Thought-provoking National Science Week Environment stories up for grabs now around Australia

• A Field Guide to the Apocalypse: from surviving to thriving amid turmoil – Sydney
• When ‘bad’ fungi attacks: is there a doctor in the forest? – Julatten, QLD
• Making steel from old tyres – Canberra
• How do you count notoriously shy koalas at risk of extinction? – Online with QLD & NSW scientists
• A space environmentalist’s POV on cleaning up the Universe – Parramatta, NSW
• The secret life of orangutans – Newcastle
• What should be the future of the Otway Ranges? – Colac, VIC
• Where the krill are going, and the whales are following – online; Tasmanian talent
• Tassie wildlife caught on camera: get hooked on Nature’s soap operas Launceston & Hobart, TAS

More on these below and visit ScienceWeek.net.au/events to find more stories in your area.

Scientists, experts, performers and event organisers are available for interview throughout National Science Week.

Direct contact details for each event are below or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.

Media centre here. Images for media here.

A Field Guide to the Apocalypse – Kensington, NSW

Facing today's crises—from the cost of living and housing to the looming climate threat—visiting American evolutionary biologist Athena Aktipis offers a fresh approach to not just surviving, but thriving.

In A Field Guide to the Apocalypse, Aktipis shares insights from history, human psychology, and small-scale societies to teach us how to face our fears and make smart decisions. And it's nothing new. As a species we've been surviving-and evolving from-apocalypses for as long as we've walked the Earth.

In conversation with Rob Brooks, she will explore how cooperation, community, and even playfulness can help us manage disaster effectively.

Wednesday 14 August. Event details:  www.scienceweek.net.au/event/athena-aktipis-a-field-guide-to-the-apocalypse/kensington

Media enquiries: Todd Eichorn, t.eichorn@unsw.edu.au or 02 9348 2482.

When ‘bad’ fungi attacks: is there a doctor in the forest? – Julatten, QLD

Fungi are important to life on Earth, but some species can wreak havoc, attacking trees, crops and plants around the world.

Join ‘Forest Doctors’ scouting for sick trees impacted by pathogenic fungi.

Learn how to identify and collect specimens based on signs and symptoms of disease; isolate a pathogenic fungi from a living sample, and observe it under a microscope.

Did you know? Fungi are in a ‘kingdom’ of their own, being neither plants or animals.

Friday 16 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/forest-doctors/julatten/

Media enquiries: Athina Koutouleas, branch.bounty@proton.me or 0487 000 671.

Making steel from old tyres – Parkes, ACT

Meet the engineer who invented technologies that turn waste into green building materials and business opportunities.

Scientia Professor Veena Sahajwalla invented technology that uses recycled tyres in steel production.

She and her team also invented an e-waste microfactory that harvests metals from old laptops, circuit boards, and smartphones, and technology that makes ceramic tiles and kitchen benchtops from waste clothes and glass. Now they’re targeting plastic, turning hard plastics into feedstock for 3D printing.

Veena will share her vision for a sustainable future at the annual Ann Moyal Lecture at the National Library of Australia. Veena is director of the Centre for Sustainable Materials Research & Technology at UNSW and heads the ARC Industrial Transformation Research Hub for ‘green manufacturing’.

Monday 12 August. Event details:  www.scienceweek.net.au/event/ann-moyal-lecture-scientia-professor-veena-sahajwalla/parkes

Veena Sahajwalla is available for media interview.

Media enquiries: Stuart Snell, s.snell@unsw.edu.au or 0416 650 906.

How do you count koalas? – online

We don’t know how many koalas are left. Koalas are notoriously shy and hard to spot. So how do scientists find and count them to map their populations and protect them?

Answer: they use drone-mounted thermal cameras, detection dogs, visual surveys, volunteer citizen scientists, apps, and more.

Meet the scientists from the CSIRO-led National Koala Monitoring Program:

• quantitative biologist Dr Andrew Hoskins
• spatial ecologist Dr Samantha Munroe, who maps the distribution of different species
• conservation ecologist Dr Romane Cristescu, who develops methods to monitor koala movement.

They will present a webinar to share their koala science and show people how to get involved in the Great Koala Count.

Tuesday 13 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-great-koala-count/

Media enquiries: Amy Edwards, amy.edwards@csiro.au or 02 4960 6169 

CSIRO Program lead Dr Andrew Hoskins and collaborators are available for interviews.

Beautiful koala images and b-roll available, including close-up footage of koalas in the wild, a koala release at Redland Coast near Brisbane, kids using the CSIRO koala spotter app, and the detection dogs at work.

Meet a space environmentalist – Parramatta, NSW

Is it too late to save our dark skies? Space environmentalist, Associate Professor Moriba Jah, and artist, Trevor Paglen, reveal the challenges of an incresingly crowded sky – littered with space junk and ‘invisible’ surveillance satellites – in conversation with Dagogo Altraide, founder of YouTube’s ColdFusionTV.

‘Our Crowded Skies – Moriba Jah and Trevor Paglen’ is a National Science Week event at Paramatta Town Hall which forms part of the Sydney Science Festival, presented by Powerhouse.

Wednesday 14 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/our-crowded-skies-moriba-jah-and-trevor-paglen/parramatta

Media enquiries: Michelle Lollo, media@powerhouse.com.au or 0419 523 735.

The secret life of orangutans – Newcastle, NSW

Dr Birutė Galdikas spent 50 years living with and studying orangutans in Borneo. Hear firsthand her experiences living at Camp Leakey, when she first observed orangutans using tools, and how she gained trust with an orangutan named Priscilla. Her work has been crucial in understanding orangutans and saving them from extinction. Dr Galdikas is one of the iconic ‘Trimates’, along with Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey.

“I continue to learn about the spectacular spectrum along which orangutan behaviour exists. Each orangutan teaches us about the wide variety of personality and capacity for intelligence—and complex emotions that are typical of the species.”

She will speak about her life in orangutan conservation at Newcastle City Hall.

Tuesday 6 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/orangutans-a-conservation-legacy-2/newcastle

Media enquiries: Tim Roberts, tim.roberts@newcastle.edu.au or 0418 205 664.

Birutė Galdikas is available for media interviews.

What should be the future of the Otway Ranges? – Colac, VIC

The Otway Ranges is home to fern gullies, giant beech trees, towering Californian Redwoods, and many of Australia’s favourite animals including kangaroos, echidnas, platypus, koalas, birds, and even glow worms. Scientists want more people to have a voice in securing the future of this natural treasure.

People from all walks of life can come to a free public forum and be part of efforts to conserve and protect the rich natural environment of the Otways and beyond. The Otways Ecological Research Forum brings together scientific researchers, public and private land managers, and the general public to discuss findings, innovations, and challenges in ecology, conservation science, and landscape-scale management.

Successful conservation needs scientists and on-ground land managers working together towards a shared vision. The forum acts as a direct communication line, bridging science, practice, and the broader community.

Tuesday 13 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/2024-otways-ecological-research-forum-ecology-the-collaborative-science-we-must-get-right/colac

Media enquiries: Andrea de Kauwe, andrea@cosnervationecologycentre.org or 03 5237 9297.

Lizzie Corke (CEO and Founder of the Conservation Ecology Centre) together with Dr Jack Pascoe, Dr Claire Fenuik and other researchers are available for interviews.

Images are available of the Otway Ranges, its wildlife, and conservation researchers at work.

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

What do our native trees have to say amidst climate change? ‘Eucalyptus Monologues’ 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.

Saturday 10 August & Sunday 11 August (The CORRIDOR Project, Wyangala)

Saturday 17 August & Sunday 18 August (Cowra Micro Gallery)

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

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

Where the krill are going, and the whales are following – online via TAS

Paige Kelly is back from Antarctica where she’s worked out where the wild things are and where they’re going as the oceans warm. She’s an expert in cold-loving krill, and other marine species.

The Southern Ocean is warming three times quicker than any other sea, making it too hot for the shrimp-like krill that whales usually eat, but perfect for other species like the jellyfish-like salps, which are blooming like weeds. Join Paige in this cartoon-based talk to learn about where the wild things are going in a warming ocean.

Monday 12 August. Event details: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/species-that-like-it-hot-uctv-alive-for-kids-webinar-with-dr-paige-kelly/

Media enquiries: Tess Crellin, tess.crellin@utas.edu.au or 03 6226 7536.

Paige Kelly is available for media interviews.

Tasmanian wildlife caught on camera – Launceston & Hobart, TAS

Ever wondered what Tasmanian devils, quolls, wedgies, and barred bandicoots get up to when no one’s watching?  Explore the hidden lives of Tasmania's wildlife at the Tasmanian Land Conservancy’s camera trap photo exhibition.

Researchers work in partnership with citizen scientists and local landholders to set up motion sensor camera traps to monitor animals. See the images they captured that show the unseen dramas, quirks, and delights of Tasmanian wildlife. Each photo is accompanied by personal stories from the photographers and scientific insights into the species' behaviours. 

Launceston: Friday 16 August – Saturday 17 August. Event details:  www.scienceweek.net.au/event/camera-trap-chronicles-a-photo-exhibition-of-tassies-wildlife/invermay

Hobart: Friday 23 August - Saturday 24 August. Event details:  www.scienceweek.net.au/event/camera-trap-chronicles-a-photo-exhibition-of-tassies-wildlife/hobart

Media enquiries: Daniel McMahon, events@tasland.org.au or 03 6225 1399.

Scientists available for media interviews. Images available.

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 2.7 million people participated in more than 1,860 events and activities. 

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

In 2024 it runs from Saturday 10 to Sunday 18 August. Event details can be found at www.scienceweek.net.au.

Contact details:

Direct contact details for each event are in the media release, or contact Tanya Ha on tanya@scienceinpublic.com.au or 0404 083 863.