Beer science. Gay maths hero. What makes superbugs tick? Your brain while daydreaming.

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Friday 21 August

Highlights from day 7 of National Science Week’s 9-day week

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

NSW: Queer eye for AI: modern mathematician explores Alan Turing’s legacy, in Sydney.

QLD: Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert explores music, misinformation, and the cosmos.

TAS: Experimenting with beer – Hobart.

QLD: Hunt the superbugs outsmarting our medicines.

VIC: The emergency department in your lounge room.

QLD: What is your brain doing while you daydream? British neuroscientist explains, in Noosaville.

WA: Spinifex cookie dough to repair mine sites, and other seedy stories at Kings Park.

NSW: Antarctica through the eyes of scientists and an artist and filmmaker.

VIC: Climate, AI and inequality: why science needs society.

NSW: Start your engines: 150 students race solar cars – Muswellbrook.

NATIONAL: What do you think is Australia’s most amazing wildflower? Results of voting to be revealed.

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

Also today:

More about the event highlights

Queer eye for AI: modern mathematician explores Alan Turing’s legacy – Sydney, NSW

Alan Turing (1912-1954) was a brilliant mathematician, World War II code-breaker, founder of computer science, philosopher and theoretical biologist. Turing’s mathematical legacy continues to shape computing, codebreaking, AI and mathematical logic – much of it completed before the first programmable computer existed.

However, in 1952 Turing was prosecuted for homosexual acts and was given a hormone treatment, commonly referred to as chemical castration, as an alternative to prison. He died aged 41 in 1954 from cyanide poisoning but posthumously received an official public apology from the British Prime Minister in 2009 for “the appalling way [Turing] was treated”.

Prof Benjamin Burton is a software developer, University of Queensland mathematician, and a Queensland representative of Queers in Science. In a National Science Week lecture, he explores Turing’s life, some of his most important and surprising results, and discuss how they continue to influence mathematics and computing today.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/alan-turings-legacy-computers-ai-and-some-very-queer-mathematics-national-science-week-public-lecture-by-benjamin-burton

Media enquiries: Susanna Smith, Sydney Mathematical Research Institute, University of Sydney, susanna.smith@sydney.edu.au or 0431 878 114.

Watch a recording of Ben speaking on this topic.

Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert explores music, misinformation, and the cosmos – Toowong, QLD

Nate Eggins (a.k.a. Conspiracy of One) is returning with his unique Planetarium Variety Show for an evening of:

Returning to the cosmic skydome are Nate and his band to bring you a special stripped back and intimate performance including songs from his debut album ‘Road to Reason’.

  • Quirky sciency songs like ‘We’re All Aliens, Baby’ and ‘The Sound a Duck Makes’, funny rants and audience participation and prizes
  • Stunning planetarium visuals
  • A workshop on critical thinking and the chance to contribute data to an ongoing study,
  • Special guest: Science Communicator Melanie Trecek-King of Thinking is Power and author of the upcoming book A Field Guide to Spotting Misinformation.

Audiences will gain new and interesting perspectives on science and our modern world, level up your thinking and learn how to spot pseudoscience pretenders – all while tapping their feet.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/planetarium-concert-live-music-in-the-skydome-3/toowong/

Media enquiries: Nate Eggins, nathan@sentientproductions.com.au or 0402 593 431.

Nate Eggins is available for media interviews. Footage and photos available here.

Experimenting with beer – Hobart, TAS

1 recipe. 4 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 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/exbeerimental-science-2026/hobart

More information about www.beerablescience.com.

Media enquiries: Matthew Fielding, beerablescience@gmail.com or 0417 167 618.

Hunt the superbugs outsmarting our medicines – Saint Lucia, QLD

Some bacteria are fighting back against modern medicines. This hands-on adventure lets visitors become a scientist for the day to explore the world of these “superbugs.”

Through interactive demonstrations, participants discover how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics, how researchers detect harmful bacteria and develop new ways to fight infection, and how everyday actions like proper handwashing help slow the spread.

Antimicrobial resistance is one of the biggest health challenges facing the world today; the event aims to leave visitors with a new appreciation for the tiny microbes that have a huge impact on our lives.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/journey-into-antimicrobial-resistance-adventures-in-the-invisible-world/saint-lucia

Media enquiries: Lyman Ngiam, Centre for Environmental and Agricultural Solutions to Antimicrobial Resistance, l.ngiam@uq.edu.au or 0404 876 337.

The emergency department in your lounge room – Online

When you call for emergency help you expect a trip to hospital. Increasingly you get a video call instead – and often that is the better outcome.

Dr Loren Sher, Director of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department, can explain how one of Australia’s largest digital health experiments came together, and what the evidence says about access to emergency care and patient outcomes.

She joins a free online panel with La Trobe University’s Dr Urooj Raza Khan and digital health graduates Samantha Tudor and Rob Park, who talk about a career path that barely existed a decade ago.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-science-of-digital-health-national-science-week-2026-sarah-awaiting-details

Media enquiries: Urooj R. Khan, La Trobe University, u.razakhan@latrobe.edu.au

Dr Urooj Raza Khan, Dr Loren Sher, Samantha Tudor and Rob Park are available for media interviews before or after the event.

What is your brain doing while you daydream? – Noosaville, QLD

Eighty-six billion nerve cells, all talking to each other with electricity. British neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow takes an audience inside the most complex machine in the universe – what happens while you sleep, drift off, or lock onto a tricky game.

Critchlow is the author of Brainwave: Find Your Focus and Unleash Your Brain’s Superpowers.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-science-of-brainwaves-with-hannah-critchlow

Media enquiries: Rachel Smith, Noosa Libraries, yps@noosa.qld.gov.au or 07 5329 6578.

Spinifex cookie dough to repair mine sites, and other seedy stories – Kings Park, WA

  • Cookie dough could be the key to rehabilitating mine sites. These sites are like moonscapes – arid and inhospitable – but can be brought back to life if soft spinifex (Triodia pungens) seeds can germinate, take hold and survive. Scientists are developing a ‘cookie dough’ like mixture they can add spinifex seeds to that will feed them, protect them, attract water and keep away pests as they germinate and grow.
  • Local water lily species (Nymphaea lukei) that live in coastal freshwater wetlands are under threat from salt water intrusion. The lilies are very short lived and their seeds don’t like being dried. Scientists are trying to find ways to successfully bank the seeds.
  • The seeds of critically endangered Bussell’s spider orchid (Caladnia busselliana) won’t germinate without a particular fungi partner. Conservation efforts are bringing it back from the brink.

Meet the hidden heroes behind these and other seeds who are dedicating their careers to improve restoration and conservation of Western Australia’s native flora.

Visitors to the Western Australia Botanic Garden can take a self-guided tour, find story panels hidden in the garden, learn about the resident plants and researchers, and complete a journey passport. People who return a completed passport receive one of the five collectible flora and seed pins, custom-designed by scientists.

Saturday 15 – Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-hidden-life-of-seeds-national-science-week-with-kings-park-science/perth

Media enquiries: Emily Denham, Emily.denham@dbca.wa.gov.au or 08 9480 3688.

Antarctica through the eyes of Homeward Bound scientists and an artist and filmmaker – Camperdown, NSW

Canadian multimedia artist, filmmaker and researcher Peter McLeish reflects on how his creative practice responds to scientific exploration and the polar landscape and seeking to make complex scientific ideas accessible through visual storytelling.

He will present an immersive lecture, with vision from his documentary and short film work, alongside ‘Postcards from Antarctica’ events, featuring talks and artworks drawn from the 124 women and non-binary researchers who have taken part in Homeward Bound voyages to Antarctica.

Friday 21 August: and other dates.

Media enquiries: Yasmina Chotchova, yasmina.chotchova@sydney.edu.au or 02 9036 5409.

Climate, AI and inequality: why science needs society – Melbourne, VIC

From climate change and AI to health, energy and inequality, the biggest challenges facing Australia aren’t just technical – they’re deeply social. So why are the social sciences still too often an afterthought in scientific problem-solving?

This panel brings together leading thinkers across the social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and public policy – chaired by Academy of the Social Sciences President Professor Kate Darian-Smith, with panellists including Victoria’s Lead Scientist Dr Amanda Caples – to explore what genuinely interdisciplinary thinking looks like. Moderated by Dr Shane Huntington OAM.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/why-science-needs-the-social-solving-complex-problems-with-interdisciplinary-thinking/melbourne

Media enquiries: Vanessa Barratt, The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, info@socialsciences.org.au or 0450 018 752.

Start your engines: 150 students race solar cars – Muswellbrook, NSW

Up to 150 students from 10 local schools will become clean energy engineers for a day at the Muswellbrook Solar Car STEM Challenge, hosted at the STEM Innovation Lab in the Donald Horne Building.

Working in teams, students will rotate through five hands-on stations: adjusting gears and solar panels on professional UNSW solar car models, exploring a mobile Net Zero Education Trailer, learning how “urban mining” recycles metals from old phones and gadgets, and sharing their views on clean energy in a quick survey.

Every participating school will take home Solar Engineering Kits so students can keep building and testing ahead of the Newcastle EV Challenge in September.

Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/muswellbrook-future-foundries-solar-speed-and-circular-science-2/muswellbrook/

Media enquiries: Peter Melling, Peter@aistem.au or 0490 101 501.

What do you think is Australia’s most amazing wildflower? – online

ABC Science wants Australians to discover our hidden “flower power”, the kind you find in botanical gardens rather than hippie communes.

With the help of experts, ABC Science has selected ten flowering plants from across the country.

Not just another banksia or waratah, but blooms from the unsung understory that also do something unbelievable. These ten wildflowers are more than just a pretty face; each one hides a surprising superpower. The public will decide which is the most amazing.

Voting to decide Australia’s most amazing wildflower will start just before National Science Week in August, with the winning bloom announced on Friday August 21 in a live broadcast on Radio National.

The shortlist:

  • Bladderwort (Utricularia) – Traps and digests insects inside tiny floating “bladders”
  • Star flower (Calytrix) – Changes colour like a ‘traffic-light’ to direct pollinators
  • Flannel flower (Actinotus) – Blooms from bushfire ashes like a floral phoenix
  • Flying duck orchid (Caleana) – Traps insects for pollination and looks like a duck!
  • Mulla mulla (Ptilotus) – Thrives, and flowers, in tough, hot arid environments
  • Murnong/yam daisy (Microseris) – Provided a significant year-round nutritious food for Indigenous people 
  • Richea scoparia – Survives extreme cold and feeds snow skinks
  • Creamy candle (Stackhousia) – Looks like a candle and emits a sweet fragrance at night
  • Triggerplant (Stylidium) – Hits insects with pollen using a catapult-like trigger
  • Underground orchid (Rhizanthella) – Lives underground and looks like a tiny demogorgan.

Wednesday 5 August – Friday 21 August. To find out more and vote, go to www.abc.net.au/wildflowers.

For interviews with Dr Ann Jones, contact Rob Caulley, ABC Publicity, Caulley.Rob@abc.net.au.

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