Saturday 12 August 2017

Highlights from Day 1 of National Science Week

170 events and exhibitions, 17 online activities, and dozens of great stories and talent, including:

Sydney: Your brain on fake news.

Canberra: What do you get when science meets street art? See ‘Co-Lab’ at Science in ACTion.

Bendigo: Before Hidden Figures, women made The Glass Universe, with US author Dava Sobel.

Melbourne: How does the smell of BLOOD make you feel? at the Science Gallery Melbourne.

Hobart: Ethical farming, the science of piracy and Hobart Hackerspace at the Festival of Bright Ideas

Adelaide: How does your brain work? [Read more…] about Your brain on fake news; an insect festival; science graffiti; and more

Dozens of stories and interesting people at 325+ Science Week events in Victoria

• Art meets science in BLOOD: Attract & Repel.
• A virtual reality look inside a plant cell.
• The science of food at Queen Victoria Market.
• Game your children’s interesting in science.
• Will Australia’s biomedical research future be as bright as our past achievements? With Gustav Nossal, Anne Kelso and other research leaders.
• What do actress Hedy Lamarr, nuclear physicist Lise Meitner and Nobel winner Marie Curie have in common? Their science stories on stage.
• Ask the Interstellar visual effects wiz how to make a black hole on the big screen believable.
• 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.
• 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 Mayan astronomy; biomedical future; black holes on the big screen; a bloody Science Gallery; and more

Press release from: Senator The Hon Arthur Sinodinous AO, Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science and Senator for NSW

National Science Week, which I am delighted to launch today, provides a valuable opportunity for all Australians to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its discoveries and impact on our society.

This is the 20th anniversary of National Science Week and it will be held from 12-20 August.

It has become one of Australia’s biggest festivals with 1.3 million people expected to participate in more than 2000 events, including hands-on and online activities and competitions from the Tiwi Islands to Antarctica and Christmas Island to Cape York.
[Read more…] about National Science Week 2017 showcases key importance of science to the community

Media release posted on behalf of the New South Wales National Science Week Coordinating Committee and the Office of the NSW Chief Scientist

10 August 2017

Communities across New South Wales will have their eyes opened to the wonders of science and technology through a packed program of National Science Week events.

Close to 600 fun and family-friendly events will be hosted by universities, museums and research organisations across the state as part of the annual celebration of science, technology and innovation.

National Science Week, now in its 21^st year, provides an opportunity to acknowledge the contribution of Australian scientists to the world of knowledge.

NSW Chief Scientist & Engineer, Mary O’Kane, says it also seeks to foster a love of science in young Australians.

“National Science Week is a chance not only to celebrate really great achievements and advances in science; but also to stir our next generation of science minds,” Professor O’Kane said.

[Read more…] about Bumper program of National Science Week events to inspire families about wonders of STEM

Scientists in the shopping mall; the science behind the energy crisis; forensic facial reconstruction; and more

Brisbane

• Remarkable science careers: TV presenting, engineering sports tech, immunology with worms, and putting parasites in a book for kids
• Are batteries the answer for keeping the lights on? What’s Australia’s energy crisis all about? Find out at the Big Picture Energy talks
• Commonwealth Games sports science, medical science and making slime at Westfield
• Meet the curators, and a science sleepover at Queensland Museum
• The science of fireworks with the Brisbane Broncos
• Meet the ‘farmer robot’ at Street Science at EKKA
• Battle of the brains: who is the funniest physicist?
• Find out how facial forensic reconstruction works from the scientist whose work helped identify a Belanglo victim—also in Toowoomba

Regional Queensland

• Microbes cleaning up mine sites, how the land effects the Reef, and an ancient fanged kangaroo—talk with science’s female rising stars, touring Cairns, Cloncurry, Mt Isa, and more
• New MacDonald has a drone: how science is shaping rural futures—Charters Towers
• Art-science experiences in the tropics at Cairns

Everywhere: do you have a healthy relationship with your smartphone?

[Read more…] about Dozens of stories and interesting people at 260+ Science Week events in Queensland

8 August 2017, launch at 8.30am at Australian Museum

1 William Street, Sydney. Please enter via Crystal Hall, corner of William and College Streets

With NSW Chief Scientist Mary O’Kane, Australian Museum Executive Director and CEO Kim McKay molecular biology guru Merlin Crossley, Winny the Muttaburrasaurus, and students from Chifley Public School, animals and experiments.

Contact: Claire Vince on Claire.Vince@austmus.gov.au, or 0468 726 910.

Statewide highlights include

• Can parasitic worms halt MS? Or honey fight superbugs?
• Sporty science at the Innovation Games
• The botany of brewing
• The chemistry of the smell of death, with a modern-day Sherlock
• Chemistry saving lives and creating jobs
• Greenhouse or madhouse? What’s holding back climate action?
• Dinosaurs invade the Blue Mountains, and more…

And more than 570 other events across the state.

[Read more…] about 570 Science Week events in NSW New South Wales launches National Science Week with NASA’s mission to Mars; boozy botany; the chemistry of life and death and more

August a prime time to talk innovation and science—National Science Week kicks off 12 August

It’s time to plan your coverage of over 1,800 events across Australia for National Science Week from 12-20 August.

We have national touring speakers, and local events everywhere from the Tiwi Islands to Hobart:

• the man behind the visual effects of Interstellar: Oliver James in Canberra and Melbourne
• US science writer Dava Sobel, author of books The Glass Universe and Longitude in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne and Bendigo
• the 17-year-old inventor of a build-it-yourself tablet, Taj Pabari—in Perth, Darwin and Brisbane
• Australia’s Biggest Smartphone Survey—ABC’s national project
• Australia joins the global Moonhack world record attempt for the most kids coding—national
• Canadian astronaut and ‘Space Oddity’ Chris Hadfield coming to Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne
• Innovating Energy Summit: Powering Australia’s Future at Parliament House in Canberra
• art meets science in ‘Blood’, the first exhibition of the new Science Gallery Melbourne
• Future Earth science lessons in schools; science-themed Brain Break morning teas in workplaces

1,800 events across Australia during National Science Week, with more registered each day, including: [Read more…] about Future Earth, life on Mars, and a gallery full of bloody science