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Highlights from day 2 of National Science Week

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

TAS: Top Gear star James May pulls into Hobart during his ‘Explorers – The Age of Discovery’ tour.

VIC: Why the gut-immune-brain axis is beautiful and vital – images captured by Melbourne researchers.

ACT: Dancers with disability explore bee science through performance in Canberra.

NSW: Indigenous seaweed harvesting, natural dying, bush cordial, and a life-sized dinosaur at Science in the Scrub at Western Sydney Parklands.

VIC: Outsmart AI and see stars of Japan’s ‘Cat Heaven Island’ respond to their own video images in Science Gallery Melbourne’s DISTRACTION exhibition. 

QLD: VR farming, AgBots, and strawberry sundaes at The Ekka.

TAS: What do reflection, light and physics have to do with chocolate? Find out at Chocolate Winterfest in Latrobe.

SA: Bird spotters and bug catchers wanted to document ‘proof of life’ in Renmark’s restored floodplains.

SA/National: Touring troupe of quantum scientists and dark matter hunters in Adelaide today. 

Also today:

• QLD: Day 2 of Magnetic Island’s three-day ‘Nature’s Blueprint’ immersion: science, regenerative design and sustainability
• NSW: Art of endangered birds and environmental activism continues in Wyangala
• WA:  Science camp for deaf teens at Edith Cowan University

Coming up tomorrow:

Blind artist drives quantum exhibition; feeding hungry astronauts; owl vomit; and bird nests for climate change – see a preview of Monday’s highlights.

National Science Week 2025 runs from 9 to 17 August.

Visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area. 

[Read more…] about Science of chocolate; Top Gear star celebrates explorers; gut beauty; and Indigenous seaweed harvesting

Highlights from day 1 of National Science Week

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

NATIONAL: Australia is big and full of wild things! CSIRO wants volunteers to find and photograph our flora and fauna.

TAS: Why Tasmania is the best place on Earth to see the Southern Lights at the opening of a Hobart exhibition featuring photos, timelapse and a ‘live aurora dashboard’.

NSW: VR portal to Torres Strait Islander culture, Aboriginal astronomy, cultural use of seaweeds, science of sound, and more at Indigenous Science Experience in Redfern.

ACT: Can you save the world from a parasite pandemic? 

VIC: Meet the legally blind artist behind a multisensory exhibition exploring quantum science.

VIC: Are you at risk of thunderstorm asthma? Ask an asthma sufferer-turned-aerobiologist – Beechworth. 

NT: Female fossil rockers bring a palaeo-music show to Alice Springs.

WA: When will the Milky Way crash into Andromeda? Ask an astrophysicist – Yalgoo today; Cue tomorrow.

ACT: “Star Trek saved my life”: positive space films festival founded by refugee brings a message of peace.

NSW: Striptease meets ‘dirty’ science for a geological cabaret in Dubbo.

NSW: Chemistry of distress flares and whale rescue: the science of saving lives in Port Macquarie.

QLD: Regenerative design and sustainability take root on Magnetic Island.

SA and online: Space farmers and cooks wanted! Sow astro seeds and test complex off-planet crop growing conditions to nourish astronauts on Mars and beyond.

Also today:

• ACT: Seeking computer programmers aged 55+ and Weekend shopping with snakes and robots
• NT: Discover how Central Australia provides insights into the history of life on Earth
• QLD: VR farming, AgBots and strawberry sundaes at the Ekka
• TAS: Explore the Universe through all the senses at Ulverstone Planetarium

Coming up tomorrow:

Top Gear star on stage; sweet science of chocolate; dancers with disability; and Milky Way collision course? – see a preview of Sunday’s highlights. 

National Science Week 2025 runs from 9 to 17 August.

Visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area. 

[Read more…] about Palaeo-pop; parasite zoo; aurora dashboard; distress flare chemistry; and a VR portal to Torres Strait Islander culture

Great radio talent behind National Science Week up for grabs around Australia

• Are you at risk of thunderstorm asthma? Find out with allergy sufferer, aerobiologist and Superstar of STEM Dr Kira Hughes (Melbourne-based talent)
• Striptease meets ‘dirty’ science. Find out why Dubbo girl and ANU researcher Dr Karina Judd channels alter-ego, Roxie, for an adults-only exploration of earth sciences. (Canberra-based talent)
• When will the Milky Way crash into Andromeda? Al fresco dinner party conversation with astrophysicist Dr Ruby Wright in Western Australia’s outback gold rush towns (Perth-based talent)
• What does DNA sound like? 80s pop drummer (ex The Hummingbirds) turned molecular biologist Dr Mark Temple reveals all at the Opera House (Sydney-based talent)
• Sharks in Ballarat. Talk to palaeontologist Prof John Long about his megalodon tooth, sharks fossilised during mating and other secrets behind the ocean’s top predators (Adelaide-based talent)
• Psychedelics, flicker light therapy, hypnosis, meditation. Dr Vince Polito, a scientist working at the edge of consciousness, invites the public to try mind-altering tools (Sydney-based talent)  
• Can nature help with concentration, ADHD and autism? Psychologist Prof Katherine Johnson has the answers (Melbourne-based talent)
• Classrooms in croc-filled billabongs using baited underwater cameras. Darcy Roeger, from Arafura Swamp Rangers Corporation, wants remote Northern Territory schools to understand lesser-known ecosystems (Ramingining-based talent, north-east Arnhem Land)
• Science of better sex, death over drinks, slime mould. Beaker Street Festival founder Dr Margo Adler believes boundary-pushing conversations can change the world (Hobart-based talent) 
• Whale song, snot and other mysteries. Wildlife biologist Dr Vanessa Pirotta decodes the ocean giants’ migratory habits in an adults-only night at Queensland Museum (Sydney-based talent) 
• Crochet, cocktails and maths. Meet crafty mathematician Dr Julia Collins, armed with a PhD in 4-dimensional knot theory (Perth-based talent)
• Spoilage yeast, automated tractors, screw caps. Singer-songwriter Max Savage uncorks 70 years of Australian Wine Research Institute findings in song (Adelaide-based talent)
• DIY frog saunas and spa treatments. Dr Jarrod Sopniewski is a conservation biologist employing surprising tactics to help frog populations fight the deadly chytrid fungus (Canberra-based talent)
• Who to call if you find a dinosaur bone in your back yard? Palaeontologist, archaeologist and female fossil hunter Sally Hurst is your go-to (Sydney-based talent)
• Help scientists find where our wild things are. Australia is big! CSIRO wants volunteers to find and photograph our flora and fauna.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

[Read more…] about Thunderstorm asthma; DIY frog saunas; striptease meets ‘dirty’ science; psychedelics; Milky Way collision course?

Great National Science Week wildlife stories up for grabs around Australia

• Australia is big! CSIRO wants volunteers to find and photograph our flora and fauna – national
• Frog saunas and spa treatments fight deadly fungus – Canberra
• Call of the wild: why citizen scientists need tech upskilling – Gold Coast and online
• Why birds and humans need to adapt their homes for climate change – online, via Melbourne
• Why do whales sing and breach when they migrate? – Brisbane
• Join the real-world cast of CSI: eDNA – solving eco-crimes with environmental DNA – Melbourne
• Schoolchildren explore croc-filled billabongs with baited underwater cameras – Ramingining, NT
• Zoo poo, singing frogs, and elephants using infrasound – Western Sydney
• Why sharks have been around for 500 million years – Ballarat event, with talent from Adelaide
• Bird spotters and bug catchers wanted – Renmark, SA
• The art of endangered birds & environmental activism – Wyangala and Cowra, NSW
• Meet the science-comedy duo making viral videos to save wildlife – Gawler, SA
• Tell us what you hear at night – Tasmania

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

[Read more…] about Fighting frog fungus; tech meets nature; saving animals with viral videos; and finding what else is in croc-filled billabongs

Great National Science Week education stories up for grabs around Australia

• Enter the ‘Ittyverse’: Aussie kids’ poems on ‘small, tiny, nano things’ during Quantum Year – online
• Remote school students use baited underwater cameras to explore croc-filled billabongs – Ramingining, NT
• Australian Space Agency funds primary school ‘Mission: SPACE’ program – online
• Preschoolers dissect owl vomit – South West Rocks, NSW
• Quantum Year goes off-road – touring Australia’s cities and regions
• School field trips to renewable farms, food labs, and cellar doors – Riverina, NSW
• Schoolchildren meet biosecurity experts on the frontline – Katherine and Berrimah, NT
• TAFE course for kids to build and program weather stations – Palmerston City, NT
• Did dinosaurs do maths? – online via Australian Age of Dinosaurs, Winton, QLD
• Kids’ Conference Antarctica taps into climate change – online
• Multimedia project captures 65,000+ years of Indigenous Knowledge through voices of elders, scientists and environmentalists – online
• Carbon-fibre bones, gravity waves and selfies with atoms: Forrest Research Foundation opens its doors to the public – Crawley, WA
• ‘Mother of Sharks’, plastic pollution detectives, and a deep-sea engineer live from the Arctic Circle deliver ocean science lessons – online
• Icy ocean expert and the navy forecaster talk climate and careers – Sydney, NSW
• Parenting lessons from quokkas, emus, rakali and more – national online
• Play with light: hologram workshops – Sydney, NSW
• Deadly Science in a biomedical lab – Brisbane, QLD
• Black holes, bad bugs and tabby cats – young scientists on tour – multiple locations, TAS
• Space weather, stargazing and the world’s cleanest air – Ulverstone and Tasmania’s North West
• Blast bacteria with beanbags and join other Kids Research Institute Australia experiments – Kalgoorlie, WA

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

[Read more…] about Space cadets; quantum poets; owl vomit; kids’ conference Antarctica; classrooms in croc-filled billabongs

Great National Science Week food and drink stories up for grabs around Australia

• What’s cooking in 2050 and 2100? – Gladstone, QLD
• Experimenting with beer – Hobart, TAS
• Science of chocolate – Latrobe, TAS
• Space farmers and cooks wanted – Melbourne, Perth, Adelaide and national online
• Wine science in song – Adelaide, SA
• Growing food on Mars vs the Outback – Oodnadatta, Andamooka and Copley, SA

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

[Read more…] about Beer experiments; sweet science of chocolate; songs from the grapevine; locally-grown food on Mars or the Outback

Great National Science Week health stories up for grabs around Australia

• Psychedelics, flicker light therapy, hypnosis, meditation: meet the scientist working at the edge of consciousness – Sydney, NSW
• Future pharma: 3D printed pills, skin patches and nanomedicine – Brisbane, QLD
• Neuroscience and health experts on the quest to live forever – Adelaide, SA
• Deadly pollen: are you at risk of thunderstorm asthma? –  Beechworth, VIC
• Step inside a giant, woolly knitted gut – Gymea, NSW
• Is laughter the best medicine? Ask neuroscientists, therapists and the ‘grandfather of Tasmanian comedy’ – Hobart, TAS
• Can nature help with concentration, ADHD and autism? – Melbourne, VIC
• Newcastle’s giant inflatable Poo Palace recreates the journey of food, from lips to loo – NSW
• Can you save the world from a parasite pandemic? – Canberra, ACT and Kioloa, NSW
• Microscope image exhibition reveals the beauty of the gut-immune-brain axis – Melbourne, VIC
• Can wearable tech reduce rural/remote health gaps? – Melbourne, VIC

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

[Read more…] about Future pharma; gut feelings; mind-altering tools; laughter therapy; wearable tech