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Science In Public

Science writers, communicators, media, training, and public relations

Kieren Topp

Meet a dinosaur; whale poo; dog happiness; scabby microbiology cartoons; and a Festival of Bright Ideas

Great National Science Week stories up for grabs now around Australia

  • Whales, poo, Antarctica, and onboard a Southern Ocea research ship with Vanessa Pirotta.
  • Sky Country, bush food, and technology at Redfern’s Indigenous Science Experience.
  • Meet a dinosaur and native animals, and try your hand at science.
  • Street Science on the farm at the Ekka.
  • A science fair for sick kids in The Children’s Hospital.
  • Is your pet stressed, bored, or lonely? Dog happiness and mental health.
  • Racing robots, seed bombs, an augmented reality sandpit, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas.
  • Tree scientist encourages gardeners to grow the urban forest.
  • Paint with a UV torch at ‘Sea of Light’, a light installation at MAGNT.
  • Space, robotics, and engineering with LEGO: science while you shop in Canberra’s malls.
  • ‘Scab’: MicroToons animation brings microbiology to people with autism.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

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

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about Meet a dinosaur; whale poo; dog happiness; scabby microbiology cartoons; and a Festival of Bright Ideas

An Aussie astronaut, a whale scientist, 3D-printed animal bits, and microbiology for neurodiversity

National Science Week offers dozens of stories featuring powerhouses of Women in Science

  • Meganne Christian: an evening with an Aussie engineer turned future astronaut.
  • Meet the female curators, artists and scientists behind the DARK MATTERS exhibition.
  • Whales, poo, Antarctica, and onboard a Southern Ocean research ship with Dr Vanessa Pirotta.
  • Rethink gender stereotypes by exploring the world of female reproduction in the animal kingdom, with science communicator Tiana Pirtle.
  • Should we embrace our animal nature? Science comedian Alanta Colley moderates the Sci fight Science Comedy Debate.
  • Software, sunscreen and STEM Sisters: pop-up science talks outside the State Library.
  • Black Holes: Journey into the unknown with Dr Tanya Hill.
  • ‘Scab’: MicroToons animation brings microbiology to people with autism, lead by scientist and author Dr Rina Fu.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

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

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about An Aussie astronaut, a whale scientist, 3D-printed animal bits, and microbiology for neurodiversity

Scientists in drag; satirical science music; sci-fi costume competitions; and dark matters

Great National Science Week YOUTH stories up for grabs now around Australia

  • Scientists in drag battle.
  • Should we embrace our animal nature? Sci fight Science Comedy Debate.
  • Improv and 3D-printed animal vaginas reveal the world of female reproduction.
  • Satirical science music ‘Road to Reason’: album launch at Planetarium.
  • Can art make the invisible universe visible?
  • Shirty Science: artists and researchers team up for t-shirts.
  • Are we space-industry ready?
  • Astrophysicists vs science fiction, and a sci-fi costume competition.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

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

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about Scientists in drag; satirical science music; sci-fi costume competitions; and dark matters

Science denialism; the new space race; happiness; plastic eating microbes; and female animal reproductive bits!

Wednesday 16 August 2023

Highlights from day five of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.

NSW: What’s the secret to happiness? An 85-year-long scientific study has some ideas.

VIC: Should we care about science denialism?

VIC: Decolonising fire: Indigenous land stewardship in Australia and America.

TAS: Multi-chambered vaginas, elongated clitorises, pseudo-penises and more: improv and 3D-printed animal vaginas reveal the world of female reproduction.

SA: How can you trick your senses to help with pain relief?

SA: From giant birds to mega-marsupials, what makes South Australia’s fossil heritage so remarkable?

QLD: The new race to explore the solar system with Dr Brad Tucker.

NSW: Modifying microbes to eat plastic.

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

Also today:
[Read more…] about Science denialism; the new space race; happiness; plastic eating microbes; and female animal reproductive bits!

Blade Runner; satirical science music; a scabby cartoon; and a celebrity science quiz, with slime!

Great National Science Week ENTERTAINMENT stories up for grabs now around Australia

  • National Science Quiz: Are you smarter than a TV personality?
  • The Drag Experiment: Meet the performers mixing scientific concepts with drag.
  • Satirical science music ‘Road to Reason’: album launch at a planetarium.
  • Blade Runner: what do neuroscientists and bioethics experts think?
  • An Aussie astronaut, art therapy, deep sea science, DNA sonification – Sydney Science Festival.
  • Racing robots, seed bombs, an augmented reality sandpit, and more at Festival of Bright Ideas in Hobart.
  • Street Science on the farm at the Ekka.
  • ‘Scab’: MicroToons animation brings microbiology to people with autism.
  • Paint with a UV torch at ‘Sea of Light’, a light installation at MAGNT.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

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

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about Blade Runner; satirical science music; a scabby cartoon; and a celebrity science quiz, with slime!

The art of dark matter, satirical science music, and making the atmosphere tangible

Great National Science Week ARTS stories up for grabs now around Australia

  • Is AI the next Shakespeare: can it write a play?
  • DARK MATTERS exhibition – can art make the invisible universe visible?
  • Meet the chemistry graduate turned artist behind the Atmospheric Memory exhibition.
  • The Drag Experiment: Meet the performers mixing scientific concepts with drag.
  • Creativity: are you born with it? Or can it be cultivated?
  • Satirical science music ‘Road to Reason’: album launch at a planetarium.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

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

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about The art of dark matter, satirical science music, and making the atmosphere tangible

Culture and the cosmos; learning on Country; elemental energies; and a health lab on wheels

Great National Science Week INDIGENOUS SCIENCE stories up for grabs now around Australia

  • The culture of the cosmos: Country and Sky with a space archaeologist and an Indigenous astrophysicist.
  • Indigenous science, song-lines and stars at the planetarium in Wollongong.
  • The night sky, bush food, and technology at Redfern’s Indigenous Science Experience.
  • Payirri-Apinthirlu Naalityangka: the First Nations Science Festival – Adelaide.
  • A health lab on wheels and AI ‘time machine’ shows impact of disease.
  • Limurr dharr djiwarr: learning on Country.
  • Earth, air, water and fire: Noongar knowledge and elemental energies.

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

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

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about Culture and the cosmos; learning on Country; elemental energies; and a health lab on wheels

Modifying microbes to eat plastic; climate solutions; rewilding to save species; and what policies add up?

Great National Science Week ENVIRONMENT stories up for grabs now around Australia

  • Do environmental policies add up? Ask Hugh Possingham, a professor of both maths and zoology.
  • Bandicoots, platypuses, and more: can we save our endangered species through rewilding?
  • Leafy green cities, coastal wetlands, microalgae: the climate solutions you wish you knew about.
  • Citizen scientists wanted to investigate microplastics.
  • Meet the super microbes who could save us from plastic.
  • Archaeology in space and on Earth in a changing climate.
  • How the Southern Ocean is keeping the planet from overheating.
  • Tree scientist encourages gardeners to grow the urban forest.

More on these highlights below.

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

Read on for direct contact details for each event, or contact Tanya Ha – tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

[Read more…] about Modifying microbes to eat plastic; climate solutions; rewilding to save species; and what policies add up?

Space junk, Sky Country, bloody science at school, and saving species with data and rewilding

Monday 14 August: highlights from day three of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.

NSW: Space junk and Sky Country: meet a space archaeologist and an Indigenous astrophysicist.

NSW: Bandicoots, platypuses, and more: can we save our endangered species through rewilding?

VIC: Astrophysicists vs science fiction, and a sci-fi costume competition.

National (QLD talent): TV presenter Dr Rob Bell shares bloody science with kids in 200 schools nationwide.

ACT: Join a model ichthyosaur at The Rocks That Shape Australia Exhibition launch.

ACT: Pew-pew! Fact or fiction in Hollywood ballistics.

SA: Can data save the dolphins? It may with your help.

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

Also today:
[Read more…] about Space junk, Sky Country, bloody science at school, and saving species with data and rewilding

An Aussie astronaut, Noongar knowledge, and do environmental policies add up?

Tuesday 15 August: highlights from day four of National Science Week

Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.

NSW: Meganne Christian: meet the Aussie engineer set to become an astronaut.

National: Which artist-researcher duo will win the battle to design the top Shirty Science t-shirt?

ACT: Do environmental policies add up? Ask Hugh Possingham, a professor of both maths and zoology.

NSW: Leafy green cities, coastal wetlands, microalgae: the climate solutions you wish you knew about.

TAS: Cats, chemicals, brains, stress, and space junk: young scientists tour Tasmanian schools.

WA: A band of physicists go on a road trip to explain quantum and dark matter.

WA: Noongar knowledge and elemental energies from earth, air, water and fire.

NT: Paint with a UV torch at ‘Sea of Light’, a light installation at MAGNT.

NT: A health lab on wheels and AI ‘time machine’ shows impact of disease.

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

Also today:
[Read more…] about An Aussie astronaut, Noongar knowledge, and do environmental policies add up?