National Science Week
National Science Week 2018 took place from August 11 to 19, with 2000+ events and activities expected around the country.
The media alerts, stories and talent highlights we’ve shared are included below.
You can see some of the Science Week stories on social media via
For more information contact: Tanya Ha on scienceweek@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0404 083 863 or (03) 9398 1416.
Images are available here
National Science Week 2019 will take place 10 to 18 August.
In the interim you can get in touch with the state coordinators, sign up for the National Science Week newsletter for news of grant rounds and other information, or visit the Science Week website www.scienceweek.net.au
Citizen scientists from around Australia are helping scientists and reef managers get a much better picture of the health of the Great Barrier Reef.
So far, they have looked at over 2.7 million points on more than 170,000 underwater images of the Reef and told us whether they can see coral, algae or sand.
They’re all taking part in Virtual Reef Diver—the ABC’s online citizen science project for National Science Week.
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Sunday 19 August 2018
Highlights from the final day of National Science Week
110 events and exhibitions, 13 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Adelaide
- Why does food taste different when you have a cold? And how do your neurons communicate? Meet your brain and find out
- Revisit Coober Pedy when it was under sea: paeleontology meets musical theatre
Sydney
- Art explores what makes us human, now and in the future
- What can Western science learn from 60,000+ years of Indigenous knowledge and culture?
Perth
- The science of living more sustainably: expo on the Canning
- Counting minibeasts: it’s census time for Perth’s bugs and slugs
- Science and recipes for feeding yourself and your microbiome
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Saturday 18 August 2018
Highlights from day eight of National Science Week’s nine-day ‘week’
166 events and exhibitions, 13 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Adelaide
- The lifecycle of a parasitic wasp as performance art—scientists perform their science
New South Wales
- Kick the physics out of a footy, science and extreme sport at Sydney Olympic Park
- Drones, 3D printing, and robots on the catwalk, in Wagga Wagga
Tasmania
- Tasty science, snotty science, Antarctic secrets and the man headed to Mars, in Hobart
- Sarah Lloyd says slime moulds are nature’s miniature jewels—ask and see why, in Westbury
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Friday 17 August 2018
Highlights from day seven of National Science Week
344 events and exhibitions, 21 online activities, and dozens of great stories.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Hobart
- A prospective Martian, the science of snot and other gross stuff, insect vision, cats, and more at Princes Wharf 1
Sydney
- A glass of Dr Penfold: ask the ‘Wine Doctor’ about Australia’s history of wine as medicine
- Getting into women’s heads: how the brain
affects women’s health and wellbeing
How virtual reality helps biomedical researchers ‘walk’ through the human body
Melbourne
- Comedy meets the brainstem (the ‘arse end of the brain’)
- Meet the UK plasma physicist firing the world’s most powerful laser and making it useful
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Thursday 16 August 2018
Highlights from day six of National Science Week
382 events and exhibitions, 22 online activities, and dozens of great stories.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Melbourne
- There’s money in waste – turning our rubbish into new products, Melbourne
- A virtual reality tour of the invisible Universe, over a beer with astrophysicists
Adelaide
- Can we edit away epilepsy? And is it as easy as it sounds?
- The revolution in cancer treatments
Canberra
- The Element in the Room: a radioactive musical comedy about the death and life of Marie Curie
- Whisky business: what happens to whisky when combined with liquid nitrogen?
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Wednesday 15 August 2018
Highlights from day five of National Science Week
422 events and exhibitions, 22 online activities, and dozens of great stories.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Sydney
- Bob Brown’s battle for the planet, from the Franklin River to Federal Parliament
- Will coral reefs survive climate change? Ask the scientists
- Superbugs: what we need to do to become resistance fighters
Melbourne
- Humans 2.0: what’s the future look like for humanity?
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The search for Australia’s next top junior weather presenter
The Great Barrier Reef is huge! How citizen scientists across Australia can help monitor its 350,000 square kilometres
Can science + business help us fight the war on waste? Melbourne
Face-to-face with Frill Collins the frill neck lizard and Frida the tawny frogmouth, Darwin
Bob Brown’s battle for the planet, from the Franklin River to Federal Parliament, Sydney
Dozens of interesting environment stories, people and events around Australia for National Science Week this August, including:
- Bringing Queensland’s coast inland with virtual reality, Mt Isa and Longreach
- How Indigenous knowledge can help with urban planning, saving species and fighting climate change, Canberra
- Saving the Great Barrier Reef with super corals and mangroves, Sydney
- Scitech, solar science and sustainable homes, Perth
- Solar-charged kids and race cars, Hunter Valley
- Moving climates: theatre, dance and digital art that deals with the data of disaster, Canberra.
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists and event organisers are available for interview throughout 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
More than 2,000 events are registered for National Science Week 2018, which runs until Sunday 19 August. Media kit at www.scienceinpublic.com.au, public event listings at www.scienceweek.net.au.
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Tuesday 14 August 2018
Highlights from day four of National Science Week
347 events and exhibitions, 20 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Adelaide
- How do microbes turn grape juice into wine?
- Why giant cuttlefish do so well in the water near Whyalla
Canberra
- How are mobile devices and apps affecting our mental health and how can they be used as a force for good?
- How will climate change affect whisky?
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- How will apps, mobiles and sensors transform healthcare? Harvard professor in Melbourne
- Wine as medicine and why vineyards were planted in lunatic asylums, Sydney
- Hangry? Ask an expert how hunger influences behaviour, Melbourne
- Technology: good or bad for your mental health? Canberra
- What’s the latest in cancer research and can we find a cure? Adelaide & Sydney
Dozens of interesting health stories, people and events around Australia for National Science Week this August, including:
- Gene editing is as simple as cutting and pasting, Adelaide
- Superbugs: what we need to do to become resistance fighters, Sydney
- The beauty of killers and cures under the microscope, Melbourne
- Assessing your own health in a pop-up laboratory, Darwin
- Recipes to feed yourself and your gut bacteria, Perth
- Young scientists with healthy advice for senior Australians, Adelaide
- Talk about your health for the Health Box Stories podcast, Hobart.
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia. [continue reading…]
Monday 13 August 2018
Highlights from day three of National Science Week
300 events and exhibitions, 19 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Adelaide, Darwin & Melbourne
- Are we alone in the Universe? Are there habitable planets outside our solar system? Ask the NASA scientists and planet hunters
Melbourne
- What turns a normal bug into a ‘superbug’? Ask an antibiotic resistance fighter
Sydney
- What makes cancer cells immortal and how will genetics and big data change cancer treatment in the future? Ask Prof Roger Reddel
- How virtual reality helps biomedical researchers ‘walk’ through the human body
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Sunday 12 August 2018
Highlights from day two of National Science Week
129 events and exhibitions, 12 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Melbourne
- A virtual reality tour of the invisible Universe with astrophysicists Alan Duffy and Rebecca Allen at the State Library
- Meet your wild neighbours at Coolart Wetlands
Sydney
- How will humanity live with intelligent machines? Good and bad robots at the Opera House
Bega
- Virtual reality and robotics, Questacon activities, game development, music technology, 3D printing, citizen science, science films, and threatened species at Bega’s Science Festival
Adelaide
- Meet NASA scientist Andrew Rushby, an astrobiologist and planet hunter
Perth
- Can dance help disadvantaged girls to engage with science? Visiting US dancer says yes!
- Census time for Perth’s bugs and slugs
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Dozens of art performances and exhibitions around Australia for National Science Week starting 11 August
- The first robot story, staged in a working medical research lab, Melbourne
- Meet the American ballet dancer using dance to get disadvantaged girls into science, Perth
- You’re never alone when you’ve got a parasite, comedy in Sydney, digital art in Ballarat
- Art explores what makes us human, now and in the future, Sydney
- Moving climates: theatre, dance and digital art that deals with the data of disaster, Canberra
Plus:
- Dissecting the anatomy of a flower, Sydney
- When weather broadcasts become high drama, Darwin
- The power of music for the memories of dementia patients, Sydney
- Australia’s lost megafauna back from the dead as shadow puppets, Darwin
- Bringing dead scientists to life on stage—South Brisbane and Canberra
- Comedy meets the brainstem (the ‘arse end of the brain’), Melbourne
- Painting with light, long exposure photography and 100 volunteers, Sydney
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists, artists, performers and event organisers are available for interview throughout 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
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Sci-fi and the sounds of the Universe in Gingin, WA
Gula Guri mayin: Aboriginal art exploring parasites and your health, Ballarat
Music meets Indigenous astronomy in Perth, Canberra and Sydney
Dozens of Indigenous science stories, people and events around Australia for National Science Week starting 11 August, including:
- How Indigenous knowedge can help with urban planning, saving species and fighting climate change, Canberra
- HealthLAB clinic on wheels tours the Territory
- The wisdom of Elders and knowledge of contemporary Indigenous scientists, Wagga Wagga and Redfern
- Koori youth become science communicators in Bendigo
- 60,000 years of technological advancement and eco-sustainable practices at the MAAS Indigenous Science Symposium, Sydney
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists and event organisers are available for interview throughout 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
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Saturday 11 August 2018
Highlights from day one of National Science Week
162 events and exhibitions, 12 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.
National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.
Hobart
- 100+ roving scientists, talks on eating insects or the dirty side of wellbeing, a forensic murder mystery and more at TMAG’s pop-up science bar and festival
Sydney
- A night of illusions: why your senses play mind games
- ‘See like a bee’ with UV, dissect a flower, and ask experts about the secrets of seeds—inside the Royal Botanic Gardens Sydney’s Living Laboratory
Brisbane
- The Element in the Room: a radioactive musical comedy about the death and life of Marie Curie
- Street Science with smoke cannons, liquid nitrogen, flame tests, explosions and cool chemistry
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Today
National Science Week state launch events in:
- 10am in Launceston with the Minister getting experimental at QVMAG
- 11.30am in Canberra with the announcement of the ACT Scientist of the Year, at Kingston Bus Depot
- 5.30pm in Melbourne with the Lead Scientist, and the volcanic roots of Frankenstein
- 6pm in Darwin with dramatic weather at Brown’s Mart Theatre
- 7pm in Adelaide with astrophysics and the announcement of the Science Excellence Award winners at the Adelaide Convention Centre.
More below.
Plus, dozens of MPs and senators will join CSIRO Scientists in Schools to launch Science Week locally in their electorates or regions.
See our state highlights for New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia.
We’ll have daily highlights each day of the Science Week’s nine-day ‘week’ at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists and event organisers are available for interview throughout the week – contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au, 0404 083 863 or (03) 9398 1416.
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Launch tonight 7pm at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Plus 280+ Science Week events around SA:
- Who will win tonight’s South Australia’s Science Excellence Awards?
- Are there habitable planets outside our solar system? Meet NASA scientists and planet hunters
- Why does food taste different when you have a cold? And how do your neurons communicate? Meet your brain and find out
- What can maths and science tell you about politics and voting?
- Grape expectations: what’s the future of wine? And what causes white wine haze?
- Revisit Coober Pedy when it was under sea: paeleontology meets musical theatre
- A mobile observatory on wheels tours regional SA
- GM-food aside, should humanity edit our own genes? Ask the experts
- Help build a better picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s health, without getting your feet wet.
More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia. [continue reading…]
Citizen scientists from around Australia are helping scientists and reef managers get a much better picture of the health of the Great Barrier Reef.
Adelaide
Tasmania
Are there habitable planets outside our solar system? Meet NASA scientists and planet hunters
Who will win the ACT Scientist of the Year?
Why do wasps have sex with orchids, and can we climate-proof pinot? Ask a scientist over a drink at a pop-up science bar