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…]

Launch today 11.30am at the Kingston Transport Depot, plus 125+ Science Week events around ACT:

• Who will win the ACT Scientist of the Year?
• How will climate change affect whisky?
• Indigenous knowedge can help with urban planning, saving species and fighting climate change—find out how
• Canberra’s critters, daleks, science careers and knitting for brain health at Science in ACTion
• Meet the UK actor bringing dead scientists (Einstein and Curie) to life on stage
• Moving climates: theatre, dance and digital art that deals with the data of disaster
• Music meets Indigenous astronomy, exploring the Southern night sky
• Girl guides meet women in science
• Help build a better picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s health, without getting your feet wet.

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280+ Science Week events around Queensland

• From up-start to start-up: Taj Pabara and Fiftysix Creations tour regional Queensland
• The world’s most powerful laser. Meet Ceri Brenner: the UK physicist pressing FIRE, in Toowoomba
• Our prehistoric past in theatre and song: palaeontology meets ‘rock’ music
• What is the past, present and future of Queensland’s coral reefs? The ocean comes to the outback
• Ask a flying scientist, a coral watcher and a fossil finder what it’s like to work in science, in Longreach
• Meet the UK actor bringing Albert Einstein and Marie Curie to life on stage
• Tech, butterflies, drones and science shows at the Gold Coast’s pop-up science centre
• Building, electrifying and making water drinkable: engineers for humanity show how it’s done
• Help build a better picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s health, without getting your feet wet.

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Launch 10am: Minister gets experimental at QVMAG, Launceston. Plus 150+ Science Week events around Tasmania

• 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
• A geologist who blasts rocks with lasers, a brainy researcher studying our super senses, and an Antarctic expeditioner with a passion for Pokémon—meet the Young Tassie Scientists
• The surprising beauty of slime moulds
• The secrets are hidden in Antarctica’s ice and snow
• The pros and cons of eating insects
• Are there habitable planets outside our solar system? Meet NASA scientists and planet hunters
• What is the point of snot, pus, wee, saliva, ear wax, and all that other gross stuff? Ask science!
• Help build a better picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s health, without getting your feet wet.

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Launch tonight 6pm at Brown’s Mart Theatre, with dramatic weather. Plus 100+ Science Week events around NT:

• Face-to-face with Frill Collins the frill neck lizard and Frida the tawny frogmouth
• Who will win the ultimate drone challenge?
• What’s the weather like on Mars, and are there habitable planets outside our solar system? Meet NASA scientists and planet hunters
• The women changing the world and Costa’s green science in the garden, Alice Springs
• HealthLAB goes remote, taking a mobile health clinic on the road from Darwin to Tiwi Islands to the Gulf of Carpentaria
• Weather small talk becomes high drama at the Darwin Festival
• 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…]

Launch tonight 5.30pm, with dancer and engineer turned science champion. Plus events around the state:

• Can dance help disadvantaged girls to engage with science? Visiting US dancer and algebra teacher says yes!
• What’s the weather like on Mars, and are there habitable planets outside our solar system? Meet NASA scientists and planet hunters
• How to make yourself sick and win a Nobel Prize—Barry Marshall Skypes into Geraldton
• Counting minibeasts: it’s census time for Perth’s bugs and slugs
• What are the science-related future career and business opportunities for rural areas?
• Science and recipes for feeding yourself and your gut flora
• Hear the sounds of the Universe and songs of Indigenous astronomy
• Help build a better picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s health, without getting your feet wet
• And science festivals in Perth, Geraldton, Shark Bay and Gingin.

[continue reading…]

Lasers, wild Westies, sporty science, music and memory, and more

• Our galaxy is on a collision path with Andromeda. Ask astrophysicist Lisa Harvey-Smith what will happen.
• Can we use music to manage dementia? Ask neuroscientist Muireann Irish about how your brain remembers the past and imagines the future
• The problem with light pollution, and why we need a national park in the night sky
• What science is learning from 60,000+ years of Indigenous knowledge
• The world’s most powerful laser. Meet Ceri Brenner, the UK physicist pressing FIRE
• Vitamins: health revolution or expensive pee? Talk with Derek Muller and the scientists behind Vitamania
• The Wild West: what creatures live in Sydney’s western suburbs?
• Regional science festivals in Bega, Wagga Wagga, Lismore, Illawarra, and the Hunter Valley
• Help build a better picture of the Great Barrier Reef’s state, without getting your feet wet.

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The Great Barrier Reef is big, so big that scientists need your help to track its health.

We’re inviting every Australian to dive through their computer screens into the Reef by taking part in Virtual Reef Diver—the ABC’s online citizen science project for National Science Week and the International Year of the Reef.

“We need the community to pitch in to help us classify thousands of underwater images of the Reef,” says spatial scientist and project leader Dr Erin Peterson from Queensland University of Technology.

“Tell us whether you can see coral, algae or sand, and we’ll be able to get an estimate of the coral cover in that image.”

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A taste of some of the 2000+ National Science Week events and activities around the country.

• Illusions, music and memory, dinosaurs versus superheroes, and supermassive black holes at the Sydney Science Festival
• The science of wine, politics and cancer, in Adelaide
• Cook your way to healthy gut bacteria in Perth
• Coral reef science in outback Queensland
• The future of humanity at ‘Humans 2.0’ in Melbourne
• The beauty of Tasmania’s slime moulds
• A HealthLAB on wheels tours the Territory
• Plus many more

[continue reading…]

August is a prime time to talk innovation and science—National Science Week kicks off Saturday 11 August

It’s time to plan your coverage of 2,000+ events across Australia for National Science Week, 11-19 August.

We have national touring speakers, and local events everywhere from the Tiwi Islands to Hobart:

• NASA scientists touring Australia, including Aussie astrophysicist Jessie Christiansen, Silicon Valley astronomer Geert Barentsen, and influential planet hunter Natalie Batalha
• using dance to teach STEM— US dancer and algebra teacher Yamilee Toussaint visits Perth
• are vitamins worth it? Ask Derek Muller, the Canadian-Australian host of the new film Vitamania
• what will happen when our galaxy collides with Andromeda? Astrophysicist, author and Stargazing Live TV presenter Lisa Harvey-Smith on the future of the night sky, in Sydney and Melbourne
• actor and comedian Lawrence Leung does stand-up for science in Hobart

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Media release from Senator the Hon Zed Seselja, Assistant Minister for Science, Jobs and Innovation

Hospitals, art galleries and sports stadiums are amongst the more unusual locations set to come alive with science during this year’s National Science Week, thanks to over $600,000 in Australian Government grants announced today.

The 2018 National Science Week Grants will provide funding for science engagement activities, events, and competitions to take place during Australia’s largest celebration of science this August.

Assistant Minister for Science, Jobs and Innovation Zed Seselja today congratulated the 45 grant recipients, welcoming the diversity of projects to be funded.

“This year’s grants recipients have exhibited tremendous creativity in developing such an exciting range of activities to engage people of all walks of life and in all corners of Australia with science,” Senator Seselja said.

“NASA scientists are headed to Australia to celebrate the end of Kepler and Cassini, in a series of events where audiences can hear about what we learnt from the Cassini spacecraft’s 13 years with Saturn and the hundreds of planets discovered by the Kepler Space Telescope.

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We spend three hours a day on our phones, on average, with almost one in five of us admitting we check our phone at least once every 15 minutes.

These are some of the early findings from Australia’s Biggest Smartphone Survey, which is looking at how we use our smartphones and how we feel about them.

More than 10,000 people have taken part in the survey so far, but there’s still plenty of time to participate with the survey running until Friday, August 25.

In particular, researchers want to hear from more young people, especially those aged between 12 and 25.

Psychology PhD student Bep Uink from Murdoch University, says: “Young Australians are digital natives so it’s possible they have more sophisticated relationships with their smartphones than their parents’ generation.”

“It’s really important for researchers to hear from young people about the benefits they get from their smartphones, and conversely the downsides of having such a ubiquitous device in their lives, that we might not otherwise be aware of,” she says.

Other early findings from the survey show: [continue reading…]

Sunday 20 August 2017

Highlights for the final day of National Science Week

142 events and exhibitions, 16 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.

Sydney

• Kick the physics out of a footy and more sporty science at the Innovation Games, Sydney Olympic Park.
• What Western science can learn from 50,000+ years of Indigenous knowledge, from Aboriginal astronomy to bush medicine.

Gold Coast

• Super Hornet flight simulator, virtual reality, and the best of SeaWorld and Questacon: sports centre becomes a pop-up science centre.

[continue reading…]

Saturday 19 August 2017

Highlights for day eight of National Science Week’s nine-day ‘week’

177 events and exhibitions, 16 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

• Meet the author of Sex, Genes and Rock ‘n’ Roll and other scientists.

Perth

• Tour a forensic science facility and see a mock clandestine drug lab at the ChemCentre open day.

Blue Mountains

• Face-to-face with a dinosaur at Gondwana Garden.

Canberra

• Opening of Canberra’s revamped recycling facility: tour the facility, meet the experts and see how physics sorts trash from treasure. Drone footage available.
• Scienceability: young adults with a disability running a free science workshop open to the public.
• Dancing with the Science Stars: astronomy, gravitational waves and Antarctic research explained… with the help of dancers.

[continue reading…]

Friday 18 August 2017

Highlights for day seven of National Science Week

446 events and exhibitions, 23 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

• Can science make the world’s most liveable city even better?
• Are your genes your destiny? Gattaca 20 years on.
• What can we learn about ancient astronomy from Mayan ruins? Ask an expert from Honduras.

Sydney

• Teaching students to spot the bull science.

Darwin

• Meet the science writer who turned 13 sea voyages in three years into a book and a play. And hear from her on science, journalism and telling the stories of climate change.

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Dozens of stories and interesting people at 120+ Science Week events in ACT

• Opening of Canberra’s re-vamped recycling facility…tour the facility, meet the experts and see how physics sorts trash from treasure. Drone footage available.
• ‘Tree lobster’ stick insects and small peacock spiders on the big screen. And meet the man who discovered these tiny dancing spiders.
• Scienceability: young adults with a disability running a free science workshop open to the public.
• Ask scientists to explain physics using beer.
• Geoscience Australia open day—see inside Australia’s epicenter for earthquake detection, how we use satellites to find water for agriculture, and precious rocks for our smartphones.
• Dancing with the Science Stars: astronomy, gravitational waves and Antarctic research explained…with the help of dancers.
• 1,000 science Scouts and Guides saving the planet.
• How to turn a ‘dead’ seed into a living plant.
• Do you have a healthy relationship with your smartphone? Researchers want to know.

More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

[continue reading…]

Thursday 17 August 2017

Highlights from day six of National Science Week

448 events and exhibitions, 22 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.

Sydney

• Wildlife forensics: meet the scientist using genetics to fight illegal wildlife trafficking. And the man who can tell how long you’ve been dead by looking at your bugs.
• Botany distilled: the best plants and science for making your favourite alcoholic drink.
• Raiding nature’s medicine chest: chemistry saving lives and creating jobs.

Charters Towers (near Townsville)

• New MacDonald has a drone: how science and new technologies are changing farming.

Hobart

• What did a voyage to Antarctica tell us about women in science? Meet the scientist studying the scientists.
• Fluorescence: from forensic science to highlighter pens and spinach. Sydney chemist Elizabeth New reveals all.

[continue reading…]

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Highlights from day five of National Science Week

476 events and exhibitions, 22 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.

Canberra (10am, Parliament House)

• Send kids through the STARportal towards science skills and careers— launch of this Australian first with Chief Scientist, Minister, and students.

Sydney

• What Western science can learn from 50,000+ years of Indigenous knowledge.
• Madhouse Effect: international experts explain what’s really stopping action on climate change.

Melbourne

• Ask the Interstellar visual effects wiz how to make a black hole on the big screen believable.

Western Australia and South Australia

• Is there an evil weevil lurking in your pantry? Biosecurity agencies want your help.

Perth [continue reading…]

Tuesday 15 August 2017

Highlights from Day 4 of National Science Week

454 events and exhibitions, 21 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.

[continue reading…]