock, humans crowd, drones… zizz?  Explore the swarm in this exhibition-cum-experiment
QLD: Feeding caterpillars to get butterflies – Kuranda
WA: Hack a webcam; see inside your cells

Read on for more on these, including event contact details.

Did your local favourites survive the first cut?

Vote now to save your favourite from the next round of pruning

13 trees have been pruned from the list in the nationwide search to crown Australia’s favourite tree.

20 trees from all over Australia are still in the running to be crowned top tree.

• Images available for media use
• More information about the 33 contender trees
• Skip to top 20 list
• See the 13 trees that didn’t make the cut
• Quotes from tree experts for media use

Media contacts: Laura Boland, laura@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0408 166 426; or Jane Watkins, jane@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0425 803 204.

Did your top tree make the first cut? Over 100,000 voters have pledged their love for their favourite native Australian tree. According to the votes, the top 20 include species such as:

• Illawarra flame tree (Brachychiton acerifolius) with its vivid display of colour
• ghost gum (Corymbia aparrerinja), standing solitary in central Australia
• Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis), the critically endangered ‘living fossil’.

“People love their gum trees! The top 20 includes snow gum, mountain ash and many other iconic eucalypts from around Australia,” says ABC’s Dr Ann Jones.

Explore Indigenous Knowledge this National Science Week, 13 to 21 August

Available for interview:

• Kamilaroi water scientist Bradley Moggridge
• Ngarrindjeri sustainable fisher Derek Walker on harvesting pipi in Goolwa
• Caring for Sky Country with Gamilaraay astronomer Karlie Noon in Sydney
• Gomeroi astrophysicist Krystal de Napoli, talking science through stories in NSW & Tas
• The Indigenous Science Experience at Redfern

ENTERTAINMENT highlights from across Australia this National Science Week

• One-up your mate’s Bali pics with selfies in a replica International Space Station – Melbourne
• This ain’t your mammal’s reproduction, in the adults-only Sex on the Beach Science Show – Canberra
• What do experts make of the ‘science’ in Mars Attacks!? – Canberra
• Can Raider’s fans move the needle? Earthquake experts will find out – Canberra
• Brewing experimental beer, with interactive drink-along four packs – online and Hobart
• Dr Karl, dinosaurs, furry friends, and a T-Rex autopsy show: all on the Sydney Science Trail – Mt Annan and Sydney
• Plant-powered cars, Jurassic poop, the science of piracy, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas 2022 – Hobart
• Battle of the boffins: which scientific field is best? – Hindmarsh, SA

More on these highlights below.

ScScientists, 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.