Meet the owls
Can you find the owls in the night? Researchers recruiting Hoot Detectives
Nationwide project aims to map Australia’s favourite predator birds
- Download sample audio here. Images available here. Video available here.
- Meet the owls here.
- More about the Australian Acoustic Observatory: acousticobservatory.org.
- Background information
- Scientists available for interviews
- Media release below
Media contacts: Ben Keirnan, ben@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0408 184 858; or Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.
“I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.” Macbeth, William Shakespeare.
Is that an owl hooting? Or a car?
Researchers are after volunteers to help map five native Australian owl species, by listening to short recordings made in the bush.
The results will provide important information about the range and numbers of these beloved birds of prey. They will also help researchers develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems to use in a new field of science, known as “eco-acoustics”.
The project is called Hoot Detective, and is produced by ABC Science in collaboration with the Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) for National Science Week. It will commence online on Monday 9 August at www.hootdetective.net.au and run until the end of August.
The idea is to hunt for Powerful, Barking, Boobook, Barn, and Masked owls. For more about each species, visit hootdetective.net.au/the-owls.
[Read more…] about Can you find the owls in the night? Researchers recruiting Hoot DetectivesMood food, eating insects, dark matter, owl calls, a forgotten female physicist, and more
Plus dozens of Science Week stories around WA:
- Can we future-proof our food and fibre crops?
- Forgotten physicist defends her life – on stage
- Gut feelings: what to eat to improve your mood
- Meet Magnus, the supercomputer that found gold, searched the stars, and mapped the quokka genome.
- A mechanical stomach turning food waste into energy
- Ask bright young minds about dark matter
- Help map Australia’s owls by listening to their calls
These are just a few of the events happening during this year’s National Science Week (August 14 to 22).
If you’re after more ideas for stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists, performers, experts and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week. Read on for contact details for each event, or call:
▪ Tanya Ha: tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
▪ Niall Byrne: niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0417 131 977 or 03 9398 1416.
Plus, WA’s National Science Week launch TODAY, 9:00am:
Continental rolls made from crickets & WA’s longest macchiato
[Read more…] about Mood food, eating insects, dark matter, owl calls, a forgotten female physicist, and moreExposing quacks, eating crickets, gaming climate change, and growing food in space
Plus dozens of Science Week stories around ACT:
- Can we science our way out of multiple crises?
- Growing food in space and on Mars
- Crickets – the new superfood?
- Exposing the fake medicine, wellness crazes, cons and quacks
- Inclusive dance company explores the birth of the Universe
- Can gamers help save the planet?
- A LEGO guide to the evolution of the cosmos
- Scouts reveal the science of Outdoors
- Make a lightsaber: science for people with disabilities
- Help scientists map Australia’s owls by listening to their calls.
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists, experts and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week. Read on for contact details for each event, or call:
National Science Week in ACT: event highlights
▪ Tanya Ha: tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
▪ Niall Byrne: niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0417 131 977 or 03 9398 1416.
Teddy bear dissection, dark skies, tardigrade art, ravens
Plus dozens of Science Week stories around Tasmania:
- Teddy bear dissection reveals our reliance on plastics
- One in five bags of food is thrown away – can we change?
- A party to celebrate Tassie’s dark skies
- Finding Australia’s oldest sour dough, and fermenting at home
- Matthew’s mad about ravens
- Ice cores reveal past and future
- Tardigrade art
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists, experts, and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week. Read on for contact details for each event, or call:
▪ Tanya Ha: tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
▪ Niall Byrne: niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0417 131 977 or 03 9398 1416.
Crunchy crickets, lab-grown meat, fishless caviar and more. Oh, and beer
Great National Science Week FOOD stories up for grabs now around Australia.
- Cellular agriculture – growing meat in vats (online with NSW talent)
- The science of beer – with sampling! (TAS & NT)
- Yum or yuck? The chemistry of flavour (SA)
- How will we produce food in a warming climate? (Online)
- What’s for dinner on Mars? (Online)
- More seaweed? Don’t mind if I do (QLD)
- Bush tucker 101 (Online)
- Searching for the oldest sourdough in Australia (Tasmania)
- How to become a yeast wrangler for future fermented foods (SA)
- Making caviar without fish (VIC)
These are just a few of the mouth-watering questions set to answered during this year’s National Science Week (August 14 to 22).
If you’re after more ideas for stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists, performers, experts and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week. Read on for contact details for each event, or call:
▪ Tanya Ha: tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
▪ Niall Byrne: niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0417 131 977 or 03 9398 1416.
Indigenous science, beer boffins, shark innards and COVID recovery: it’s National Science Week!
This year’s festival runs 14 to 22 August, with thousands of events around Australia.
National Science Week 2021 runs from 14 to 24 August. Explore the big topics, brilliant minds, and unexpected ideas from the world of science.
[Read more…] about Indigenous science, beer boffins, shark innards and COVID recovery: it’s National Science Week!Women succeeding in physics, against the odds
The struggle for women physicists takes many forms, but certain elements are universal, as these examples from Pakistan, India and South Africa show.
Dr Anisa Qamar: “I was the only woman in the physics faculty.”
Professor Mmantsae Moche Diale: “In big conferences, there are very few black women.”
Professor Prajval Shastri: “Such bad mentoring has no consequences.”
Professor Mmantsae Moche Diale: “In big conferences, there are very few black women.”
Professor Mmantsae Moche Diale is a senior physicist at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. All too often, she recalls, walking into an unfamiliar laboratory was an experience that sheeted home the gender disparity that pervades her profession.
“If there was equipment that I hadn’t encountered before, I would ask others how to use it,” she says.
“The men in the laboratory would usually just hand me the manual to read. If a man asked the same question, they would happily and quickly explain and demonstrate.”
[Read more…] about Professor Mmantsae Moche Diale: “In big conferences, there are very few black women.”