Great National Science Week YOUTH stories up for grabs now around Australia
- Dungeons, Dragons and neuroscience, improvised live – Brisbane
- Psychedelic medicine, social media addiction, nature, nurture, and a roving scientists bar – Hobart
- Scientist puts sex-ed on stage in The Clitoral Chronicles – Hobart
- Artists explore adaptation for survival in Science Gallery exhibition – Melbourne
- Anatomy according to Hollywood – Sydney
- Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert explores music, misinformation, and the cosmos – Brisbane
- Orchids threatened by social media - liked to death – Perth
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.
Read on for direct contact details for each event, or contact Tanya Ha, [email protected] or 0404 083 863.
Visit the Media Centre for all media releases and images available for media use.
Dungeons, Dragons and neuroscience, improvised live – Fortitude Valley, QLD
Cutting-edge research meets role-play in Monsters and Molecules, a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired comedy show improvised live on stage. Can comedian Jaimeson Gilders, educator Joel Gilmore and Professor Lezanne Ooi save this fantasy world from total chaos?
Along the way, and with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, the show explores the quantum research mapping one of the most complex systems in existence: the brain. Hosted by science communicator Shu Ezackial with live music by Sean Sully.
Wednesday 19 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/monsters-and-molecules-journey-to-the-centre-of-the-brain/fortitude-valley
Media enquiries: Shu Ezackial, [email protected]
Artists explore adaptation for survival in Science Gallery exhibition – Parkville, VIC
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
Exhibition curator Tilly Boleyn, Australian designer and academic Alia Parker and US artist David Bowen are available for media interviews.
Sex-ed on stage, psychedelic medicine, social media addiction, nature, nurture, and a roving scientists bar – Hobart, TAS
Beaker Street Festival is back. Pull up a seat where microscopes sit on bar tables, scientists take centre stage and boundary-pushing conversations – from sex to psychedelics to slime moulds – could change the world.
Centred around Hobart’s Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) and nearby venues, the week-long festival features talks and workshops; interactive science/art installations; photography exhibitions; live music and performance; and Tassie food and drink.
“For ten years, Beaker Street has created events and spaces where science becomes the catalyst for great conversations, new ideas and shared experiences,” says Founder and Creative Director Dr Margo Adler. “This year’s theme, The Second Act, is about reinvention. It’s about taking stock of who we are, what we value, and how we stay connected to each other in a world increasingly designed to pull us apart.”
Highlights include:
- VAST: an immersive international sound work inspired by dark energy.
- Debate: Social media should be banned for Over-16s too! Hosted by ABC’s Natasha Mitchell, with astrophysicist Kirsten Banks, economist Saul Eslake, content creator Meredith Castles, and Tim Nugent, who has a doctorate in mobile human computer interaction and urban informatics.
- Mushrooms and MDMA: how psychedelics reshaping mental health care, with Dr Paul Liknaitzky, head of Monash University’s Clinical Psychedelics Lab.
- Murder on Beaker Street – The science of true crime.
- Enchanted Slime Mould Forest exhibition and talks from slime mould expert Sarah Lloyd.
- The Clitoral Chronicles : lifting the hood on the most misunderstood organ.
- The secret world of Tasmania’s bats, with Dr Lisa Cawthen.
- CoLab : Researchers and teenage artists create art together.
- Hobartica : the Antarctic-inspired waterfront takeover, complete with a cosy night market, interactive geodesic domes, VR tours of Macquarie Island, the Polar Plunge Challenge, and more.
- Dr Karl live on stage in Hobart and Burnie.
- Have a drink with one of dozens of roving scientists at the Hope and Anchor pub.
Thursday 6 August to Monday 17 August.
Media enquiries: Matt Fraser, [email protected] or 0401 326 007.
Visit the Beaker Street media hub.
Scientist puts sex-ed on stage in The Clitoral Chronicles – Hobart, TAS
The Clitoral Chronicles lifts the hood on the most misunderstood organ in biology: the clitoris!
The clitoris has been overlooked, under-appreciated and literally written out of history for centuries, but now Dr Tiana Pirtle, who has a PhD in reproductive ecology and physiology, is putting it centre-stage. She is joined by props and performers wearing sparkly clitoris and penis costumes.
Blending comedy, physical theatre, outrageous anatomical costumes and wild true stories from the animal kingdom, the show flips outdated ideas about sex, gender and science on their head — and puts female and LGBTQIA+ perspectives centre stage.
Dr Pirtle’s previous show ‘Vaginal Vignettes’ shared the stories of the multi-chambered vaginas and temporary passages, elongated clitorises, pseudo-penises, vaginas that can sort sperm, and armoured vaginal openings that put female animals in the driver’s seat of reproduction and evolution.
Read a UTas article about her work. Hear her on the Science Vs episode ‘When vaginas attack!’.
Friday 21 August and Saturday 22 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-clitoral-chronicles-4/hobart/
Media enquiries: Tiana Pirtle, [email protected] or 0456 826 322.
Anatomy according to Hollywood - Kensington, NSW
Ever watched a movie scene and thought, “there’s no way the human body works like that… right?” Dr Kosta Kotsidis can explain what Hollywood gets right and gets very wrong, with examples drawn from House, Indiana Jones, Austin Powers, Poltergeist (and many more).
Kosta will explore human bodies on screen and the real science of anatomy in his hilarious and fact-filled public talk Anatomy According to Hollywood, set in the unique and revealing Museum of Human Disease.
Recommended for ages 16 and above. This event includes discussion of human anatomy, injury, horror themes and clips or references from MA15+ films and television programs.
Thursday 20 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/anatomy-according-to-hollywood/unsw
Dr Kosta Kotsidis is available for media interviews.
Media enquiries: Jo Dable, [email protected] or 02 9065 0330
Planetarium ‘pop-rock-funk’ concert explores music, misinformation, and the cosmos – Toowong, QLD
Nate Eggins (a.k.a. Conspiracy of One) is returning with his unique Planetarium Variety Show for an evening of:
- Quirky sciency songs like ‘We're All Aliens, Baby’ and ‘The Sound a Duck Makes’, funny rants and audience participation and prizes
- Stunning planetarium visuals
- A workshop on critical thinking and the chance to contribute data to an ongoing study
- Special guest: Science Communicator Melanie Trecek-King of Thinking is Power and author of the upcoming book A Field Guide to Spotting Misinformation .
Returning to the cosmic skydome are Nate and his band to bring you a special stripped back and intimate performance including songs from his debut album ‘Road to Reason’.
Audiences will gain new and interesting perspectives on science and our modern world, level up your thinking and learn how to spot pseudoscience pretenders - all while tapping their feet.
Friday 21 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/planetarium-concert-live-music-in-the-skydome-3/toowong/
Media enquiries: Nate Eggins, [email protected] or 0402 593 431.
Nate Eggins is available for media interviews. Footage and photos available here.
Orchids threatened by social media - liked to death – Kings Park, WA
Social media popularity is threatening some of Australia's most delicate orchid species, attracting well-meaning nature lovers to sensitive sites in destructive numbers, a recent study revealed.
Study co-author Dr Belinda Davis wants people to help protect these orchids. Based at Kings Park Science, she manages the only collection in WA of orchid seeds, friendly fungi and a living collection of orchids.
She will be joining Dr Magali Wright from Landscape Recovery Foundation, Tasmania for an evening talk about enjoying orchids in the wild while minimising harm, drawing on their personal experiences working with orchids.
Friday 4 September: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/liked-to-death-how-social-media-is-threatening-australias-orchids/kings-park/
Media enquiries: Emily Denham, [email protected] or 08 9480 3688
Kings Park science communicator Eugenie Au and WA orchid expert Belinda Davis are available for media interviews. Dr Davis can be filmed in the lab and working in the glasshouse with rare orchids in full bloom.
National Science Week: background
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.
