Highlights from day 3 of National Science Week
Researchers, experts, and other interesting talent available for interview around the country.
WA/NATIONAL: Space farmers wanted! Sow astro seeds and test complex off-planet crop growing conditions to nourish astronauts on Mars and beyond at in-person events in Perth or join the national ‘Grow for launch’ program online.
NSW: Meet the legally blind artist behind a multisensory exhibition exploring quantum science.
NSW: Find out how holograms are used in everyday life.
VIC: Why birds and humans need to adapt their homes for climate change. Meet the scientist who has studied hundreds of bird nests around the world in an online event via Melbourne.
ACT: Rainbow roses: people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities discover explosive strength of capillary pressure in Farrer.
NATIONAL: Australian Space Agency funds primary school ‘Mission: SPACE’ program
SA: How spinning electrons can make tech smaller and faster.
WA: when will the Milky Way crash into Andromeda? Ask an astrophysicist – Mount Magnet.
QLD: Sustainability beyond recycling and composting. Roll up your sleeves for a ‘green’ immersion on Magnetic Island off Townsville.
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:
- NSW (online via Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney): Be a Shark Scientist for a Day: primary school students join a virtual excursion with marine scientist Melissa Cristina Márquez, aka the ‘Mother of Sharks’.
Coming up tomorrow:
Every day this week:
Australia is big and full of wild things! CSIRO wants volunteers to find and photograph our flora and fauna, while ABC Science wants Australians to vote for the nation’s most beloved native underdog.
More about the event highlights
Space farmers wanted – Perth, WA, and national online
It’s Day 530 on the moon base and you’re eating packaged slop again… until a delivery of nutrient-enhanced microgreens arrives from Earth. Your mission is to sustainably grow and harvest edible plants in an extreme environment. But first you need to learn the basics of plant biology, food chemistry and farming approaches that minimise water, energy and resource use.
The ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space is supersizing its mission to develop out-of-this-world future foods by enlisting public participation in ‘Grow 4 Launch’ experiments.
Participants will receive a microgreens kit complete with seeds, hydroponics gear and test tools, alongside guidance on how to alter plant sensory traits (colour, taste, smell and texture) and investigate conditions that help sustainable growth.
The project also invites participants to submit recipes, results and ideas for a Spacefood Cookbook which will also feature contributions from astronauts, nutritionists and chefs.
Kings Park (in-person events): Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/grow-4-launch-workshops-grow-test-and-imagine-the-future-of-food-in-space/kings-park/
Grow 4 Launch research kit (national): www.scienceweek.net.au/event/grow-4-launch-grow-test-imagine-the-future-of-food-in-space/
Media enquiries: Lieke Van Der Hulst, lieke.vanderhulst@adelaide.edu.au or 0449 846 067.
Plants for Space researchers available for interview in Adelaide, Melbourne and Perth.
Legally blind artist and musician collaborate in multisensory science exhibition to celebrate Quantum Year – Sydney
‘A Different Light: Multisensory Science Books of X-Ray Crystallography’ touring exhibition builds on the work of the Monash Sensory Science initiative.
Designed by legally blind artist Dr Erica Tandori, from Monash University’s Rossjohn Laboratory, and designer/musician Dr Stu Favilla, from Swinburne University of Technology, it explores hidden atomic structures and protein formations revealed through X-ray crystallography in a series of 10 multisensory science books.
Showcasing accessible and inclusive science during Quantum Year, the exhibition enables blind, low vision and diverse needs audiences to connect with cutting-edge Australian science and scientists (past and present) – including Nobel Prize winners Henry and Lawrence Bragg, the Australian father-and-son duo who pioneered X-ray crystallography.
It also features interactive mock-ups of the Braggs’ X-ray crystallography machines from the early 20th Century, image and data sonification, science inspired electronic music, and tactile artworks and graphics that represent atomic structures, diffraction patters and protein formations.
Monday 11 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/a-different-light-nsw/sydney/
Media enquiries: Dr Erica Tandori, Erica.Tandori@monash.edu or 0407 806 733.
Dr Erica Tandori and Dr Stu Favilla are available for media interviews.
Play with light – Sydney, NSW
Join a workshop to find out how holograms are used in everyday life. Presented by researchers from the ARC Centre of Excellence for Transformative Meta-Optical Systems (TMOS) at Sydney Science Trail.
Participants can:
- Use a laser pointer to visualise the light principles of reflection, refraction and diffraction.
- See hologram printing
- Take home diffraction glasses
The Centre’s researchers are working on real-time holographic displays, artificial vision for autonomous systems ‘to see the invisible’, and ultra-fast light-based WiFi.
Monday 11 August – Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/sydney-science-trail-school-excursions-2/sydney
Media enquiries: Sophia Aharonovich, sophia.aharonovich@uts.edu.au or media@tmos.org.au or 0422 323 009.
Birds and humans need to adapt their homes for climate change? – online via Melbourne, VIC
Why are bird nests so diverse, and what can we learn from nature’s architects?
Meet University of Melbourne’s Dr Iliana Medina Guzman, who has studied hundreds of nests around the world. She showcases innovative construction techniques that illustrate the evolution of animal behaviours and tackles the question: ‘Will birds successfully adapt their nests as the climate warms?’.
Monday 11 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/bird-nests-around-the-world-natural-wonders-with-climate-clues/
Media enquiries: media-enquiries@unimelb.edu.au or (03) 8344 4123.
Rainbow roses for people with disability – Farrer, ACT
People with disabilities are making rainbow roses to learn about the explosive strength of capillary pressure. The wider community in Canberra are invited to do the same.
Gayana, a 26-year-old woman with Down syndrome who opened her own flower shop, is co-presenting these workshops which are accessible to people with intellectual and cognitive disabilities.
Monday 11 – Friday 15 August. Event details: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/rainbow-roses-science-and-disabilty-empowerment/farrer
Media enquiries: Dr Vanessa de Kauwe, Science Alliance, drv.science.pirates@gmail.com, 0416 040 511.
Calling primary school space cadets – national online
Primary school kids with dreams of becoming astronauts can join a free ‘Mission: SPACE’ program funded by the Australian Space Agency.
The initiative, delivered by Perth-based Scitech Discovery Centre, invites Year 3-6 students to experience a series of four virtual excursions from classrooms across Australia. Each session explores how mathematics, technology and engineering are growing Australia’s space industry, with insights from real-world space professionals.
‘Mission: Space’ excursion topics cover: Enigmatic Earth and Space; Cryptic Chemistry; Puzzling Physics; and Baffling Biology.
Monday 11 August – Thursday 14 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/mission-space-virtual-excursions-2025/
Media enquiries: Cara Tregonning, media@scitech.org.au or 08 9215 0781.
How spinning electrons can make tech smaller and faster – Adelaide, SA
Meet physicist Dr Sol Jacobsen who uses spinning electrons to build the tech of the future.
Quantum physics was born 100 years ago to explain the curious behaviour of tiny things. We now use it daily to connect with the world, light our homes, fight disease, and scan our groceries.
Find out how quantum physics is shaping your future at the Marie Curie Lectures.
Monday 11 August: Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/2025-marie-curie-lectures-your-quantum-future-with-dr-sol-h-jacobsen-2/adelaide/
Media enquiries: Karen Siu, The Australian Institute of Physics, 0478 260 533, wip@aip.org.au.
Dr Sol H Jacobsen (www.sites.google.com/view/soljacobsen) is available for media interviews.
When will the Milky Way crash into Andromeda? – Mount Magnet, WA
Astrophysicist Dr Ruby Wright will reveal the fate of our galaxy over dinner party conversation under the stars in Western Australia’s outback gold rush towns.
Guests can also join a guided tour of the Milky Way, the Moon, Mars, and deep space objects like the Jewel Box Cluster – all magnified with the help of International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) telescopes.
Monday 11 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/mid-west-star-trails-morawa-telescope-night-2/mount-magnet/
Media enquiries: Charlene D’Monte, charlene.dmonte@uwa.edu.au or 0468 579 311.
Creating black holes, hunting bad bugs, and tracking tabby cats: young scientists tour Tasmania – multiple locations, TAS
These are just some of the research topics of last year’s Young Tassie Scientists, a group of 40 early-career researchers who volunteer their time to share their passion for science with audiences across Tasmania. New recruits are trained each year. What will they share next?
Students and the wider public will get the opportunity to meet these bright young scientists as they travel around Tasmania, talking at schools and public events, with a focus on reaching regional, rural and island communities state-wide. They highlight local science and career opportunities through engaging presentations and activities.
Multiple dates and locations from Saturday 9 August.
Media enquiries: Rhiannon Terry, science.outreach@utas.edu.au or 03 6226 2951.
The Young Tassie Scientists are available for media interviews.
Sustainability beyond recycling and composting – Magnetic Island, QLD
Discover meaningful and practical ways to better safeguard our planet through a series of workshops and tours on regenerative design, First Nations knowledge systems, the circular economy and biodiversity conservation.
‘Nature’s Blueprint: Science, Regenerative Design, and Sustainability’ is organised by GRaB (Grow Recycle & Build) Eco Park.
Activities include turning waste into construction materials (glass into sand and plastic into sheets), crafting products from organic waste (coffee ground tiles), creating natural dyes from plant-based materials, Indigenous land management (cultural and ecological importance of cool burning and medicinal plant use) and learning about native island plants.
Saturday 9 August – Monday 11 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/natures-blueprint/nelly-bay/
Media enquiries: Sara Cole, saracole@urbanmoments.org or 0417 542 602.
Help wanted to find where our wild things are – national
Australia’s science agency is recruiting a citizen science army to help find and photograph species found nowhere else on Earth.
There are 15 million species in CSIRO’s collections. But with such a vast country, scientists need help finding where and how widely these species are spread.
‘CSIRO Wild Watch’ marks the first national science experiment aimed at supersizing research data in the Atlas of Living Australia. The agency wants schools, families and community groups to sign-up, head outdoors and snap photos of flora and fauna. They’re particularly looking for sightings of shark and ray eggs, yellow/orange lichen, snails, wattle, and Australian flowering heaths (Epacris).
Australia is home to more than half a million species, with the majority (70%) found nowhere else in the world.
Saturday 9 August – Sunday 17 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/csiro-wild-watch/
Available for interviews:
- Kate Maiden, CSIRO National Science Experiment lead
- Ruth Carr, CSIRO Director of Education and Outreach
- Other scientists
Interview footage of Kate Maiden, and video footage and photographs of young people completing the experiment are available for media use.
Media enquiries: SJ Stevenson, sj.stevenson@csiro.au or 0432 067 655.
What is Australia’s most underrated animal? – national online
Do weird and wonderful Aussie creatures get the attention they deserve? For Science Week 2025, ABC Science wants 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 search for Australia’s most underrated animal will be decided on Friday 15 August. Images here.
Friday 1 August – Friday 15 August: To find out more and vote, go towww.abc.net.au/underrated.
For interviews with Dr Ann Jones, contact Amy Reiha, ABC Publicity, Reiha.amy@abc.net.au or 0404 026 039
For interviews with other animal experts and science communicators, contact:
Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
Shelley Thomas, shelley@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0416 377 444
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.