Sunday 21 August 2022
Highlights from the final day of National Science Week
Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.
- VIC: Caring for the rare: meet the people saving Victoria’s species – online
- TAS: Community counts 2,000 years of Huon pine tree rings
- NSW: Step inside the Poo Palace – Newcastle
- ACT: Flying drones, engineering defence, art-robots, and biology balloons: meet the Canberra’s women of science and art
- ACT: Scientists take over shopping centres
- QLD: Feeding caterpillars to get butterflies – Kuranda
- Online with QLD talent: Explaining cancer biology to young people through pop-culture, art and augmented reality
Read on for more on these, including event contact details.
Also today:
- WA: Why native flowers need native bees
- SA: Find out about interesting insects and the mysterious malleefowl that eat them
National Science Week 2022 runs from 13 to 21 August. Media kit at www.scienceinpublic.com.au. Or visit the National Science Week website for more events and activities: www.scienceweek.net.au.
For general Science Week media enquiries:
Tanya Ha: tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
Jane Watkins: jane@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0425 803 204
More about the event highlights
Caring for the rare: meet the people saving Victoria’s species – online via Parliament House, VIC
Victoria’s Zoos, Museums and Botanic Gardens are more than places for people to visit - they are also engines of scientific research and field work:
- Reproductive Biologist Marissa Parrott is breeding bandicoots and pygmy-possums at Zoos Victoria to save these species.
- Conservation horticulturalist John Arnott is developing collections of locally significant rare and threatened plant species. It’s part of Care for the Rare, a Victorian Botanic Gardens initiative.
- Plant identification expert Megan Hirst is saving seeds for the Victorian Conservation Seedbank.
- Geneticist and conservation biologist Joanna Sumner is biobanking tissue samples and DNA, from Australian animals, used for research on evolution, taxonomy, and conservation. She manages the research laboratories and the Ian Potter Australian Wildlife BioBank at Museums Victoria.
- Darren Grover managing Zoos Victoria’s challenging mission to protect 27 key species from extinction in Australia.
Find out about the ways these scientsts and their colleagues are planning to help plants and animals adapt and persist through multiple challenges in our immediate future.
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/care-for-the-rare
Panellists are available for media interviews.
Media enquiries:
- For Joanna Sumner, contact the Museums Victoria media team, media@museum.vic.gov.au or 0466 622 621
- For John Arnott and Megan Hirst, contact Maraika vanWesse, Maraika.vanWessem@rbg.vic.gov.au or 0497 200 989
- For Marissa Parrott and Darren Grover, contact Michelle Lang, MLang@zoo.org.au or 0425 723 985; or Natalie Filmer, nfilmer@zoo.org.au or 0418 586 141
Community counts 2,000 years of Huon pine tree rings – Huon Valley
Huon pines (Lagarostrobus franklinii) are some of the very oldest living things on Earth. They are found only in Tasmania and are legendary as one of the finest timbers on the planet. It brings together woodworking engineers, forest ecologists, tree nurseries, tourist adventures, university drone scientists, museum botanists, and the broader community.
There is a piece of Huon pine in Geeveston, approximately 1.5 meters in diameter. It has a simple sign on it indicating 2,000 years in age. The forest guides from Giant Tree Expeditions want to conduct what they think will be a world-first public event counting two millennia of tree rings from a tree that was a seedling in Roman times.
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/huon-valley-huon-pine-celebration
Media enquiries: YD Bar-Ness, hello@giant-trees.com or 0468 360 320 or Linda Marlow, marlowlinda@rocketmail.com or 0428 569 945
Experts available for media interviews.
Image © Yoav Daniel Bar-Ness, some rights reserved (CC BY). See full image library.
Step inside the Poo Palace – Newcastle, NSW
Is the perfect poo a number two? No, it’s a number three or four on the Bristol Stool Scale.
Ask the experts about digestion, farts and faeces, gut health and good bacteria; and experience the journey food goes on.
The Poo Palace recreates a version of the human digestive system. Children and adults will be able to experience the journey food takes along the digestive tract.
The journey starts with children entering a ‘giant mouth’. Next, they slide through a tunnel representing the oesophagus and into the stomach, where they can play in a ball pen that represents stomach with enzymes and acids. Then they squeeze through a tunnel that represents the small intestine, leading to the large intestine, which is another tunnel where they can jump and walk along the ribbed floors and walls. Finally, at the end of the large intestine they squeeze out through the bum and press a button that represents a bowel movement.
Other activities:
- mashing food (banana and bread) with water (mimicking saliva) to simulate the chewing process
- making Play Dough re-creations of poo, with comparison to the Bristol Stool Chart
- observing bacteria and colon tissue under microscopes.
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/hmris-poo-palace/newcastle
Media enquiries: Sam Cardwell, Sam.Cardwell@hmri.org.au or 02 4042 0049
Gut health scientists available for media interviews.
Flying drones, engineering defence, art-robots, and biology balloons: meet the women of science and art – Canberra, ACT
- Katie Vidal from She Maps has taught hundreds of children how to fly drones.
- Molecular biologist and balloon artist Dr Chloe Lim created a balloon show to introduce the concept of genetics to children.
- Entrepreneur Claire Harris sparked the start of a Canberra tribe of art-robots.
- Naomi Duckworth from the Department of Defence is a systems engineer and is working on Australia’s future Navy ships.
They provide interesting perspectives on art and science in a series of events hosted by science writer and performer Dr Phil Dooley.
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/canberra-women-of-science-and-art/acton
Media enquiries: Claire Harris, claire@innovatecommunicate.com
Speakers are available for media interviews.
Science in the centres – multiple locations, ACT
Science while you shop! Pop-up science activity centres will give shoppers the chance to meet scientists, engineers and daleks, and learn about space, mushroom growing, engineering with LEGO, parasites, chemistry, geology, space, robotics, and more.
Westfield Belconnen, Westfield Woden, South.Point Tuggeranong, Cooleman Court, and the Canberra Centre will host a variety of displays and hands-on science activities during the weekends of National Science Week (13 – 14 and 20 – 21 August).
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-in-the-centres
Please contact Jillian Matthews, actscienceweek@gmail.com or 0406 355 996
Feeding caterpillars to get butterflies – Kuranda, QLD
What botany is needed to feed very hungry caterpillars so they can grow into big, beautiful butterflies?
The Australian Butterfly Sanctuary in Kuranda has the largest butterfly aviary and exhibit in Australia, gardens containing a variety of critical butterfly food, and a collection of native butterfly species, including the red lacewing, the mountain blue or ‘Ulysses’, and Australia’s largest butterfly, the Cairns birdwing, with a wingspan of about 18 centimetres.
Hear scientific talks from experts about the secret lives of butterflies, caterpillar food, where it is found, why it is important to the lifecycle of butterflies.
Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/butterfly-botany-the-science-of-butterfly-food-8/kuranda
Media enquiries: Angel Benioni, media@capta.com.au, 07 4093 7575 or 0437 724 529
Explaining cancer biology to young people through pop-culture, art and augmented reality – online
How do you engage a broader or younger audience with the science of cancer and the need to reduce the risk of developing the disease?
The ‘Cancer ARt Gallery’ is a new cancer-biology-themed art gallery overlaid with augmented reality (AR), adaptive soundtracks and videography. It presents a series of AR artworks using pop-culture and nostalgic themes to explain cancer biology. It’s the brainchild of Dr Ken Dutton-Regester, a cancer researcher at QIMR Berghofer and founder of creative studio Excite Science.
Each artwork is the result of a collaboration between a cancer researcher and an artist, mutually exploring creative expression to form an immersive and memorable experience.
Saturday 13 – Sunday 21 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/print-and-host-your-own-cancer-themed-augmented-reality-art-gallery
Media enquiries: Ken Dutton-Register, ken@excitescience.org or 0435 931 961
Ken Dutton-Regester is available for media interviews.