Tuesday 18 August
Researchers, experts, and other interesting people available for interview around the country.
NSW: Meet the people who milk snake venom for a living.
QLD: Get inside the brain of a professional ruby player – Toowoomba
NSW: Stomach in stitches – giant knitted wooly gastrointestinal system highlights gut-brain link.
WA: Real CSI careers
STATE: Quantum leap: students and experts explore careers on tech’s weirdest frontier
QLD: The quantum tech driving business in the Sunshine State.
TAS: Researchers and teenage artists create art together.
SA: Meet Marty McBubble, the holder of the world record for the tallest bubble ever made.
VIC: Life in a droplet: the invisible animals holding our waterways together.
NT: Students try a hydraulic arm.
Read on for more on these, including direct event contact details.
Also today:
- ACT: See the film and meet ‘The Platypus Guardian’.
- ACT: What life under Antarctica’s glaciers suggests for life beyond Earth, with scientist and explorer Professor John Priscu.
Coming up tomorrow:
Molecules and monsters. Ocean feelings. Where’s wedgie? Our relationship with the cosmos – see a preview of Wednesday’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
Milking venomous snakes to save lives – Gosford, NSW
Meet the Venom Keepers at the Australian Reptile Park. The wrangle and milk some of our most venomous snakes to help create life-saving anti-venom.
See Billy Collett (Park Manager), Brandon Gifford (Operations Manager), Annika Barker (2IC Reptiles) and zookeeper Logan Graff in action during live snake milking demonstrations at the Australian Reptile Park’s Weigel Venom Centre.
Ask them what venom does, why different snakes have different types of venom, and how keepers work safely with these animals every day.
Saturday 15 August to Sunday 23 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/daily-antivenom-talk/somersby/
Media enquiries: Chloe Burgess-Jones, [email protected] or 0455 066 607.
Venom Keepers/reptile experts are available for media interviews. Photos and footage available here. Watch one of their Venom Diaries videos.
Get inside the brain of a professional ruby player – Toowoomba, QLD
Step inside the brain of a professional rugby player as science and sport come together through an immersive virtual reality experience.
The ‘Brains, Boots & Beyond’ is an interactive VR installation that explores neuroscience, sports psychology and wellbeing.
It’s the brainchild of Queensland learning design consultancy Concinnity in partnership with Toowoomba’s Western Clydesdales rugby league club and the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ).
Avatars of Clydesdales players guide people through the virtual reality experience, revealing how the brain manages focus, resilience, teamwork and recovery.
UniSQ will host the installation with a public launch event and daily sessions. Queensland Museum Cobb+Co will also host sessions.
Launch: Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/brains-boots-and-beyond-exploring-sports-psychology-in-vr/darling-heights/
Media enquiries: Anna Nicholls, [email protected] and 0400 912 171.
Available for media interviews:
A/Prof Edward Bliss: a UniSQ neuroscientist whose research explores how exercise, lifestyle and blood flow to the brain influence cognition, healthy ageing and human performance.
Anna Nicholls: is the founder of Concinnity Consulting and Project Manager of ‘Brains, Boots & Beyond’, who has more than 30 years' experience in learning and development, including digital innovation.
Brian Canavan (launch guest speaker) is a respected rugby league administrator and current Chair of the Queensland Rugby League. Brian has long championed the role of sports science, athlete development and evidence-based performance, making him a passionate advocate for the intersection of neuroscience, human performance and elite sport.
Step inside a giant, woolly gut – Sydney, NSW
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 three years, the team has presented 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. The result is an exhibition of artworks, including:
- a giant soft sculpture gut filled with knitted villi,
- a life-size crochet silhouette of the body showing the gut-brain connection via the vagus nerve, and
- a crochet version of the Bristol Stool Chart.
Researchers who participated in the project are from UNSW Sydney, University of Sydney, University of Technology and ANSTO.
A workshop at Five Dock Library and free exhibitions at St George Hospital’s Atrium and the Indigenous Science Experience at Redfern will immerse visitors in ‘a playful yet serious’ exploration of the gut-brain axis.
TODAY: Five Dock workshop: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/exploring-the-gut-brain-connection-craft-workshop/five-dock/
Media enquiries: Pat Pillai, [email protected] or 0408 213 844 and Mary Hyman, 0424 100 597.
Lead artist Pat Pillai and art educator Mary Hayman are available for interviews.
Real CSI careers – Bentley, WA
The Australia and New Zealand Forensic Science Society's Student Representative Group hosts a careers night with practitioners from digital forensics, forensic archaeology, wildlife forensics, DNA and entomology at Curtin University.
The hybrid-style event runs as speed-conversations and/or a panel discussion depending on numbers; registration required for catering.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/the-evolution-of-forensic-science-careers-speak-with-professionals-in-the-field
Media enquiries: Michael Adamos, ANZFSS Student Representative Group, [email protected] or 0427 667 799.
Quantum leap: careers on tech’s weirdest frontier – Chatswood, NSW
Are there jobs in quantum? Students in Years 8 to 12 can get hands-on with quantum technology and hear directly from people working in the field at ‘Quantum Future Talent: From Curiosity to Career’, hosted by the Sydney Quantum Academy.
The event gives an accessible introduction to quantum computing and cybersecurity, career talks from industry professionals, and interactive demonstrations – including quantum devices, VR experiences and explainer presentations that use skipping ropes and giant balls to demystify the science.
Attendees can also connect with NSW universities including Macquarie, UNSW, the University of Sydney and UTS to explore study pathways into the growing field.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/quantum-futures-curiosity-to-career/chatswood
Media enquiries: Emily Cook, [email protected] or 0403 907 098
Professor Peter Turner, Director of Sydney Quantum Academy, is available for media interviews.
Photo/filming opportunities: hands-on quantum demos including VR experiences (sample footage on SQA's YouTube). Additional accredited-media images/footage available. Prof Turner's bio is on the Sydney Quantum Academy website.
Quantum tech isn’t coming, it is already here – Fortitude Valley, QLD
Under the theme ‘Make it in Queensland’, the Qx Summit puts the state’s quantum, semiconductor and deep tech breakthroughs on show – the ones already being deployed, locally and globally.
Speakers from industry, government and research trace how the research is translating into health, sports tech, logistics, AI and defence, and examine how Queensland is positioning itself to attract investment, talent and partnerships.
Sessions also cover the skills, education and training pathways already feeding the state’s advanced technology workforce, with time to meet investors, researchers and policymakers.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/qx-summit-queenslands-advanced-technologies-future
Media enquiries: QUBIC, The ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, [email protected]
Researchers and teenage artists create art together – Hobart, TAS
Beaker Street’s CoLab initiative pairs research scientists with high-school art students, who visit labs and field sites to create artworks that communicate scientific concepts. The results go on show in the free CoLab exhibition.
Students from New Norfolk High School, Hobart Big Picture School and Hobart City High School worked directly with local scientists to make the work. On show during TMAG’s opening hours and during TMAG After Dark on Friday 14 and Saturday 15 August.
Runs 6 August to 6 September: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/beaker-street-science-photography-prize-finalist-exhibition-2/hobart
Media enquiries: Matt Fraser, [email protected] or 0401 326 007.
Talent available for interview – details in the Beaker Street media pack.
The tallest bubble ever made – Gilberton, SA
Marty McBubble, holder of the world record for the tallest bubble ever made, will demonstrate the science behind bubble rockets, volcanoes, tornadoes, cubes, carousels and jellyfish at the Scientific Bubble Show.
Combining quirky gadgets with comedy, the show reveals the physics that makes giant bubbles possible.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/scientific-bubble-show-at-walkerville-town-hall/gilberton
Media enquiries: Graeme Denton (aka Marty McBubble), [email protected] or 0407 816 059.
The invisible animals holding our waterways together – Box Hill, VIC
Drawing on more than 20 years in aquatic micro-invertebrate ecology, Dr Robert Walsh reveals the microscopic organisms – the zooplankton smaller than 2mm – that underpin aquatic food webs and sustain larger ecosystems.
Artist Emma X Zhang brings these unseen realms into view through microscopic image-stacking, processed prints, fabric works and light installations in her exhibition After-Image. Together they explore how a fusion of science and art can make the invisible not only visible but felt.
Deep Dive features an exhibition tour and a presentation on aquatic organisms and ecosystems.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/deep-dive-art-and-aquatic-ecology-with-dr-robert-walsh-and-emma-x-zhang/box-hill
Media enquiries: Marguerite Brown, Whitehorse Art Gallery, [email protected] or 03 9262 6250
Try a hydraulic arm – Marrara, NT
Students get first-hand engineering experience of how hydraulic arms make a little bit of effort go a long way.
The Hydraulic Arm STEM Challenge is a workshop that introduces participants to Pascal’s Principle and fluid power, demonstrating how simple machines create mechanical advantage for precise, controlled movement. This hands-on activity highlights the real-world application of science in engineering, from ancient tools to space technology, to inspire future engineers.
Participants will work with professional and student engineer facilitators in small groups to solve increasingly complex challenges, working with their hydraulic arm to move and stack objects and deconstruct a challenging puzzle box.
Tuesday 18 August: www.scienceweek.net.au/event/pop-up-at-darwin-careers-fair-physics-fun-games/marrara
Media enquiries: Kayla Hall, Engineers Australia, [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.
