Are dropbears just koalas making mischief? Are there really dragons livingnear Adelaide? And just what curious creatures live in your garden?
These are just a few of the questions set to answered during this year’sNational Science Week (August 15 to 23).
If you’re after more great ideas for highly visual stories, don’t hesitate toget in touch with us at www.scienceinpublic.com.au/science-week, and onTwitter at @SciWKMedia.
Scientists, experts and event organisers are available for interviewthroughout National Science Week. Read on for contact details for each event,or call:
▪ Tanya Ha: [email protected] or 0404 083 863
▪ Niall Byrne: [email protected] or 0417 131 977 or 03 9398 1416.
Mythbusting koalas: dropbears, drowsiness and deadly threats
Are koalas really cuddly? How are they recovering after last summer’sdisastrous bushfires? Can they survive future fires? And are dropbears real?Take your hard questions about these soft marsupials to an expert: ProfessorChris Daniels from South Australia’s International Koala Centre of Excellence.
Professor Daniels will front an online interactive event, livestreamed fromthe Royal Institution of Australia, in Adelaide. Log on to explore the scienceand history of koalas, including conservation, habitat loss, social lives,disease threats, drowsy behaviour — and dropbears.
Thursday 6 August Event details
Chris Daniels is available for media interviews.
Contact Sheryn Pitman, [email protected] or 0466 410 364
Meet the cuttlefish, sea-dragons, dolphins, sharks and rays of the Great
Southern Reef – without getting wet
The Great Southern Reef reaches from Tasmania to the mainland, extending asfar as WA and Queensland.
Adelaide-based organisation Experiencing Marine Sanctuaries is presenting aseries of livestreamed events and virtual tours revealing the spectaculardiversity of the reef system.
- Weird and wonderful creatures of the Great Southern Reef: Monday 3 August, event details
- Sea-dragons and their cousins – Monday 10 August, event details
- Rays and sharks – Monday 17 August, event details
- Site attached reef fish of the Great Southern Reef – Monday 24 August, event details
- Dolphins – Monday 31 August, event details
- Aboriginal connections to coast and marine – Monday 7 September, event details
- Virtual tour: swim with Giant Australian Cuttlefish – Saturday 1 August – Wednesday 30 September: event details
The events include commentary and Q&A from leading South Australian marinebiologists, ecologists, Kaurna elders, underwater photographers, researchersand citizen scientists.
Contact: Carl Charter, [email protected] or 0466 278 187.
Underwater photos and footage available.
Bronwyn Gillanders (0417 036 235) and Carl Charter (0466 278 187) availablefor media interviews.
The Great Aussie BioQuest: help scientists map where the wild things are
The Great Aussie BioQuest is a gigantic, nationwide citizen science project tomap Australia’s wildlife.
How is climate change influencing where the wild things are?
Join the competition, submit your wildlife sightings using your smartphone,and help scientists map Australia’s shifting biodiversity.
The Great Aussie BioQuest participants log sightings of plants, animals orfungi using the QuestaGame smartphone app. They can provide identifications,or wait for an expert to help. All sightings are expert-verified and given a“remarkability score”.
The data is shared with the Atlas of Living Australia to help researchersmake better decisions about protecting the environment.
QuestaGamers are finding new species, including the spider Ornodolmedesbenrevelli , named after Ben Revell, the gamer who photographed it. More newspecies of moths, spiders and insects are in the process of being formallydescribed and confirmed. Gamers have also spotted invasive species that are athreat to biosecurity.
Saturday 15 August until Sunday 23 August Event details
Image: Tanya Ha (Science in Public)
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