Science in Sydney Harbour; naval weather; psychedelics; whale rescue; owl vomit; and a giant inflatable poo palace

Science Week continues in New South Wales

• An icy ocean expert and the navy’s weather forecaster talk climate and careers
• Psychedelics, flicker light therapy, hypnosis and other mind-altering tools
• Saving the Sydney seahorse, protecting the zebra shark and restoring Sydney’s underwater forests
• What happens if you find a dinosaur bone in your back yard?
• Step inside a giant, woolly gut: community knit-in explores gut-brain axis
• Follow food from lips to lavatory in the giant inflatable Poo Palace – Newcastle
• What does DNA sound like?
• Knot maths to untangle transit maps, social networks and machine learning
• Science in the Swamp: meet a dinosaur at Centennial Park

• Saving lives at sea: whales, knot-tying and chemistry of distress flares – Port Macquarie
• Zoo poo, singing frogs and elephants using infrasound

• Vote for Australia’s most underrated animals

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, [email protected] or 0404 083 863; or Shelley Thomas, [email protected] or 0416 377 444.

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

Media centre here. Images for media here.

An icy ocean expert and the navy’s weather forecaster talk climate and careers – Sydney

High school students are set to take a deep dive into climate science, meteorology and oceanography at the Australian National Maritime Museum. They will meet:

• Swimmer, surfer and Australia’s leading ocean modeller, Matthew England, who first captured Antarctic water-masses in global climate models. The UNSW Scientia Professor received the Pavel S. Molchanov Climate Communications Prize.
• Royal Australian Navy Meteorology and Oceanography Officer, Lieutenant Holly Boubouras, who spent a stint working in Antarctica.

Students will explore the museum, including its science exhibitions and a Navy Destroyer.

Friday 15 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/decoding-the-ocean/darling-harbour/

Media enquiries: Alex Gonzalex, [email protected] / [email protected] or 0401 545 778.

Alter your consciousness – Marrickville

Can psychedelics, flicker light therapy, hypnosis, meditation and other ancient and modern mind-altering tools improve mental health and cognition?

Find out when researchers from Macquarie University’s Altered States Lab present ‘Science at the Edge of Consciousness’, inviting the public to experience and compare some consciousness altering technologies.

Thursday 14 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-at-the-edge-of-consciousness/marrickville/

Media enquiries: Vince Polito, [email protected] or 0420 758 577.

Macquarie University communications team, [email protected] or 0435 294 123.  

Dr Vince Polito, who leads the Altered States Lab, is available for media interviews.

Saving the Sydney seahorse, protecting the zebra shark and restoring Sydney’s underwater forests – Barangaroo

Ocean researchers are going to great efforts to protect and restore Sydney’s ocean environments and are available for interview:

• Aliah Banchik, a sharks and rays researcher and contestant on the new Netflix series All the Sharks.
• Mitchell Brennan of the Sydney Seahorse Project, who is breeding more than 140 Sydney seahorses and releasing them into ‘seahorse hotels’ in Sydney Harbour.
• Dr Janine Ledet of Living Seawalls, who creates underwater habitat modules to increase biodiversity around seawalls and piers.
• Isobel Lerpiniere of the NSW Ocean Outlook program, who is keeping a finger on the ocean’s pulse by tracking turtles, seals and fish populations and monitoring water quality.
• Tia Bool of Project Restore, which is a world first in a seascape-wide approach to restoring many habitats at once, from fish pods to living walls to underwater forests.
• Emma Bowen of the Integrated Marine Observing System, who is leading a national program of ocean monitoring.

These experts will also take part in a panel discussion at the SEA LIFE Sydney Aquarium on the diverse paths, insights and challenges faced by conservation researchers. The aquarium’s current exhibits highlight these projects and the impact of research on habitat restoration, fisheries sustainability and endangered species protection.

Thursday 14 August. Event details: https://www.scienceweek.net.au/event/decoding-the-ocean-listening-learning-and-leading/barangaroo

Media enquiries: Aliah Banchik, Sydney Institute of Marine Science (SIMS), [email protected], 0474 702 152.

What happens if you find a dinosaur bone in your back yard? – Ryde

Find out what to do if you dig up a fossil or First Nations artefact from palaeontologist and archaeologist Sally Hurst, who launched ‘Found a Fossil Project’.

She talks about life as a female fossil hunter and invites audience questions when Ryde Library hosts ‘Dinosaurs after Dark’.

Thursday 14 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/dinosaurs-after-dark-with-palaeontologist-sally-hurst-ryde-library/ryde/

Media enquiries: Sally Hurst, [email protected] or 0400 906 823.

Sally Hurst is available for media interviews. The event forms part of the ‘Digging up Ryde’ series, also featuring Jurassic VR experiences, fun fossil digs, volcanoes, and encounters with live lizards, frogs and crocodiles.

Step inside a giant, woolly gut – Gymea

Textile artists and community members have knitted a giant walk-in gut to explore the gut microbiome and its impact on mental health.

It’s part of the ‘Gut Feelings’ exhibition, the brainchild of three artists behind a collaborative science-based crafting initiative that builds on the success of the Neural Knitworks project.

For the past two years, the team has presented numerous workshops and informal knit and stitch sessions across Sydney. This has brought people of all ages and abilities together to create textile microbes and intestinal villi and find out about the gut-brain connection.

Community members involved in ‘Gut Feelings’ have engaged with researchers and followed scientifically-informed patterns to knit, crochet, weave and stitch more than 4,000 villi, 450 gut epithelial cells, hundreds of microbes, a life-size figure showing the longest nerve in the body, and an assortment of food.

Researchers who participated in the project are from UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, University of Technology and ANSTO. Others from Flinders University (South Australia) and the University of Western Australia have provided research images on display alongside the crafted installations.

The free exhibition at Hazelhurt Arts Centre aims to immerse visitors in ‘a playful yet serious’ exploration of the gut-brain axis, including a talk on Sunday 17 August.

Friday 15 August – Tuesday 2 September. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/gut-feelings/gymea/

Media enquiries: Pat Pillai, [email protected] or 0408 213 844. Rita Pearce, 0421 049 825, and Mary Hyman, 0424 100 597.

Lead artist Pat Pillai, textile artist Rita Pearce (life-size figure) and art educator Mary Hayman (walk-in gut) are available for interviews.

Step inside the Poo Palace – Newcastle

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.

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

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

Sunday 17 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/hunter-science-festival-3/newcastle/

Media enquiries: El Fitchett, [email protected] or (02) 4042 0827.

Science in the swamp: superpowers of nature - Centennial Park

Explore plankton’s critical role in conservation, ID a frog, learn how Indigenous knowledge systems harness nature’s superpowers, use solar scopes to observe the sun, or wander the wetlands. ‘Science in the Swamp’ also features Ginger the life-sized Australovenator dinosaur, a spider show, explosive experiments, a slime station and more. The free event is a partnership between Centennial Parklands and science exhibition providers. The 2025 theme explores extraordinary adaptations of plants, animals and ecosystems.

Sunday 17 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/science-in-the-swamp-2025/centennial-park

Media enquiries: [email protected]

Science behind saving lives at sea – Port Macquarie

Rescue a model whale, compete in knot-tying, goggle at underwater drones and learn how waves, wind and currents impact marine rescue operations. From the chemistry of distress flares to physics of personal floatation devices, survival at sea is anchored to advances in science.

Volunteer Marine Rescue NSW invites the public to discover the underlying scientific principles that make search and rescue operations possible.

Meet marine rescue volunteers, master mariners, an ex-Navy clearance diver, remote sensing experts, and marine and earth systems scientists at this family-friendly event, complete with competitions and prizes.

Alison Cameron-Brown, a master level mariner, will also discuss the role of women in the marine industry, highlighting careers in marine science.

Saturday 16 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-science-of-behind-saving-lives-at-sea/port-macquarie/

Media enquiries: Dr Dustin Welbourne, [email protected] or 0408 434 765.

Knot maths to untangle transit maps, social networks, and machine learning – Camperdown

Meet maths professor Zsuzsanna Dancso, who uses the mathematics of knots to untangle complex transit maps, understand social networks, and improve machine learning.

Zsuzsanna shares how algebra and the mathematics of knots reveal surprising connections between shapes and systems.

Friday 15 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/knots-graphs-and-algebra-a-story-of-surprises-sydney-mathematical-research-institute-public-lecture/camperdown

Media enquiries: Catherine Meister, [email protected] or 0466 923 937.

Professor Zsuzsanna Dancso is available for media interviews.

Zoo poo, singing frogs, and elephants using infrasound – Bungarribee

How do wild animals and insects communicate? What can animal poo samples and genetics tell us? And why do bats rely on ultrasonic sounds for hunting, while elephants produce infrasound?

Ask the experts at Sydney Zoo, as they lead a program of special activities.

Plus, tap into First Nations Knowledge on the ‘Bungarribee Dreaming’ experience, led by Aboriginal guides.

Saturday 9 – Sunday 17 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/sydney-zoo-presents-national-science-week-decoding-the-wild/bungarribee/

Media enquiries: Natasha Budinski, Sydney Zoo Media Manager, [email protected] or 02 7202 2558.

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 shortlist (those found in NSW indicated with):

Palm cockatoo

Dugong

Short-fin eel

Great desert skink

Ghost bat

Rakali (native water rat)

Marsupial mole

Turtle frogs

Giant cuttlefish

Velvet worm