Beer science; sharks; whale song, snot and poo; navy’s weather forecaster; and crops on Mars vs the Outback
Highlights from day 7 of National Science Week
Researchers, experts, and other interesting talent available for interview around the country.
NATIONAL: Incredibly weird and wonderful. The winner of ‘Australia’s most underrated animal’, by public vote, will be revealed today
TAS: Experimenting with beer – Hobart
NSW: Step inside a giant, woolly knitted gut – Gymea
QLD: Why do whales sing and breach when they migrate? – Brisbane
VIC: Why sharks have been around for 500 million years – Ballarat event, with talent from Adelaide
NSW: An icy ocean expert and the navy’s weather forecaster talk climate and careers – Sydney
NT: Zom-bee apocalypse: school students join forces with Top End biosecurity experts – Berrimah
WA: Crochet meets maths with cocktails – Joondalup
VIC: CSI eDNA: solving eco-crimes with environmental DNA – Melbourne
QLD: Deadly Science in a biomedical lab – Brisbane
NSW: Knot maths to untangle transit maps, social networks and machine learning – Camperdown
QLD: What’s cooking in 2050 and 2100? – Gladstone
SA: Is it easier to grow food on Mars or in the Outback: find out today in Andamooka; Copley tomorrow
Read on for direct contact details for each event, or contact Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863; and Shelley Thomas, shelley@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0416 377 444.
Also today:
- VIC: STEM Sisters take to the soapbox in Melbourne
- TAS: Death over drinks, Dr Karl, immersive bush tucker and seismic dance party at Hobart’s Beaker Street Festival
- NATIONAL: Australia is big and full of wild things! CSIRO wants volunteers to find and photograph our flora and fauna
Coming up tomorrow:
More about the event highlights
What is Australia’s most underrated animal? – online
Do weird and wonderful Aussie creatures get the attention they deserve? For Science Week 2025, ABC Science asked Australians to cast their vote for Australia’s most underrated animal.
Not the usual cuddly crowd-pleasers, but the ugly, the annoying and the lesser-known critters that are often over-looked, under-conserved and underrated.
“We are trying to do the impossible here and rate what may be unrateable, vote on what may be un-findable, but most of all, find out as much as we can about animals which live their entire lives outside the spotlight of popular consciousness,” says Dr Ann Jones from ABC Radio National podcast What the Duck?!
The shortlist:
- Palm cockatoo
- Dugong
- Short-fin eel
- Great desert skink
- Ghost bat
- Rakali (native water rat)
- Marsupial mole
- Turtle frogs
- Giant cuttlefish
- Velvet worm
The search for Australia’s most underrated animal will be decided today (Friday 15 August). The winner will be announced live on air on ABC Radio National and via a live blog on ABC NEWS, starting 12pm AEST.
To find out more, go to www.abc.net.au/underrated. Images here.
Experimenting with beer – Hobart, TAS
1 recipe. 5 beers.
Four Tasmanian brewers serve up an identical recipe for beer, resulting in vastly different sensory traits.
ExBEERimental Science showcases how small variations in brewing techniques impact our experience of downing a cold one.
Hear about the science and taste the difference with beer-loving scientists Kelsey Picard and Matthew Fielding.
Audience members can join the live event in Hobart at Shambles Brewery.
Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/exbeerimental-science-3/north-hobart/
Step inside a giant, woolly gut – Gymea, NSW
Textile artists and community members have knitted a giant walk-in gut to explore the gut microbiome and its impact on mental health.
It’s part of the ‘Gut Feelings’ exhibition, the brainchild of three artists behind a collaborative science-based crafting initiative that builds on the success of the Neural Knitworks project.
For the past two years, the team has presented numerous workshops and informal knit and stitch sessions across Sydney. This has brought people of all ages and abilities together to create textile microbes and intestinal villi and find out about the gut-brain connection.
Community members involved in ‘Gut Feelings’ have engaged with researchers and followed scientifically-informed patterns to knit, crochet, weave and stitch more than 4,000 villi, 450 gut epithelial cells, hundreds of microbes, a life-size figure showing the longest nerve in the body, and an assortment of food.
Researchers who participated in the project are from UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, University of Technology and ANSTO. Others from Flinders University (South Australia) and the University of Western Australia have provided research images on display alongside the crafted installations.
The free exhibition at Hazelhurt Arts Centre aims to immerse visitors in ‘a playful yet serious’ exploration of the gut-brain axis, including a talk on Sunday 17 August.
Friday 15 August – Tuesday 2 September. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/gut-feelings/gymea/
Lead artist Pat Pillai, textile artist Rita Pearce (life-size figure) and art educator Mary Hayman (walk-in gut) are available for interviews.
Why do whales sing and breach when they migrate? – Brisbane, QLD
What challenges do whales face during their annual migration from Antarctica to Australia? Does whale song and the act of breaching aid navigation? And what can we learn from whale snot and poo.
Ask wildlife biologist and author Dr Vanessa Pirotta at an adults-only ‘Science Night’ at Queensland Museum’s SparkLab.
Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-night-whales-with-dr-vanessa-pirotta/south-brisbane/
Dr Vanessa Pirotta is available for media interviews. Her research uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation, working collaboratively across marine/terrestrial environments and merging cutting edge tech to access animals in unique ways (think whale snot drones and AI to detect illegal wildlife trafficking).
Why sharks have been around for 500 million years? – Ballarat, VIC
A 30-foot shark with a saw blade of jagged teeth protruding from its lower jaws. Sharks fossilised during mating. And new insights into the megalodon, the largest shark that ever lived, measuring 66 feet.
Flinders University palaeontologist Professor John Long reveals how sharks have outlasted multiple mass extinction events to remain at the top of the ocean’s food chain.
The author of The Secret History of Sharks: The Rise of the Ocean’s Most Fearsome Predators will also showcase ancient fossils, including a megalodon tooth.
Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-secret-history-of-sharks/ballarat-central
An icy ocean expert and the navy’s weather forecaster talk climate and careers – Sydney, NSW
High school students are set to take a deep dive into climate science, meteorology and oceanography at the Australian National Maritime Museum. They will meet:
- Swimmer, surfer and Australia’s leading ocean modeller, Matthew England, who first captured Antarctic water-masses in global climate models. The UNSW Scientia Professor received the Pavel S. Molchanov Climate Communications Prize.
- Royal Australian NavyMeteorology and Oceanography Officer, Lieutenant Holly Boubouras, who spent a stint working in Antarctica.
Students will explore the museum, including its science exhibitions and a Navy Destroyer.
Friday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/decoding-the-ocean/darling-harbour/
Be a Top End biosecurity expert for the day –Berrimah, NT
School students will meet the scientists on the frontline protecting Australia from exotic pests and diseases arriving from all directions, threatening agricultural and livestock industries.
The Northern Territory is a biosecurity buffer for the rest of Australia, and home to booming primary production industries from cattle to cotton, mangoes and honeybees. This event is open to schools.
Friday 15 August –confront mysterious pathogens and race to find the antidote in ‘Survivor: Northern Territory Biosecurity Quest – Zom-Bee Apocalypse’ at the Berrimah Farm Science Precinct. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/survivor-northern-territory-biosecurity-quest-zom-bee-apocalypse-2/berrimah/
Crochet: where maths meets craft, with cocktails – Joondalup, WA
Create your own hyperbolic geometry shape with yarn at Birra Bar at Edith Cowan University and learn the pattern from ECU mathematician Dr Julia Collins, while sipping on a specialty cocktail.
Julia is co-founder of Maths Craft Australia and has a PhD in 4-dimensional knot theory from the University of Edinburgh. She shares the maths that underpins crochet in a workshop-cocktail party.
You will need to have mastered the basic crochet stitch to take part in this workshop. It is not for absolute beginners, and you can BYO yarn and hooks if you like.
Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/crochet-and-cocktails-2/joondalup/
Julia Collins is available for media interviews.
Join the real-world cast of CSI: eDNA – solving eco-crimes with environmental DNA – Melbourne, VIC
Think David Attenborough meets CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Don your lab coat, safety goggles and gloves and help a team of scientists solve eco-crimes by collecting and analysing environmental DNA (eDNA).
Step into a mock crime scene full of physical evidence, environmental samples and contextual clues that need to be deciphered. The eco-crime could relate to water pollution, endangered species trafficking, biodiversity loss, climate change or deforestation.
Learn how to collect environmental samples from water, soil and air, avoiding crime scene contamination with scientists including ‘eDNA Detective’ Mariea Pacheco (applied field ecologist), and ‘FungiGirl’ Ema Corro (mycologist). Then, conduct eDNA extraction and analysis using the world’s first portable DNA laboratory, the ‘Bento Lab’, before crunching genetic data and using DNA barcoding.
Friday 15 August – Sunday 17 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/csi-edna-solving-eco-crimes-with-environmental-dna/brunswick/
Mariea Pacheo (project lead and applied field ecologist) and Emma Corro (mycologist and neurodivergent scientist) are available for media interviews.
First Nations students do Deadly Science in biomedical lab – Brisbane, QLD
Schools can access a two-day program designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students that aims to break down barriers to higher education and spark interest in biomedical science.
‘Explore the Unknown’ – the brainchild of The University of Queensland and SPARQ-ed, a biomedical education initiative run by the Translational Research Institute (TRI) – takes place in TRI’s state-of-the-art biomedical research lab. Students will learn from scientists and university staff, joined by special guests from DeadlyScience.
Thursday 14 August – Friday 15 August. Event details: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/explore-the-unknown-biomedical-science-experience-for-first-nations-high-school-students/woolloongabba
Knot maths to untangle transit maps, social networks, and machine learning – Camperdown, NSW
Meet maths professor Zsuzsanna Dancso, who uses the mathematics of knots to untangle complex transit maps, understand social networks, and improve machine learning.
Zsuzsanna shares how algebra and the mathematics of knots reveal surprising connections between shapes and systems.
Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/knots-graphs-and-algebra-a-story-of-surprises-sydney-mathematical-research-institute-public-lecture/camperdown
Professor Zsuzsanna Dancso is available for media interviews.
Get to grips with rockets, crocs, lava lamps, Indigenous astronomy and more at ‘Science on the South Coast’ – Batemans Bay and Nowra, NSW
Launch a rocket, fly a virtual reality Navy chopper, hold a crocodile, build a lava lamp, gawp at liquid nitrogen shows, examine muscles with ultrasound and journey through ancient Indigenous songlines.
These are just some of the free activities on offer during ‘Science on the South Coast’ at University of Wollongong’s rural campuses (Nowra and Batemans Bay), and state-of-the-art Science Space in North Wollongong (including an Indigenous science evening featuring whale songs, songlines and Indigenous astronomy).
‘Science on the South Coast’ aims to demonstrate accessibility of science careers in rural communities, increase participation of Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse groups, and better engage audiences with visual/hearing impairment through sensory science interactions.
Friday 15 August: Batemans Bay: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-on-the-south-coast-interactive-activities-at-uow-shoalhaven-campus/batemans-bay/
Saturday 16 August: Nowra: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-showcase-uow-shoalhaven-campus/west-nowra/
What’s cooking in 2050 and 2100? – Gladstone, QLD
Find out by joining a low carbon picnic that doubles as a sustainable social experiment, with chefs whipping up a future food smorgasbord that highlights ingredients that may be grown around Gladstone under different climate scenarios.
Audiences will be invited to taste and vote on their favourite future flavours.
If food isn’t your priority, discover how Gladstone is driving Australia’s decarbonisation transition and why it’s home to the world’s largest seagrass restoration nursery.
Sniff out climate change. Or go on a sunset sound walk punctuated by creative works that use music, dance and light to highlight the region’s unique biosphere on the doorstep of the Southern Great Barrier Reef.
These are just some of the highlights of the two-day Gladstone Art Science Innovation Fest, bringing together university, industry and arts sectors at Central Queensland University and Tannum Sands parklands.
Friday 15 August – Saturday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/gladstone-art-science-innovation-fest/gladstone
Is it easier to grow food on Mars than in the South Australian Outback? – Andamooka, SA today and Copley tomorrow
That’s the curious question behind Science in the Outback Pub events organised by the Outback Communities Authority in partnership with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space.
Achieving food security is a key challenge for remote communities and disproportionately impacts First Nations Australians. Events will be held in Oodnadatta, Andamooka and Copley, where communities have demonstrated an interest in and capacity for independent food production, including controlled growing environments, community gardens, solar and desalination facilities.
Plants for Space scientists will share insights on future food missions, in Space and on Earth, and explore how their research, technologies and processes could benefit Outback communities.
Andamooka: Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-in-the-outback-pub/andamooka/
Copley: Saturday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-in-the-outback-pub/copley/
About National Science Week
National Science Week is Australia’s annual opportunity to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its cultural and economic impact on society – from art to astrophysics, chemistry to climate change, and forensics to future food.
First held in 1997, National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year about 3 million people participated in more than 2,000 events and activities.
The festival is proudly supported by the Australian Government, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association, and the ABC.
In 2025 it runs from Saturday 9 to Sunday 17 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.
