Tassie's dark sky. Underground farm. Robot responders. Health history in a vintage caravan.
Highlights from day 3 of National Science Week
Monday 17 August
Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.
NATIONAL: Design a robot for disasters, oceans or space.
WA: The fleet of caravans that transformed chronic disease, in Busselton.
NSW: A farm under Sydney’s CBD.
TAS: Indigenous astrophysicist and TikTokker and Hive’s astronomer on the value of darkness.
NSW: Junior wildlife detectives and saving turtles and frogs with smartphone apps, at Sydney Zoo.
ACT: Balloon veggies persuade kids to eat healthier food.
NSW: Sydney’s birds take flight in science, music and art.
VIC: Martian wind waves and mushroom leather clothing: artists explore adaptation for survival.
NSW: The Hunter’s ghost mushrooms.
NATIONAL: Cast your vote for Australia’s most amazing wildflower?
Also today:
- VIC: School lessons in how to grow food plants in space at Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.
- SA: Yarn at the Waite with Yuandamarra Kiely, a respected Bundjalung and Yiman Elder, Traditional Lore-man and bush-tucker entrepreneur.
Coming up tomorrow:
VR meets rugby sports psychology. Real CSI jobs. Quantum careers. Snake milking. And a giant wooly gut – see a preview of Tuesday’s highlights.
National Science Week 2026 runs from 15 to 23 August.
Read on for direct contact details for each event, or contact Tanya Ha, [email protected] or 0404 083 863.
- More highlights by state: ACT - NSW - NT - QLD - SA - TAS - VIC - WA.
- More stories by round: The Arts - Business - Children & Family - Environment - Entertainment - Film - Food - Health - Indigenous - Queer - Seniors - Women in Science – Youth – Talkback talent.
- Visit the Media Centre for all media releases and images.
- Or visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.
More about the event highlights
Design a robot for disasters, oceans or space – national
Could you design a robot to help in a disaster, explore underwater or travel through space? CSIRO Robot Responders lets young people step into the role of a robotics engineer, designing robots for missions inspired by real CSIRO research.
Choosing from three environments – caves and lava tubes, marine environments or space – participants learn how robots move, sense the world and reach places too dangerous for people. Free hands-on activities, design challenges, a card game and an online game are available for schools, libraries, community groups and home.
A robot-design competition offers prizes including 3D printers and education vouchers, with book hampers for the first 200 registrations.
Runs until 23 August (online, nationwide): www.scienceweek.net.au/event/csiro-robot-responders
Media enquiries: Esther Etkin, CSIRO, [email protected] or 0416 355 725.
Available for interviews:
- Ruth Carr, CSIRO Director of Education and Outreach
- Dr Hashini Senaratne, Research Scientist (Human-Robot Interaction)
- Robotics researchers, including those featured on the new CSIRO Robot Responders online game
- CSIRO Education and Outreach representatives
Footage of CSIRO robotics researchers, vision and demonstration footage of robotic technologies, as well as photographs and video of young people participating in CSIRO Robot Responders activities are available for media use.
A farm under Sydney’s CBD
Sydney’s CBD has a secret underground indoor farm, right next to Darling Harbour.
Urban Green Sydney will open the doors to its hidden hydroponic farm in Barangaroo. Set in an underground carpark, it demonstrates how cities can strengthen food security by growing food in small or underused spaces through innovation, smart design, and simple growing systems.
Owner and founder Noah Verin can talk about the use of growing mediums like coconut coir instead of soil, transforming what would otherwise be a waste product, like coconut husk, into a valuable resource for growing plants. It’s a simple example of circular farming in action, where waste is reduced and materials are reused in smarter ways.
Visitors will explore how plants grow, how modern food systems work and how simple hydroponic methods can be used at home. And they can taste a range of the most popular greens.
Schools, offices, community groups and other organisations can also take part in a nationwide microgreens growing experiment by ordering and using Seed to STEM Grow Kits.
Underground farm tours: Monday 17 August to Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/under-the-pavement-farming-solutions-to-the-future-of-food/barangaroo
Sydney CBD pop-up: Wednesday 19 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/seed-to-stem-urban-farm-pop-up/sydney-cbd
Media enquiries: Rebecka Walter, [email protected] or 0421 241 456. Images for media.
Urban Green Sydney owner Noah Verin and client chefs are available for media interviews. Noah is a former chef and studied environmental science while at university.
A live hydroponic Nutrient Film Technique (NFT) system will be on display, giving people the chance to see how water, nutrients, and lighting work together to support healthy plant growth in compact urban setups.
The fleet of caravans that transformed chronic disease – Busselton, WA
In 1966 a small fleet of caravans carrying health researchers arrived at the City of Busselton to survey some 3,400 adults about their lifestyles and health risk.
From these humble beginnings grew one of the world’s leading long-term community health studies: for the past 60 years more than 20,000 participants have helped generate over 600 scientific publications on heart disease, diabetes, lung health and more.
For decades this community partnership has helped shaped the modern understanding of chronic health conditions. Explore the global legacy of the Busselton Health Study Biobank (complete with vintage caravans) in a special anniversary exhibition in Mitchell Park this National Science Week.
Monday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/celebrating-60-years-of-the-busselton-health-study-a-journey-of-discovery/busselton
Media enquiries: Michael Hunter, [email protected] or 08 9754 0548.
A TikTokking Wiradjuri astrophysicist and the Planetarium’s chief astronomer on dark skies and light pollution – Penguin, TAS
Wiradjuri woman and science communicator Dr Kirsten Banks has a PhD in astrophysics… and 600K followers on TikTok.
Ask her about Indigenous astronomy and how light pollution affects science and culture.
Hive Planetarium’s chief astronomer Dr Martin George values Tasmania’s dark skies. He has a special interest in NASA’s recent Artemis II mission and humanity’s return to the Moon.
Both are headed to Mount Gnomon Farm, with its minimal light pollution and the lush surrounds of the Dial Ranges, to speak at an evening of astronomy, culture, food, and music.
Monday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/expanding-the-cosmos-at-mount-gnomon/penguin/
Media enquiries: Matt Fraser, [email protected] or 0401 326 007.
Kirsten Banks and Martin George available for media interviews.
Saving turtles? There’s an app for that – Sydney Zoo, Bungarribee, NSW
Help save turtles and frogs with smartphone apps, find out about chimps and orangutans from Jane Goodall’s Aussie friends, or build a bee or bug hotel at Sydney Zoo this August.
Visitors can swing by the Innovation Hub to learn from First Nations educators, map ecosystems through food-web challenges, experiment with thermal cameras used in field science, and explore how human light and sound influence species from hatchling turtles to flying foxes.
Wildlife detectives on the Discovery Trail will meet twelve threatened species, solve an interactive mystery and learn how cool technology, citizen science and kid-led innovation are transforming conservation around the world.
Saturday 15 August - Sunday 23 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/growing-conservation-through-innovation/bungarribee
Media enquiries: Sydney Zoo Media, [email protected] or 02 7202 2558.
Balloon veggies persuade kids to eat healthy - Condor, ACT
Move over balloon animals, these balloon fruits and veggies are getting kids eating healthy (note: please don’t eat balloons). Former reality tv star, molecular biologist and official balloon scientist Dr Chloe Lim has partnered with the University of Canberra and Nutrition Australia to create Foodie Fun Play! This hands-on adventure lets curious little eaters explore nutrition through storytelling, science and sensory experiences. Perfect for kids aged 3-8.
Chloe founded edutainment venture, Twistyfic, and made the finals of Channel 7's TV show, Blow Up.
Monday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/foodie-fun-play/conder
Media enquiries: Dr Chloe Lim, [email protected], 0401 118 648
Dr Chloe Lim is available for media interviews. Photos available for media use here. See Chloe’s TEDx Talk.
‘Wings’: Sydney’s birds take flight in science, music and art – Waverton, NSW
Step inside an immersive installation exploring the birdlife of North Sydney in the century old tunnels at The Coal Loader in Waverton.
Wings is a multi-sensory event that brings science and creativity together. Wings features sculpture from Tom Buckland, video and photography from Anne Morphett, music from Narelle Yeo, Sarah Levins, Jerome Blazé and Alexis Weaver, science installs from Alice Motion, costume from Brendan De La Hay and actor/musicians from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
Monday 17 August to Wednesday 19 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/wings/waverton/
Media enquiries: Narelle Yeo, [email protected] or 0411 104 905; or Alice Motion, [email protected] or 0431 318 280.
Assets: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vbBP6Zy-JucrEuptAPmXuWWBXwauvjmo?usp=sharing
Artists explore adaptation for survival in Science Gallery exhibition - Parkville
US artist David Bowen uses wind data collected from the Perseverance Mars rover to make tele-present wind, while designer and academic Alia Parker grew vats of fungal leather for her collection of modern mushroom clothing that is naturally fire-retardant, hydrophobic and compostable.
Patricia Piccinni spent a year immersed in stem cell research laboratories to create Células Madre, which revisits her seminal early work Still Life with Stem Cells.
These collisions of art and science are all part of EMERGENCE(Y), an exhibition at the University of Melbourne’s Science Gallery that explores how humanity can adapt in the face of environmental, social and political collapses.
Saturday 15 to Saturday 22 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/emergencey/parkville-vic-3052
Media enquiries: Katrina Hall, [email protected] or 0421 153 046
Science Gallery Melbourne Director Ryan Jeffries, Australian designer and academic Alia Parker and US artist David Bowen are available for media interviews.
The Hunter’s ghost mushrooms – Newcastle, NSW
Each autumn colourful, short-lived mushrooms pop up across the Hunter region, and a few of them glow. Physicist Karen Livesey explains the physics behind the light, and behind the way fungi fling their spores.
Livesey is NSW Chair of the Australian Institute of Physics and an honorary Associate Professor at the University of Wollongong. She became fascinated by ghost fungi after moving to Newcastle and now runs Glenrock Ghost Fungus Tours. Trivia and time to meet the speaker included.
Monday 17 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/fabulous-fungi-and-hidden-physics
Media enquiries: Christina Robberds, City of Newcastle (Museum), [email protected]
What do you think is Australia’s most amazing wildflower? – online
ABC Science wants Australians to discover our hidden “flower power”, the kind you find in botanical gardens rather than hippie communes.
With the help of experts, ABC Science has selected ten flowering plants from across the country.
Not just another banksia or waratah, but blooms from the unsung understory that also do something unbelievable. These ten wildflowers are more than just a pretty face; each one hides a surprising superpower. The public will decide which is the most amazing.
Voting to decide Australia’s most amazing wildflower will start just before National Science Week in August, with the winning bloom announced on Friday August 21 in a live broadcast on Radio National.
The shortlist:
- Bladderwort (Utricularia) – Traps and digests insects inside tiny floating “bladders”
- Star flower (Calytrix) – Changes colour like a ‘traffic-light’ to direct pollinators
- Flannel flower (Actinotus) – Blooms from bushfire ashes like a floral phoenix
- Flying duck orchid (Caleana) – Traps insects for pollination and looks like a duck!
- Mulla mulla (Ptilotus) – Thrives, and flowers, in tough, hot arid environments
- Murnong/yam daisy (Microseris) – Provided a significant year-round nutritious food for Indigenous people 
- Richea scoparia – Survives extreme cold and feeds snow skinks
- Creamy candle (Stackhousia) – Looks like a candle and emits a sweet fragrance at night
- Triggerplant (Stylidium) – Hits insects with pollen using a catapult-like trigger
- Underground orchid (Rhizanthella) – Lives underground and looks like a tiny demogorgan.
Wednesday 5 August – Friday 21 August. To find out more and vote, go to www.abc.net.au/wildflowers.
For interviews with Dr Ann Jones, contact Rob Caulley, ABC Publicity, [email protected].
About National Science Week
National Science Week is Australia’s annual opportunity to meet scientists, discuss hot topics, do science and celebrate its contribution to our lives. Science drives economic and social change – from safe and nutritious food to reducing cancer deaths; from smart phones to AI; from under Antarctica’s ice floes to distant planets.
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 2,500 registered events and activities.
National Science Week 2026 runs from Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.
National Science Week is proudly supported by the Australian Government, alongside key partners Questacon, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association, and ABC Science.
