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Saturday 19 August 2017

Highlights for day eight of National Science Week’s nine-day ‘week’

177 events and exhibitions, 16 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.

Hobart

• Meet the author of Sex, Genes and Rock ‘n’ Roll and other scientists.

Perth

• Tour a forensic science facility and see a mock clandestine drug lab at the ChemCentre open day.

Blue Mountains

• Face-to-face with a dinosaur at Gondwana Garden.

Canberra

• Opening of Canberra’s revamped recycling facility: tour the facility, meet the experts and see how physics sorts trash from treasure. Drone footage available.
• Scienceability: young adults with a disability running a free science workshop open to the public.
• Dancing with the Science Stars: astronomy, gravitational waves and Antarctic research explained… with the help of dancers.

[Read more…] about Sex, genes and rock ‘n’ roll; inside a dodgy drug lab; physics of recycling; and more

Friday 18 August 2017

Highlights for day seven of National Science Week

446 events and exhibitions, 23 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.

Melbourne

• Can science make the world’s most liveable city even better?
• Are your genes your destiny? Gattaca 20 years on.
• What can we learn about ancient astronomy from Mayan ruins? Ask an expert from Honduras.

Sydney

• Teaching students to spot the bull science.

Darwin

• Meet the science writer who turned 13 sea voyages in three years into a book and a play. And hear from her on science, journalism and telling the stories of climate change.

[Read more…] about Keeping the lights on; Mayan astronomy; Whisky Academy; bull science; and more

Dozens of stories and interesting people at 120+ Science Week events in ACT

• Opening of Canberra’s re-vamped recycling facility…tour the facility, meet the experts and see how physics sorts trash from treasure. Drone footage available.
• ‘Tree lobster’ stick insects and small peacock spiders on the big screen. And meet the man who discovered these tiny dancing spiders.
• Scienceability: young adults with a disability running a free science workshop open to the public.
• Ask scientists to explain physics using beer.
• Geoscience Australia open day—see inside Australia’s epicenter for earthquake detection, how we use satellites to find water for agriculture, and precious rocks for our smartphones.
• Dancing with the Science Stars: astronomy, gravitational waves and Antarctic research explained…with the help of dancers.
• 1,000 science Scouts and Guides saving the planet.
• How to turn a ‘dead’ seed into a living plant.
• Do you have a healthy relationship with your smartphone? Researchers want to know.

More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

[Read more…] about Our earthquake science epicenter; new recycling plant opening; ‘tree lobsters’ and peacock spiders; the physics of beer; and more

Thursday 17 August 2017

Highlights from day six of National Science Week

448 events and exhibitions, 22 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.

Sydney

• Wildlife forensics: meet the scientist using genetics to fight illegal wildlife trafficking. And the man who can tell how long you’ve been dead by looking at your bugs.
• Botany distilled: the best plants and science for making your favourite alcoholic drink.
• Raiding nature’s medicine chest: chemistry saving lives and creating jobs.

Charters Towers (near Townsville)

• New MacDonald has a drone: how science and new technologies are changing farming.

Hobart

• What did a voyage to Antarctica tell us about women in science? Meet the scientist studying the scientists.
• Fluorescence: from forensic science to highlighter pens and spinach. Sydney chemist Elizabeth New reveals all.

[Read more…] about The botany of booze; drones on the farm; wildlife forensics; plastic oceans; and more

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Highlights from day five of National Science Week

476 events and exhibitions, 22 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 (10am, Parliament House)

• Send kids through the STARportal towards science skills and careers— launch of this Australian first with Chief Scientist, Minister, and students.

Sydney

• What Western science can learn from 50,000+ years of Indigenous knowledge.
• Madhouse Effect: international experts explain what’s really stopping action on climate change.

Melbourne

• Ask the Interstellar visual effects wiz how to make a black hole on the big screen believable.

Western Australia and South Australia

• Is there an evil weevil lurking in your pantry? Biosecurity agencies want your help.

Perth [Read more…] about The ‘Madhouse Effect’; evil weevils; the funniest physicist; the language of plants; dingo puppies; and more

Dozens of stories and interesting people at 150+ Science Week events in Tasmania

• The barista scientist, the insect lover, and other Young Tassie Scientists tour the state.
• What did a voyage to Antarctica tell us about women in science? Meet the scientist studying the scientists.
• What do rabbits and sea urchins taste like? Fighting invasive species by making them gourmet—Launceston.
• Behind the scenes—how do you make an Attenborough documentary?
• From the ocean’s food chain to the good oil, why krill is crucial, and why Hobart is the krill capital.
• Whisky Academy: the science behind Tassie’s whisky boom—Strahan.
• Multiple Sclerosis: meet the Tassie scientists looking for solutions for the 23,000 Australians affected.
• Fluorescence—from forensic science to highlighter pens and spinach. Sydney chemist Elizabeth New reveals all.
• Tasmanian climate science experts on the big changes that are happening in our oceans and ice—local differences in global warming, sea level rise, acidification and reefs—Sandy Bay and Launceston.
• Trash in the tummies of seabirds, microplastics, and a surfboard fin made from recycled plastic waste: the problems and solutions of ocean plastic pollution.
• Do you have a healthy relationship with your smartphone? Researchers want to know.

More on these highlights below, and others at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and on Twitter at @SciWKMedia.

[Read more…] about From Antarctica to ocean plastics, and fighting MS to the science of whisky…Tassie science on show

Highlights from Day 3 of National Science Week

344 events and exhibitions, 19 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent, including:

Canberra (Parliament House): Innovating Energy Summit: how will we power our future?

Canberra: Ask the Interstellar visual effects wiz how to make a black hole on the big screen believable.

Melbourne: Will Australia’s biomedical research future be as bright as our past achievements? With Gustav Nossal, Anne Kelso and other research leaders.

Sydney:

• The science of Fred Astaire.
• City Recital Hall: Quantum science explained with an electric guitar.
• Time travelling brain: ask neuroscientist Muireann Irish how memory works.

[Read more…] about Making a black hole; Fred Astaire; quantum physics explained by electric guitar; biomedical and renewable energy summits; and more

Sunday 13 August 2017

Highlights from Day 2 of National Science Week

157 events and exhibitions, 16 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent, including:

Melbourne:

• The science of food at Queen Victoria Market, with fruit DNA, zebrafish embryos, liquid nitrogen shows, hands-on experiments, and a marine touch tank.
• Discover the wildlife at Coolart Wetlands.

Sydney:

• The science of sharks and how to save them.
• How do we learn language?

Adelaide:

• What is colour? Pop-up science shows in Rundle Mall.
• What stories can maps tell you? Ask a State Library Explorer in Residence.

Townsville: Earth 2.0: are we moving to Mars?

Launceston: Beetles, bugs, spiders and creepy crawlies at QVMAG Science Open Season.

Canberra: What brings seeds to life? Germination in the nation’s capital.

Perth:

• Tiny eco-homes, native animals, big bubbly science shows, and more at Perth Science Festival.
• And meet the schoolboy inventor and innovator Taj Pabari.

Alice Springs: Can Alice Springs be 100% renewable energy powered by 2030?

Online: How healthy is your relationship with your smartphone? Scientists want to know.

More than 173 events, exhibitions and online activities on offer around the country today.

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

For general Science Week media enquiries:

• Tanya Ha – tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863
• Niall Byrne – niall@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0417 131 977

National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year saw a staggering 1.3 million people participate in more than 1,800 events and activities.

In 2017, National Science Week celebrates its 20^th birthday, with 2,000+ events registered throughout Australia— from insect Olympics in Darwin to ‘Blood’ at Melbourne’s new Science Gallery, to Antarctic science in the Apple Isle—with everything from science festivals, music and comedy shows, expert panel discussions, interactive hands-on displays, open days and online activities.

The festival is proudly supported by the Australian Government; partners CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association and the ABC; and sponsors Cosmos, Discovery Science, New Scientist and Popular Science.

Visit the National Science Week website for the details of events in your area: www.scienceweek.net.au.