• Powerful owl (Ninox strenua)
• Barking owl (Ninox connivens)
• Southern boobook (Ninox boobook)
• Eastern barn owl (Tyto alba delicatula)
• Masked owl (Tyto novaehollandiae)

Nationwide project aims to map Australia’s favourite predator birds

• Download sample audio here. Images available here. Video available here.
• Meet the owls here.
• More about the Australian Acoustic Observatory: acousticobservatory.org.
• Background information
• Scientists available for interviews
• Media release below

Media contacts: Ben Keirnan, ben@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0408 184 858; or Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

“I heard the owl scream and the crickets cry.” Macbeth, William Shakespeare.

Is that an owl hooting? Or a car?

Researchers are after volunteers to help map five native Australian owl species, by listening to short recordings made in the bush. 

The results will provide important information about the range and numbers of these beloved birds of prey. They will also help researchers develop artificial intelligence (AI) systems to use in a new field of science, known as “eco-acoustics”.

The project is called Hoot Detective, and is produced by ABC Science in collaboration with the Australian Acoustic Observatory (A2O) for National Science Week. It will commence online on Monday 9 August at www.hootdetective.net.au and run until the end of August.

The idea is to hunt for Powerful, Barking, Boobook, Barn, and Masked owls. For more about each species, visit hootdetective.net.au/the-owls.

Media release from the Victorian National Science Week Co-ordinating Committee and Inspiring Victoria

How do we fire-proof our forests? How do we save endangered species?  What can you do to help?

ACCLIMATISE is a festival jam-packed with live and online events investigating insights into sustainability and adaption to climate change.

Australian temperatures and sea levels are rising. Droughts and bushfires are becoming more common. Around one million native species are on the brink of extinction.

Join us to explore the challenges of Earth’s complex climate and the search for creative solutions by bringing multidisciplinary fields of science together.

Highlights from the final day of National Science Week

115 events and exhibitions, 12 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.

Canberra: Can we adapt to live with drought, wild weather and climate change? Ask the experts.

Sydney Olympic Park: Kick the physics out of a footy at The Innovation Games.

Sydney: Dinosaurs and superpowers at Science in the Swamp, Centennial Park.

Sydney: Bush medicine, astronomy, engineering and sustainability: what we can learn from 60,000 years of Indigenous knowledge.

Darwin: Beer goggles and fitness tests with a health clinic on wheels.

Brisbane: Liquid nitrogen, flame tests, explosions, and cool chemistry experiments at Brisbane Science Festival.

Brisbane: Think, puzzle and learn your way out of a cancer-themed escape room.

Melbourne: ‘The Curiosity Show’ meets music.

Tasmania: Aboriginal science in Tasmania’s Midlands biodiversity hotspot.

Perth: Scitech, animal encounters and waste as a resource: expo on the Canning River.

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

Also today:

Sydney: Be a scientist for a day at the Royal Botanic Garden’s Living Laboratory.

Alice Springs: Questacon’s Science Circus comes to town with a pop-up science centre.

Murray Bridge, SA: Citizen scientists monitor microbats and mozzies.

Allynbrook, NSW: New MacDonald has a robot: explore the future of farming.

Canberra: See the past, present and future of astronomy on a Mt Stromlo Observatory tour.

National Science Week 2019 runs from 10 to 18 August. Media kit at www.scienceinpublic.com.au. Or visit the National Science Week website for the details of events in your area: www.scienceweek.net.au.

Highlights from the penultimate day of National Science Week

171 events and exhibitions, 9 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

Theatre, dance, virtual reality, astronomy and home-brewing all feature in Science Week events around Australia for Saturday. Pic opportunities and interviews abound.

National: What are the early insights into creative thinking from The Aha! Challenge?

Melbourne & multiple other locations: Immersive astronomy livestream with Alan Duffy and Rebecca Allen.

Melbourne: Spit for science: researchers want to map the microbiomes of Melburnians.

Melbourne: The alchemy of turning waste into wealth. Professor Veena Sahajwalla available for interview.

Adelaide & Canberra: A theatre work exploring Australia’s contribution to space science.

Canberra: The Universe in Four Dimensions: a trip through space and time using dance and animation. 

Canberra: How cosmic rays revealed a hidden chamber in an Egyptian pyramid. Researcher Dr Karin Sowada available for interview.

Hobart: A pop-up science bar at TMAG, with expert talks and 100+ roving scientists.

Hobart: Last day! NEON: three scientists, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra and 18 local young dancers.

Sydney: Harbour cruise: Indigenous navigation by the stars.

Sydney: The Planets: concert and stargazing in Centennial Park.

Darwin: Revisiting the 1919 great London to Darwin air race. Interview the creators and performers.

Brisbane: What can we do to help our coral reefs?

Perth: The Innovators’ Tea Party networking women and girls in science.

National: Spot wildlife with your smartphone in the Great Aussie BioQuest.

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

Also today:

Melbourne: Particle/Wave: gravitational waves explained by scientists, sounds, video art and poetry.

Adelaide: Spot the bull s…cience! Teams of scientists battle to sort fact from fiction.

National Science Week 2019 runs from 10 to 18 August. Media kit at www.scienceinpublic.com.au. Or visit the National Science Week website for the details of events in your area: www.scienceweek.net.au.

Highlights from day six of National Science Week

368 events and exhibitions, 16 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people are available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.

Melbourne

• A virtual reality tour of the Universe with Alan Duffy, starting at a brewery.
• The Knowledge Wars with Nobel Laureate Peter Doherty.
• Mad Max meets MasterChef: a post-apocalyptic dinner party.

Perth

• What’s the potential for life on the Red Planet? Ask astrophysicists and NASA scientists.

Canberra

• A science comedy quiz show that aims to save our species.

Sydney

• Searching for dark matter from an old underground gold mine.
• Young people, social media and e-cigarettes.

Adelaide

• The science and psychology of wine.
• Zoos as research institutes, studying rhinos, African wild dogs, palm cockatoos, reptiles and more.

Hermannsburg, NT

• It’s in the stars: stories from Indigenous and Western astronomy.

Read on to find out more, including event contact details.

Also today:

• Brisbane: A cancer researcher, cryptographer, ‘Venom Doc’ and other scientists in a fact or fiction battle.
• Wollongong: Particle/Wave: gravitational waves explained by scientists, sounds, video art and poetry.
• Launceston: School lessons with Crazy Scientist shows, Dinosaur rEvolution, space activities and a planetarium.
• Adelaide: An expert panel debates the ethics of artificial intelligence.

National Science Week 2019 runs from 10 to 18 August. Media kit at www.scienceinpublic.com.au. Or visit the National Science Week website for the details of events in your area: www.scienceweek.net.au.

Highlights from day five of National Science Week – hump day brings comedy, dance and memories of the flu.

423 events and exhibitions, 18 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

Adam Spencer, Karl Kruszelnicki and many distinguished scientists feature in events around the country today – bringing tales of music, maths, Indigenous history and the untold stories behind the invention of the World Wide Web.

National

• In class online with Karl Kruszelnicki.

Sydney

• Indigenous science sessions at Redfern begin.
• Pandemic in Parramatta:when the Spanish flu hit town.
• Reclaiming the contribution of women to the creation of the Internet.
• Periodic Table fun with Adam Spencer, Karl Kruszelnicki and Alice Motion.

Cairns

• Rapid-fire science education: 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each in a PechaKucha Night.

Adelaide

• Meet the local dolphins.

Tasmania

• High-voltage art made by electrifying matter.
• The science and comedy of your poor decisions, with Alanta Colley & Ben McKenzie.

Melbourne

• TheIndigenous stories, memories, and roadmaps of the night skies.

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

Also today:

• Hobart: Chemistry in dance: three elements, three choreographers, three composers and 18 performers.
• Sydney: The ambidextrous brain: the neuroscience of imagination and creativity.
• Sydney: Hear why music is maths at the City Recital Hall.
• Moonyanooka, WA: Tour the Geraldton Bureau of Meteorology weather station.
• Perth: Women in STEM Breakfast with award-winning radio astronomer Dr Natasha Hurley-Walker.

Highlights from day four of National Science Week

348 events and exhibitions, 15 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent.

National and international talent, researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country. Plenty of photo opportunities.

Canberra

▪ Meet the medical inventor behind the cochlear ear and a nutrition scientist using one.

▪ Sense and sensibility: how pseudoscience helps market wellness woo to women.

Sydney

▪ What is life? Ask theoretical physicist and best-selling author Paul Davies.

▪ The state of the oceans.

▪ Our warped Milky Way, better meds for brains, and trees cooling cities.

Arnhem Land

▪ Beer goggles and fitness tests with a health clinic on wheels.

Queensland

▪ Are Pokémon biologically possible? Events in Bundaberg and Rockhampton.

▪ In Brisbane, ask a microbiologist.

Adelaide

▪ Tigers, house cats and zoos.

▪ Staying healthy while working shifts.

Hobart

▪ Chemistry in dance: three elements, three choreographers, three composers and 18 performers.

Melbourne

▪ What is the future of plastic?

Western Australia

▪ Perth: Who will win the Premier’s science awards?

▪ Pinjarra: How to survive the end of the Universe – and the next 50 years.

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

National Science Week 2019 will run from 10 to 18 August. Media kit at www.scienceinpublic.com.au. Or visit the National Science Week website for the details of events in your area: www.scienceweek.net.au.

Great energy and environmental stories up for grabs now around Australia.

From artworks to school strikes, how is climate change activism evolving? What is the future for the world’s oceans? Rethinking our waste: is ‘disposable’ a dirty word?

These are just a few of the exciting, and occasionally stomach-churning, questions tackled at exhibitions, shows and talks across Australia during National Science Week (August 10 to 18).

If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

Scientists, artists, performers and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week.