Dozens of Science Week stories around Queensland
- We’re all aliens baby! Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert
- T-Rex tooth, saber-tooth skull and prehistoric birds flock to country classrooms
- Why do whales sing and breach when they migrate?
- Citizen science lessons in eco-acoustics, thermal imaging, drones, AI and more
- Join a low carbon picnic and find out what’s on the menu in 2050 and 2100
- Did dinosaurs do maths?
- Sustainability beyond recycling and composting
- Vote for Australia’s most underrated animals
More on these highlights below.
National Science Week in Queensland is coordinated by Inspiring Australia Queensland. Visit their website: inspiringqld.com.au.
National Science Week in Queensland: highlights
Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert helps audiences second guess pseudoscience and conspiracy theories – Brisbane
Award-winning songwriter and science communicator Nate Eggins (aka Conspiracy of One) brings his quirky, cosmic grooves back to Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium.
Nate explores scientific and psychological concepts through pop-rock-funk songs like ‘We’re All Aliens, Baby’ and ‘The Sound a Duck Makes’.
Concert goers will enjoy a free ‘homeopathic cocktail’ against the starry backdrop of the Skydome.
And they will hear from special guest scientists:
- University Queensland Palaeontology PhD candidate Amber-Rose Faith talks about dinosaurs;
- Jesse Richardson (award-winning advertising creative director and founder of The School of Thought International) focuses on critical thinking.
Saturday 16 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/planetarium-concert-live-music-in-the-skydome-2/toowong/
Media enquiries: Nate Eggins, nathan@sentientproductions.com.au or 0402 593 431.
Nate Eggins is available for media interviews.
Prehistoric Queensland in Rockhampton
A saber-tooth skull, T-Rex tooth, and prehistoric bidrs are headed to Rockhampton schools to give country kids a city museum experience.
Author and museum educator Phil Hore is bringing ‘an entire natural history museum’ into classrooms through two Museum@School programs.
- ‘History of the Universe in 45 minutes’ allows students to see and touch fossils and minerals from almost every major event in Prehistory.
- ‘Prehistoric Queensland’ showcases the oldest dinosaur remains, our oldest bird, a T. rex tooth, a saber-tooth skull and various remains from Australian mega-fauna’.
Saturday 9 August – Sunday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/museumschool/rockhampton/
Media enquiries: Phil Hore, timesafarisrockhampton@gmail.com, 0413 500 303.
Phil Hore is available for media interviews. For the past 20 years, Phil has been a museum educator and designed tours for some of the world’s leading institutions including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington; the Natural History Museum in London; the Australian War Memorial, Questacon, and more.
Why do whales sing and breach when they migrate? – Brisbane
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/
Media enquiries: Christine Robertson, christine.robertson@qm.qld.gov.au or 0417 741 710 and Kylie Hay, kylie.hay@qm.qld.gov.au or 0434 565 852.
Dr Vanessa Pirotta is available for media interviews.
Dr Vanessa Pirotta is one of Australia’s most renowned wildlife scientists. 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).
Call of the wild: why citizen scientists need tech upskilling – Gold Coast and online
Wildlife monitoring is being transformed by new technologies, including eco-acoustics, thermal imaging, drones, artificial intelligence and remote 4G cameras. But it can be hard for citizen scientists and rural and remote communities to keep up with how these tools can make it easier to track populations and identify environmental changes.
The ‘Tech Meets Nature Showcase’, delivered as an in-person and livestreamed event at Griffith University, aims to educate communities across Australia on use of these technologies and open-source tools to protect a range of iconic species, from koalas to glossy black cockatoos.
Researchers and field ecologists will showcase technology, how it is used in the field, how data is collected and analysed using artificial intelligence and machine learning, and what hardware is currently available.
The event is organised by the Glossy Black Conservancy, an independent conservation and research association.
Tuesday 12 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/tech-meets-nature-showcase/southport/
Media enquiries: Samantha Morris, info@glossyblack.org.au and sam@wombatcreative.com.au or 0421 709 519.
What’s cooking in 2050 and 2100? – Gladstone
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
Media enquiries: Dr Rebecca Cunningham, artscienceinnovationfest@gmail.com or 0475 415 245.
Did dinosaurs do maths? – online via Winton
How fast did dinosaurs run? And what can prehistoric calculations teach us?
Maths teacher turned Australian Age of Dinosaurs education manager Grant Salmond leads an online class as part of SciFest 2025, aka Australia’s biggest virtual excursion festival.
Tuesday 12 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/did-dinosaurs-do-maths/
From 11 to 15 August, SciFest 2025 features 15 educators in lesson formats covering Science Storytime, Lunchtime Trivia, Live Science shows and a Careers in STEM panel. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/scifest-2024-2/
Other highlights include: Oceans at Night with Dr Vanessa Pirotta; Sid and the Very Hard to Find Squid with Dr James O’Hanlon; Be a marine biologist for a day with Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.
Media enquiries:
Australian Age of Dinosaurs: Grant Salmond, grant.salmond@aaod.com.au or
(07) 4657 0078.
SciFest 2025: Karen Player, virtualexcursionsaustralia@gmail.com or 0407 976 892.
Sustainability beyond recycling and composting – Nelly Bay, Magnetic Island, Townsville
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.
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 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, who are often over-looked, under-conserved and… underrated,” says ABC Science producer Kylie Andrews, who leads the broadcaster’s Science Week project.
Australia’s underrated animals activities take place across social media platforms, ABC news digital and Radio National.
Friday 1 August – Friday 14 August: Updates and information on how to vote will be posted to www.abc.net.au/underrated-animals