Plants in space; FarmBots; a Poo Palace; saving turtles with a smartphone; and swamp life with ‘Ginger’ the dinosaur

Sunday 18 August

Highlights from the final day of National Science Week

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

VIC: Art meets science in a high-tech exhibition inspired by science fiction

NSW: Meet ‘Ginger’ the life-sized Australovenator dinosaur at Science in the Swamp – Centennial Park, Sydney

VIC: Breakfast in a petri dish: inside the lab of ‘The Man Who Invented Vegemite’ – Beaufort

SA: How to grow a Martian garden – Roseworthy

NT: 9-metre whale puppet tells ‘The Whale’s Tale’ – Darwin

QLD: Are robots rolling onto farms? – Royal Queensland Show, Brisbane

WA: Dark matter on the on the move – Broome

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

National Science Week 2024 runs from 10 to 18 August.

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

Media centre here. Images for media here.

General Science Week media enquiries: Tanya Ha, tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863

More about the event highlights

Art-science exhibition explores science fiction – Parkville, VIC

The free exhibition SCI-FI: Mythologies Transformed at Science Gallery Melbourne offers fresh insights on science fiction – a genre built on envisioning alternative futures and imaginary realms.

The lines connecting science fiction with ancient philosophy and mythologies are brought to light by Asian artists and collectives. Shown in Australia for the first time, this narrative is expanded to incorporate First Nations perspectives and knowledges.

Image credit: Miko No Inori (1996) by Mariko Mori.

Throughout August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/sci-fi-mythologies-transformed/parkville

Media enquiries: Katrina Hall, kathall@ozemail.com.au or 0421 153 046.

Science Gallery Melbourne Director Ryan Jefferies and Head of Curatorial Tilly Boleyn are available for media interviews.

Meet a dinosaur (and others) at Centennial Park – Sydney, NSW

Say hello to Ginger the life-size Australovenator dinosaur, touch the world’s biggest seed, make a survival shelter or visit the pop-up ocean lab.

Science in the Swamp returns to Loch Avenue South at Centennial Park, packed with science, fun and discovery.

Engage in hands-on experiments, get up close with native animals and meet real life scientists including geologists, zoologists, mathematicians and marine biologists.

With over 30 stalls and exhibitors, live shows and food trucks.

Sunday 18 August. Event details: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-in-the-swamp-3/centennial-park/

Media enquiries: media@gsp.nsw.gov.au

Breakfast in a petri dish: inside the lab of ‘The Man Who Invented Vegemite’ – Beaufort, VIC

Vegemite caviar on toast? 101 years after its invention by preeminent scientist and food technologist, Dr Cyril Callister, the iconic Aussie spread that’s already been launched into space and proven to conduct electricity is set to fuel a new class of scientific discoveries.

Inaugural Cyril Callister Foundation Scholarship winner Samuel Varjabedian – a future microbiologist undertaking his honors on reptile-related salmonella at Ballarat’s Federation University – will switch focus to experiments using Vegemite to celebrate the launch of Cyril’s Lab. A replica 1923 science space at Cyril Callister Museum.

Vegemite caviar is one of the experiments adapted for use to inspire young scientists. Samuel will also demonstrate how the spread conducts electricity on a breadboard circuit connected to a lightbulb.

Sunday 18 August: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-man-who-invented-vegemite-cyrils-lab-pass-sunday-18-august-2024/beaufort/

Media enquiries: Libby Callister, libby@callistermedia.com.au or 0418 151 685.

Plants in space! How to grow a Martian garden – Roseworthy, SA

Could you live in a Martian garden? Over the next 30 years, human missions to the moon and Mars are planned: but can these extreme environments provide habitat for humans?

Five events across South Australia, Victoria, and Western Australia will invite the public to explore these challenges and try their hand at life beyond Earth in ‘The Martian Garden’.

Hear from ARC Centre of Excellence in Plants for Space researchers about selecting and adapting plant and microbial species to survive and thrive in new and extreme environments, how to support sustainable new ecosystems off-world, and how to find novel approaches back on Earth.

Sunday 18 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-martian-garden/roseworthy/

Media enquiries: Lieke van der Hulst, lieke.vanderhulst@adelaide.edu.au or 08 8313 6669; Frazer Thorpe, f.thorpe@latrobe.edu.au or 0459 762 299.

Scientists Jenny Mortimer and Christine Feinle-Bisset are available for media interviews.

See demonstrations of Mars Rovers at the Exterres Analogue Facility.

Are robots rolling onto farms? – Royal Queensland Show, Brisbane

Find out on the ‘Ekka Learning Trail’. Wellies optional.

The self-guided tour showcases Australian Curriculum linked educational activities for children of all ages, including a focus on AgTech and the science behind food and fibres; biological diversity; natural selection; adaptations; and evolution.

On the trail, meet the AgTech wizards of the future, aka winners of the Ekka’s Greenhouse Innovator Competition for schools. Tasked with the challenge of optimising food production, students used robotics while collecting and analysing data from plant growth experiments on their own classroom lettuce farms.

Sunday 18 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/royal-queensland-show-ekka/bowen-hills

Media enquiries: Veronica Carew, vcarew@rna.org.au or 0408 323 631.

Meet reptiles, daleks, dinosaurs, robots, and more while you’re shopping – multiple locations, ACT

Science while you shop! Pop-up science activity centres will give shoppers the chance to meet scientists, engineers, and daleks, and learn about space, engineering with LEGO, live reptiles, dinosaurs, parasites, chemistry, geology, robotics, and more.

Westfield Belconnen, Westfield Woden, South.Point Tuggeranong, Cooleman Court, Gungahlin Marketplace, and the Canberra Centre will host a variety of displays and hands-on science activities during the weekends of National Science Week (10 – 11 and 17 – 18 August).

Multiple dates and locations.

Media enquiries: actscienceweek@gmail.com

Representatives from stallholders are available for interview.

Saving turtles with a smartphone – Sydney Zoo, Bungarribee, NSW

Help scientists save turtles and platypuses with smartphone apps, find out about chimps and orangutans, or build a bee or bug hotel. These are some of the things Sydney locals, visitors and an online audience will be invited to do as part of Sydney Zoo’s Science of Survival festival, located in Western Sydney.

Activities and workshops include wildlife friendly gardening workshops, virtual excursions for schools, protecting local turtles with First Nation knowledge and TurtleSAT-enabled citizen science, and a Discovery Trail to view endangered species including the green and golden bell frog, koalas, bilbies, potoroos, eastern quolls, orangutans, tigers, giraffes, elephants, cheetahs, African painted dogs, and lions. Signs and QR codes to short videos explain the importance of the species survival and the science involves.

Until Sunday 18 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/sydney-zoo-presents-science-week-the-science-of-survival/bungarribee

Media enquiries: media@sydneyzoo.com or 02 7202 2558.

9-metre whale puppet tells The Whale’s Tale – The Gardens, NT

When a whale washes up on a beach and is discovered by a child, the whale’s spirit embarks on a journey to find out what is wrong, with the help of one Dr Walrus.

Featuring a giant whale puppet, The Whale’s Tale outdoor interactive theatre show combines playful performance with an inspiring environmental message through the eyes of a child. The show highlights the plight of northern Australian whales and the threat of ocean pollution.

The show is part of the Darwin Festival and will be performed outdoors at the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory.

Until Sunday 18 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-whales-tale/the-gardens

Media enquiries: Kirsti Abbott, Kirsti.Abbott@magnt.net.au or 0466 726 525.

Step inside the Poo Palace – Newcastle, NSW

Experience the journey that food goes on, and ask the experts about digestion, farts and faeces, gut health and good bacteria.

The Poo Palace is a giant inflatable re-creation of the digestive system where children take a sensory adventure through the gastrointestinal tract, from lips to lavatory.

The Poo Palace is made up of 4 modules that mimic the journey food takes along the digestive tract (mouth, stomach, small intestine, large intestine).

Children learn first-hand how food moves through the body, and through live experiments with researchers from the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

Sunday 18 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-poo-palace/newcastle

Media enquiries: Tracy McKelligott, tracy.mckelligott@hmri.org.au or 0415 499 409.

Can environmental arts activism save the world? – Wyangala, NSW

What do our native trees have to say amidst climate change? ‘Eucalyptus Monolgues’ or the inner voices of our native trees – derived from the tree genome, field recordings and generative music from live trees – are amplified among a myriad of arts activations focused on environmentalism during ERTHWRX24.

The multi-day event by the CORRIDOR project (a not-for-profit multidisciplinary arts and cultural organisation) brings together community, scientists, cultural knowledge holders, architects, ecologists, traditional medicine, global explorers, and artists ‘to ideate, create, share and explore humanity’s entangled relationship with natural environments’.

Artists on the line-up include Angus Fisher, whose charcoal drawings capture the beauty of the Moon, impacting all life on Earth, created during a residency program at the CORRIDOR project, exploring night skies and drawing and recording the passing moon with an on-site telescope.

ERTHWRX24 involves 25 artists and 16 panellists.

Sunday 18 August at Cowra Micro Gallery

www.scienceweek.net.au/event/erthwrx24-national-science-week-2024/wyangala/

Media enquiries: Phoebe Cowdery, phoebe@thecorridorproject.org or 0413 910 697.

Dark matter on the move – touring Australia’s cities and regions

Meet dark matter hunters and quantum experts at events across Australia.

The National Quantum & Dark Matter Road Trip will tour pubs and schools in cities and towns around Australia starting off at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, then heading to Dalby, Cloncurry, Ballarat, Sydney, Perth, Kununurra, Broome, Dandenong, Melbourne and many other places between 4 August and 19 August.

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.