Dozens of Science Week stories around South Australia
- Do you want to live forever?
- Science of snot, exploding elephant toothpaste, Nitro Nat at Science Alive!
- Weaving connections with traditional textiles and a First Nations artist
- Bird spotters and bug catchers wanted
- Is it easier to grow food on Mars than in the Outback?
- Meet the science-comedy duo behind Zoodle TV’s viral animal videos
- Wine science in song
- Tread carefully in a library full of bugs and slugs
- Vote for Australia’s most underrated animals
More on these highlights below.
National Science Week in South Australia is coordinated by Inspiring South Australia. Visit their website: inspiringsa.org.au.
National Science Week in South Australia: highlights
Do you want to live forever? – Adelaide
But what will it take to keep your body going forever and would you really want to?
Hear what neuroscience and health experts have to say during the FOREVER exhibition at University of South Australia’s Museum of Discovery (MOD). Panellists include:
- University of South Australia’s Professor Grant Tomkinson, who focuses on the link between physical fitness and health.
- The University of Adelaide’s Associate Professor Lyndsey Collins-Praino, who leads the Cognition, Ageing and Neurodegenerative Disease Laboratory.
Thursday 14 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/q-do-you-want-to-live-forever/adelaide/
Media enquiries: Melissa Keogh, Melissa.keogh@unisa.edu.au or 0403 659 154.
Quantum Year goes off-road – touring Australia’s cities and regions
Meet dark matter hunters and quantum experts at events across Australia.
To celebrate Quantum Year, the National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip will tour pubs and schools in regional and remote communities in Western Australia, South Australia and New South Wales – and run events in capital cities between 4 August and 17 August.
Communities will also get the chance to trial the Dark Matter Hunter computer game, play with 3D quark puzzles, a muon detector, gravity well, diamond earring-based magnetic field sensor, and quantum computing chips.
Dark matter accounts for 84 per cent of all the matter in the Universe, but we don’t yet know what it is. Australia is a key player in the quest to find out. Quantum technologies are crucial in the hunt for dark matter and they’re already used in smart phones and cars, medical imaging, manufacturing, and navigation. But today’s technologies capture only a small fraction of the potential of quantum physics.
Adelaide events:
Sunday 10 August: Pub night: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/pub-trivia-with-a-twist-of-science-2/north-adelaide/
Monday 11 August: Our Invisible Universe STEM educators’ professional development: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/our-invisible-univat-the-australian-space-discovery-centre/adelaide/
Media enquiries: Fleur Morrison, fleur.morrison@unimelb.edu.au or 0421 118 233.
Multiple experts involved with different legs of the tour are available for media interviews, including dark matter enlightener Jackie Bondell and particle physicist Ben McAllister.
How spinning electrons can make tech smaller and faster – Adelaide
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.
Exploding elephant toothpaste, Aussie wildlife, and Nitro Nat at Science Alive! – Wayville
- Nitro Nat’s Crazy Colourful Chemistry Show
- Animals Anonymous Wildlife Show
- Dr Quark’s Scientific Circus Show
- The Science of Snot
- Plus robot wars, flying drone displays, scientific bubble show, and VR experiences.
These are just some of the Science Alive! activities and attractions at the Adelaide Showground.
Saturday 2 August – Sunday 3 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-alive-8/wayville/
Media enquiries: Sarah Lang, sarahl@eventcrowd.com.au or 0400 081 865.
Weaving connections with traditional textiles – Adelaide
First Nations artist Sonya Rankin will share Traditional Knowledge of textiles through a weaving workshop. Sonya will lead and assist participants in creating ‘random weave’ pieces, providing a tactile and immersive experience about making meaning through cultural objects. Sonya is a Ngarringdjeri, Ngadjuri, Narungga & Wirangu woman and founder of Lakun Mara, meaning ‘Weaving Hand’ in Ngarrindjeri language.
Wednesday 13 August. Event details. www.scienceweek.net.au/event/weaving-connections-forever-exhibition-tour-and-weaving-workshop/adelaide/
Media enquiries: Melissa Keogh, Melissa.keogh@unisa.edu.au or 0403 659 154.
Bird spotters and bug catchers wanted – Renmark
Renmark Irrigation Trust is seeking citizen scientists to help document birds and bugs making a comeback to restored Murray River floodplains.
Participants will look for native woodland and wetland birds (Sunday 10 August) and learn how to collect, identify and preserve insects for Renmark’s first floodplain invertebrate record (Saturday 16 August).
Sunday 10 August and Saturday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/birds-and-bugs-wetlands-wonders-of-renmarks-restored-floodplains/renmark/
Media enquiries: Freya Harrihill, fharrihill@rit.org.au or 0404 344 003.
Renmark Irrigation Trust ecologist Freya Harrihill, who will lead the activities, is available for media interviews.
Space farmers and cooks wanted – national online, via Adelaide
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.
Online competition. Event details: 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.
Is it easier to grow food on Mars than in the South Australian Outback? – Oodnadatta, Andamooka and Copley
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.
Media enquiries: Grayson Cooke, grayson.cooke@sa.gov.au or 0415 428 906 and Lieke Van Der Hulst, lieke.vanderhulst@adelaide.edu.au or 0449 846 067.
Female fossil rockers on tour – Oaklands Park and Angle Park
Aussie girl-geek band The Ammonites is taking a palaeo-musical show across South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
The trio – Danni, Morgan and Blair, who graduated from Dinosaur University – are the alter-egos of performers Bridget Tran, Kate Neville and Montana Vincent. With the help of renowned singing palaeontologist Professor Flint, their show explores Australia’s prehistoric past, while shining a light on challenges facing women in science and inspiring girls to follow their lead and dream big!
Professor Flint will also bring a ‘show and tell’ table of Australian fossils on tour. Plus, audiences will get the chance to dive into a 580 million-year-old inland sea, thanks to the University of South Australia’s 360 VR reconstruction of the ancient Ediacaran seafloor.
Saturday 23 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-ammonites-rock/oaklands-park/
Saturday 30 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-ammonites-rock/angle-park/
Media enquiries: Michael Mills, michael@heapsgood.com.au or 0411 287 381.
How to deal with wild, uninvited house guests – Gawler
Spiders in cars, possums in the roof, snakes in walls, koalas drinking from swimming pools or a kangaroo banging on your door.
Urban ecologist Professor Chris Daniels and comedian Eddie Bannon reveal why a host of wildlife take up residence in Aussie neighbourhoods. The duo decodes surprising, funny and complex animal behaviours captured in viral videos on social media.
They are presenting the science-comedy show in Gawler with social enterprise Zoodle TV which donates all profits to wildlife charities in support of animal conservation and research.
Friday 8 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/zoodle-on-the-road-hidden-animal-housemates/gawler/
Media enquiries: Gerd Winter, gerd.winter@me.com or 049005230151.
Professor Chris Daniels and Eddie Bannon are available for media interviews.
Songs from the grapevine – Adelaide
Spoilage yeast, automated tractors, screw caps, smoke taint and volatile organic compounds all presented in song.
The Australian Wine Research Institute will uncork its ‘best of’ scientific findings spanning seven decades in ‘Songs from the Grapevine’ in collaboration with singer-songwriter Max Savage.
Thursday 7 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/songs-from-the-grapevine/adelaide/
Media enquiries: Max McHenry, mchenry.max@gmail.com 0415 922 253. For a sneak preview of the show, watch/listen to Autonomous Tractors.
Tread carefully: join a library with bugs, slugs and other Aussie critters – Victor Harbor
Human bookworms will meet wildlife educators and ecologists when Victor Harbor Library hosts ‘Decoding the Universe with Animals’ featuring:
- Bugs n slugs – introduction to the world of invertebrates, including a presentation of live creatures from the animal kingdom’s largest group (representing 95-99% of all species). Discover why animals without a backbone matter; how they decode their universe; differences between centipedes and millipedes, spiders vs insects; and more.
- Animals Anonymous – encounters with feathered, furred and scaled native animals. Wildlife science educators provide introductions to animals like rock wallabies, wombats, quokkas, pythons, squirrel gliders, and even crocs.
Wednesday 6 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/decoding-the-universe-with-animals/victor-harbor/
Media enquiries: Bugs n slugs: Kristen Messenger, kris@bugsnslugs.com.au or 0407 317 757. Animals Anonymous: Adrian Sherriff, info@animalsanonymous.com.au or 0419 027 525 and Dianne Pearson on 0448 268 707.
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