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50 ways to die in space; 3D-printed pills; future food; saber-tooth skulls; dinosaur maths; why do whales sing?

National Science Week

Media enquiries: Anita Milroy, [email protected] or 0417 602 412.

Call of the wild: why citizen scientists need tech upskilling – Gold Coast and online

Wildlife monitoring is being transformed by new technologies, including eco-acoustics, thermal imaging, drones, artificial intelligence and remote 4G cameras. But it can be hard for citizen scientists and rural and remote communities to keep up with how these tools can make it easier to track populations and identify environmental changes.

The ‘Tech Meets Nature Showcase’ will be delivered as a free in-person and livestreamed event (registration essential) at Griffith University’s Gold Coast campus. It will connect Indigenous rangers, researchers and community groups, providing education on use of these technologies and open-source tools to protect a range of iconic species, from koalas to glossy black cockatoos, platypus and malleefowl.

Experts include:

• Minyumai rangers – blending Traditional Knowledge with 4G cameras, drones and acoustic monitors to protect koalas, dingoes and glossy black cockatoos.
• Quandamooka ranger and rehab expert, Dan Crouch and Dan Carter – combining cultural knowledge and science for land management—from drone surveys of koalas to fire history, feral control, and swamp daisy recovery.
• Dr Daniella Teixeira (QUT) – acoustic monitoring for glossy black cockatoos.
• Dr Douglas Kerlin (Griffith University) – reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions with tech.
• Dr Mark de Bruyn (Griffith University) – eDNA to assess biodiversity at massive scales—unlocking insights from sediment to sea for both extinct and living species.
• Dr Tamielle Brunt (PlatypusWatch) – eDNA and platypus conservation.
• Joshua Cooper (National Malleefowl Recovery Group) – malleefowl conservation through LIDAR.

The event is organised by the Glossy Black Conservancy, an independent conservation and research association.

Tuesday 12 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/tech-meets-nature-showcase/southport/

Media enquiries:  Samantha Morris, [email protected] and [email protected] or 0421 709 519.

VR farming, AgBots, and strawberry sundaes – Royal Queensland Show, Brisbane

Discover them all at the Ekka. Gumboots optional.

Children of all ages can join the ‘Ekka Learning Trail’ – a self-guided tour that showcases Australian Curriculum linked educational activities grounded in AgScience topics.

Saturday 9 – Sunday 17 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-royal-queensland-show-ekka/bowen-hills/

Media enquiries: Veronica Carew, [email protected] or 0408 323 631 and Kelly Hawke, [email protected] or 0438 340 989.

Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert helps audiences second guess pseudoscience and conspiracy theories – Brisbane

Award-winning songwriter and science communicator Nate Eggins (aka Conspiracy of One) brings his quirky, cosmic grooves back to Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium.

Nate explores scientific and psychological concepts through pop-rock-funk songs like ‘We're All Aliens, Baby’ and ‘The Sound a Duck Makes’.

Concert goers will enjoy a free ‘homeopathic cocktail’ against the starry backdrop of the Skydome.

And they will hear from special guest scientists:

• University Queensland Palaeontology PhD candidate Amber-Rose Faith talks about dinosaurs
• Jesse Richardson (award-winning advertising creative director and founder of The School of Thought International) focuses on critical thinking.

Saturday 16 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/planetarium-concert-live-music-in-the-skydome-2/toowong/

Media enquiries: Nate Eggins, [email protected] or 0402 593 431

Nate Eggins is available for media interviews.

Prehistoric Queensland in Rockhampton

A saber-tooth skull, T-Rex tooth, and prehistoric birds are headed to Rockhampton schools to give country kids a city museum experience.

Author and museum educator Phil Hore is bringing ‘an entire natural history museum’ into classrooms through two Museum@School programs.

• ‘History of the Universe in 45 minutes’ allows students to see and touch fossils and minerals from almost every major event in Prehistory.
• ‘Prehistoric Queensland’ showcases the oldest dinosaur remains, our oldest bird, a T. rex tooth, a saber-tooth skull and various remains from Australian mega-fauna’.

Saturday 9 August – Sunday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/museumschool/rockhampton/

Media enquiries: Phil Hore, [email protected], 0413 500 303.

Phil Hore is available for media interviews. For the past 20 years, Phil has been a museum educator and designed tours for some of the world’s leading institutions including the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington; the Natural History Museum in London; the Australian War Memorial, Questacon, and more.

Why do whales sing and breach when they migrate? – Brisbane

What challenges do whales face during their annual migration from Antarctica to Australia? Does whale song and the act of breaching aid navigation? And what can we learn from whale snot and poo.

Ask wildlife biologist and author Dr Vanessa Pirotta at an adults-only ‘Science Night’ at Queensland Museum’s SparkLab.  

Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-night-whales-with-dr-vanessa-pirotta/south-brisbane/

Media enquiries: Christine Robertson, [email protected] or 0417 741 710 and Kylie Hay, [email protected] or 0434 565 852.

Dr Vanessa Pirotta is available for media interviews. She is one of Australia’s most renowned wildlife scientists. Her research uses innovative technologies for wildlife conservation, working collaboratively across marine/terrestrial environments and merging cutting edge tech to access animals in unique ways (think whale snot drones and AI to detect illegal wildlife trafficking).

What’s cooking in 2050 and 2100? – Gladstone

Find out by joining a low carbon picnic that doubles as a sustainable social experiment, with chefs whipping up a future food smorgasbord that highlights ingredients that may be grown around Gladstone under different climate scenarios. Audiences will be invited to taste and vote on their favourite future flavours.

If food isn’t your priority, discover how Gladstone is driving Australia’s decarbonisation transition and why it’s home to the world’s largest seagrass restoration nursery. Sniff out climate change. Or go on a sunset sound walk punctuated by creative works that use music, dance and light to highlight the region’s unique biosphere on the doorstep of the Southern Great Barrier Reef.

These are just some of the highlights of the two-day Gladstone Art Science Innovation Fest, bringing together university, industry and arts sectors at Central Queensland University and Tannum Sands parklands.

Friday 15 August – Saturday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/gladstone-art-science-innovation-fest/gladstone

Media enquiries: Dr Rebecca Cunningham, [email protected] or 0475 415 245.

First Nations students do Deadly Science in biomedical lab – Brisbane

Schools can access a two-day program designed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students that aims to break down barriers to higher education and spark interest in biomedical science.

‘Explore the Unknown’ – the brainchild of The University of Queensland and SPARQ-ed, a biomedical education initiative run by the Translational Research Institute (TRI) – takes place in TRI’s state-of-the-art biomedical research lab. Students will learn from scientists and university staff, joined by special guests from DeadlyScience.

Thursday 14 August – Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/explore-the-unknown-biomedical-science-experience-for-first-nations-high-school-students/woolloongabba

Media enquiries: Lily White, [email protected] or (07) 3443 6920.

Pharmacies of the future – Woolloongabba

3D-printed pills. Nanomedicine. Personalised skin patches.

Step inside The University of Queensland’s pharmacy lab and meet the experts making future medicines:

• Dr Taskeen Janjua Khan, specialist in brain drug delivery.
• Dr Anjana Jayasree, specialist in local drug delivery (targeted administration of medication to a specific site in the body).
• Professor Amirali Popat, specialist in nano-formulation of drugs.

Visitors can tour the tableting room, create and taste juice-flavoured ‘medicine bubbles’ (to better understand microencapsulation techniques), and join panel discussions.

Wednesday 13 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-in-your-hands/woolloongabba/

Media enquiries: [email protected] or 0429 056 139.

50 ways to die in space – Brisbane

Space: the final frontier. Beautiful. Intriguing. Mysterious. But if you go there, YOU WILL DIE!

Astrophysicist Dr Eileen O’Hely writes about the physics and physiology of existing – and ceasing to exist – in deep space.

The author of children’s graphic novel 50 Ways to Die in Space will explore the topic with illustrator Nico O’Sullivan.

Participants can also design and launch a paper rocket.

Saturday 16 August. Multiple session times, including sensory friendly and Auslan interpreted.

Media enquiries: Eileen O'Hely, [email protected] or 0431 945 392.

Launch a rocket in Toowoomba

Cobb + Co museum swaps horsepower for rocket power

Toowoomba residents get the chance to launch rockets, code space rovers, and discover astrobotany at a free community day at the city’s Cobb + Co museum.

The historic site, which forms part of Queensland Museum, plays host to a World Science Festival Queensland regional event timed during National Science Week.

The ‘Robots and Rocketry’ program covers robotics, aerospace and engineering across three zones – Lift Off, Roving Worlds, and Surviving Space.

Saturday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/world-science-festival-queensland-toowoomba-community-day/toowoomba/

Media enquiries: Christine Robertson, [email protected] or 0417 741 710 and  Kylie Hay, [email protected] or 0434 565 852.

Did dinosaurs do maths? – online via Winton

How fast did dinosaurs run? And what can prehistoric calculations teach us?

Maths teacher turned Australian Age of Dinosaurs education manager Grant Salmond leads an online class as part of SciFest 2025, aka Australia’s biggest virtual excursion festival.

Tuesday 12 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/did-dinosaurs-do-maths/

From 11 to 15 August, SciFest 2025 features 15 educators in lesson formats covering Science Storytime, Lunchtime Trivia, Live Science shows and a Careers in STEM panel. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/scifest-2024-2/

Other highlights include: Oceans at Night with Dr Vanessa Pirotta; Sid and the Very Hard to Find Squid with Dr James O’Hanlon; Be a marine biologist for a day with Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority.

Media enquiries: Australian Age of Dinosaurs: Grant Salmond, [email protected] or (07) 4657 0078. SciFest 2025: Karen Player, [email protected] or 0407 976 892.

Sustainability beyond recycling and composting – Magnetic Island, Townsville

Discover meaningful and practical ways to better safeguard our planet through a series of workshops and tours on regenerative design, First Nations knowledge systems, the circular economy and biodiversity conservation.

‘Nature’s Blueprint: Science, Regenerative Design, and Sustainability’ is organised by GRaB (Grow Recycle & Build) Eco Park.

Activities include turning waste into construction materials (glass into sand and plastic into sheets), crafting products from organic waste (coffee ground tiles), creating natural dyes from plant-based materials, Indigenous land management (cultural and ecological importance of cool burning and medicinal plant use) and learning about native island plants. 

Saturday 9 August – Monday 11 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/natures-blueprint/nelly-bay/

Media enquiries: Sara Cole, [email protected] or 0417 542 602.

What is Australia’s most underrated animal? – online

Do weird and wonderful Aussie creatures get the attention they deserve? For Science Week 2025, ABC Science wants Australians to cast their vote for Australia’s most underrated animal.

Not the usual cuddly crowd-pleasers, but the ugly, the annoying and the lesser-known critters that are often over-looked, under-conserved and underrated.

“We are trying to do the impossible here and rate what may be unrateable, vote on what may be un-findable, but most of all, find out as much as we can about animals which live their entire lives outside the spotlight of popular consciousness,” says Dr Ann Jones from ABC Radio National podcast What the Duck?!

The search for Australia’s most underrated animal will be decided on Friday 15 August. Images here.

Friday 1 August – Friday 15 August: To find out more and vote, go to www.abc.net.au/underrated.

For interviews with Dr Ann Jones, contact Amy Reiha, ABC Publicity, [email protected] or 0404 026 039

For interviews with other animal experts and science communicators, contact:
Tanya Ha, [email protected] or 0404 083 863
Shelley Thomas, [email protected] or 0416 377 444.

About National Science Week

National Science Week is Australia’s annual opportunity to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its cultural and economic impact on society – from art to astrophysics, chemistry to climate change, and forensics to future food.

First held in 1997, National Science Week has become one of Australia’s largest festivals. Last year about
3 million people participated in more than 2,000 registered events and activities. 

The festival is proudly supported by the Australian Government, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association, and the ABC.

In 2025 it runs from Saturday 9 to Sunday 17 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.