Saturday 15 August 2020

Highlights from day one of National Science Week

145 events and exhibitions, 559 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

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

• National: Discover new species, map wildlife, track the effects of climate change
• Queensland: What’s the connection between NASA and phytoplankton?
• Adelaide: Forget the Telstra shop. Your smartphone came from the stars. Find out how.
• Sydney: Identify a frog and see the emu in the sky on the Sydney Science Trail
• Tasmania: Famous Tasmanians talk science in the wilderness.
• Darwin: Can you brew a decent beer using a wild yeast caught from a backyard in Darwin?
• Tasmania: What is a sourdough library? Fermentation in focus

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

Also today:

• National (via Melbourne): Fake Out: can you spot a deepfake video? And would you share it?
• Western Australia: Help scientists with their Giant Australian Cuttlefish count
• Gold Coast: The secret life of a nudibranch—the best-dressed sea slugs in the ocean

Great LIFESTYLE stories up for grabs now around Australia.

• Fit or fat? How your postcode affects your health—Sydney
• Is your diet good for the planet?—talent in Sydney and Melbourne
• The dangers of staying awake: speak to a sleep scientist—Perth
• What’s wrong with ultra-processed food?—Melbourne
• How much sunlight is good for your health?—Perth
• How to use your panic-bought food stash—Queensland
• Save energy and save money in the home—Tasmania
• Roo or beef? Hot wash or cold? Become a Carbon Counter and cut your contribution to climate change—national

These are just a few of the events and activities happening across Australia during National Science Week: August 15 to 23.

If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

Scientists 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.

Great National Science Week ENVIRONMENT stories up for grabs now around Australia.

• Become a Carbon Counter and help tackle climate change—national
• Preparing for the fires to come—Canberra
• Talking global warming like your life depends on it—Sydney
• Is your diet good for the planet?—talent in Sydney and Melbourne
• What do algae have to do with beer-making?—Sydney
• Are bushfires good for plankton?—Tasmania
• Can big data help save the quokka, koala and wallaby?—Perth
• Get your dark sky back—talent from Sydney, Perth, Adelaide and Melbourne
• How to keep the Great Barrier Reef great—Gold Coast

These are just a few of the environmental talks, events and activities happening across Australia during National Science Week (August 15 to 23).

If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

Scientists and event organisers are available for interview. 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.

National Science Week events re-geared to people of all abilities. Check out these examples:

• Circuit breaking and making for all—Melbourne
• Scientists tell their career stories, with an Auslan interpreter—Perth & Bunbury
• Build viruses using couscous and chook-wire—Melbourne
• Inclusive experiments and games —Canberra

These are just a few of the events and activities happening across Australia during National Science Week (August 15 to 23).

Several on-line and in-person events have an Auslan interpreter, including:

• SciVR virtual reality tour of the solar system, with astrophysicists Rebecca Allen and Alan Duffy.
• STEM careers Q&A, with astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith, robotics company founder Marita Cheng, and epidemiologist Kalinda Griffiths.

Find more Auslan-supported events here.

If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

Scientists 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.

Media release from the Hon Karen Andrews MP, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology

This year’s National Science Week will embrace the problem-solving spirit of Australia’s science community, with even COVID-19 unable to stop celebrations beginning tomorrow.

More than 1,100 events are happening across Australia, many of them online, including Australia’s biggest satellite selfie, virtual tours of Great Southern Reef marine life and exploring wildlife in your own backyard for the Great Aussie BioQuest.

Launching National Science Week today, Minister for Industry, Science and Technology Karen Andrews said event organisers had shown great resourcefulness in rapidly adapting to the circumstances of the pandemic.

“As they say, necessity is the mother of invention and this year we’ve seen incredible inventiveness and a can-do attitude to ensure National Science Week can go ahead,” Minister Andrews said.

Great National Science Week FOOD stories up for grabs now around Australia.

• Taste tomorrow: fake meat, sautéed spider and lobster lollies —Melbourne
• Eating for the planet—talent in Sydney and Melbourne
• Take a virtual tour of the world’s only Sourdough Library—Tasmania
• What’s wrong with ultra-processed food? — Melbourne
• Carbon Counter: cut your contribution to climate change—online

These are just a few of appetising events and activities happening across Australia during National Science Week: August 15 to 23.

If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

Scientists, chefs 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.

Great HEALTH stories up for grabs now around Australia.

• What’s working in Australia’s COVID response? —Canberra
• Fit or fat? How your postcode affects your health—Sydney
• Why can’t some people get the essential medicines they need?—Sydney
• Can we pandemic-proof the future? Ask Ian Frazer—Brisbane
• The dangers of staying awake: speak to a sleep scientist—Perth
• Sunlight: are you getting the right amount? —Perth
• Can you eat for healthier planet?—talent in Sydney and Melbourne
• Discover how superbugs get super-villain superpowers—Adelaide

These are just a few of the health-related events and activities happening across Australia during National Science Week (August 15 to 23).

If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

Scientists, 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.

See how much carbon you could save with just one small change and join our national online challenge to cut carbon emissions.

Media release: Wednesday 12 August

Media contacts: Andrew Masterson, andrew@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0488 777 179; Ben Keirnan, ben@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0408 184 858.

Put on a jumper when you’re cold, cut your shower time, eat roo or fish instead of beef, cycle instead of driving. These are some of the small changes that you, your household or your school can adopt to reduce your carbon footprint.

Sign on at Carbon Counter, a countrywide challenge produced by the ABC Science for National Science Week. See what savings your lifestyle hacks will make and pledge to make a difference.

The Carbon Counter project – which launches onWednesday 12 August– invites individuals, households and schools to pledge small changes to day-to-day energy, food and transport use with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas production.

Great National Science Week stories and talent up for grabs in Melbourne and around Victoria, including:

• Real whodunnits: what’s fact and fiction on crime TV shows and disaster movies?
• How will beer taste in the future?
• Black holes, dark matter, tipping points and new horizons: art collides with astrophysics
• Phasmid of the opera: performances featuring music, dance and a stick insect
• Discover the galaxy in your kitchen
• Vaccines, coronavirus, criminal trials, and climate change: trusting science in a time of crisis
• Making viruses from couscous and chook-wire
• Gamers: can you power up enough molecules to fire a laser?
• Take a virtual reality tour of the solar system
• Become a Carbon Counter and join the challenge cut our contribution to climate change.

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