Adelaide

Planetary scientist Katarina Miljkovic is available to discuss the nature of planets in Adelaide this week. She will give a free public talk on Tuesday 6 September. 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.

Creating a better future for Australia

• A net zero health system that’s ready to protect Australians from climate health impacts?
• Big batteries that guarantee supply and put a stop to energy price spikes?
• Renewable energy export opportunities creating 395,000 jobs?
• Making zero emissions transport accessible to all?
• Embedding climate justice?
• Greater ambition on the path to net zero?

The second national Better Futures Forum, at UNSW Canberra and online on 6 and 7 September, will launch a collective commitment to an ambitious national climate agenda. One that creates regional jobs, protects the future health and prosperity of our businesses and communities, regenerates nature and underpins a booming renewable energy industry.

Snow gum and ghost gum close behind

National poll ranks Australia’s 33 favourite native trees

Over 265,000 votes cast throughout August

Media contacts: Laura Boland, laura@scienceinpublic.com.au,

0408 166 426; or Jane Watkins, jane@scienceinpublic.com.au,

0425 803 204

More about the winners at: www.abc.net.au/trees

Australians have chosen the river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) as their favourite native tree in ABC’s national poll.

“The river red gum is the perfect Australian tree. No two trees are the same, and each has its own personality. I love the way the twisted limbs, the gnarly hollows and dead wood, and all the scars and broken branches reflect a tough life but one well lived,” says Professor Tim Entwisle, botanist and Director and Chief Executive of Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

Media release: Monday 22 August 2022

Online public event to share the latest science and answer patient questions: Thursday 25 August

Scientists available for interviews. Contact Tanya Ha, 0404 083 863, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au

• Could we boost a failing heart with ‘muscle patches’?
• Could a stem cell injection help heart tissue regenerate?
• Can mini hearts in a petri dish solve the mystery of 2,400 babies born with heart disease?
• And can they explain what COVID is doing to our hearts?
• Heart disease kills more than 18,500 Australians a year but that’s going to change. Not tomorrow, but in the coming decades.

Two of Australia’s leading stem cell researchers are available for interview to discuss their vision for healing broken hearts.

They’re part of the panel presenting at a national online event Future Medicine: Healing the Heart held by the health charity the National Stem Cell Foundation of Australia to provide people with access to experts and reliable information.

Flame tree, Moreton Bay fig and ghost gum remain among top 10

Take a stand and vote for your favourite in the final round

Ten trees are left in the search to find Australia’s favourite tree

Winning tree to be crowned on Friday

• Images available for media use
• See the Top 10 list and the 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.

Australia’s top 10 trees have come in all shapes and sizes, from the slender mountain ash to the bulgy boab. They are found in a range of environments, from the river red gum of the inland waterways to the snow gum of the high country.

Across the nation, over 80,000 votes have been cast, as Australians picked their most loved native species in the second round of voting, awarding the top 10 most loved trees, including:

• golden wattle (Acacia pycnantha), which adorns Australia’s coat of arms and is currently in bloom 
• Moreton Bay fig (Ficus macrophylla), a mid-east coast native only pollinated by fig wasps
• river red gum (Eucalyptus camaldulensis), which provides shade along inland waterways like the Murray-Darling catchment

Sunday 21 August 2022

Highlights from the final day of National Science Week

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

• VIC: Caring for the rare: meet the people saving Victoria’s species – online
• TAS: Community counts 2,000 years of Huon pine tree rings
• NSW: Step inside the Poo Palace – Newcastle
• ACT: Flying drones, engineering defence, art-robots, and biology balloons: meet the Canberra’s women of science and art
• ACT: Scientists take over shopping centres
• QLD: Feeding caterpillars to get butterflies – Kuranda
• Online with QLD talent: Explaining cancer biology to young people through pop-culture, art and augmented reality

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

Saturday 20 August 2022

Highlights from the penultimate day of National Science Week

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

• SA: Tree scientist on the vital importance of the urban forest
• NSW: Dr Karl, dinosaurs, furry friends, and a T-Rex autopsy show: all on the Sydney Science Trail – Mt Annan and Sydney
• NSW: The Indigenous night sky, bush food, and technology – Redfern
• TAS: Plant-powered cars, Jurassic poop, the science of piracy, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas
• TAS: Bugs, bats, brains, and space junk: young scientists tour the Apple Isle
• VIC: Insect swarm or giant kinetic sculpture? Explore the swarm in an exhibition-cum-experiment
• WA: How to go green in a regional centre – Geraldton
• SA & WA: A band of physicists go on a road trip to explain quantum and dark matter – Adelaide on Saturday; WA next week

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

Friday 19 August 2022

Highlights from day seven of National Science Week

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

• NSW: Fighting superbugs, big bad tech, cultural burning, and turning human waste into a valuable resource – Sydney Science Festival’s Friday highlights
• TAS: Beer quenches scientists’ thirst for knowledge – online and Hobart
• ACT: Flying drones, engineering defence, art-robots, and biology balloons: meet Canberra’s women of science and art
• SA: Alzheimer’s takes centre stage in acclaimed play – Adelaide, SA
• SA: Smaller, lighter, faster X-rays
• TAS: Plant-powered cars, Jurassic poop, the science of piracy, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas 2022
• TAS: Bugs, bats, brains, and space junk: young scientists tour Tasmania

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

Thursday 18 August 2022

Highlights from day six of National Science Week

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

• VIC: Underwater spy-cams on the mysterious mass gatherings of great spider crabs – online
• ACT: What do experts make of the ‘science’ in Mars Attacks!?
• TAS: Three planet-saving physicists walk into a pub…
• SA: A band of physicists go on a road trip to explain quantum and dark matter
• VIC: Who wants to be an epidemiologist?
• WA: Astronomy superstar’s journey through space and time

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