10daysofscience

By Jacqui Hayes

Jacqui Hayes is assistant editor of Cosmos Magazine. Every year, when National Science Week rolls around, she gets along to see one or a few of the National Tour Guests. Here’s why …

Imagine you are standing in line at the bank. Suddenly, an armed robber storms in. He fires a shot and hits you in the arm. In this scenario, are you lucky or unlucky?

This scenario and question was posed to an audience at National Science Week in 2007 by ‘visiting expert’ Richard Wiseman during a talk called The Luck Factor. I was one of those in the audience. Continue Reading »

Wrapped car

When: All Festival; Friday 21 – Sunday 30 August

Tickets: Free, no bookings required

Info: A car covered with designs created by TAFE students as part of their work experience.

Where: Ultimo TAFE forecourt

No map available

Cyberworlds: computers and connections

Computers are the defining technology of our time. Unlike other machines that are designed to carry out a specialised task, the computer is a general-purpose device. It is a universal machine.

This exhibition looks at the computer and seeks to understand what it is, what it can do, why it was developed, and how it works.

Technologies have changed dramatically this century. How have people’s values, beliefs, hopes and fears changed in relation to technology?

When: Friday 21 – Sunday 30 August
Where: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo
Cost: Free with entry to Powerhouse Museum – Adult $10, child $5 more information available here: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/visit/hours&charges.asp

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Nuclear matters

Nine imaginative and daring interactive displays where you can have amazing fun while learning all about nuclear science.

Nuclear matters reveals how many things in everyday life, including ourselves, are slightly radioactive. Fundamental questions as what is radiation and how is it produced are answered. The exhibition also examines the many applications of nuclear technology from medical diagnosis and the treatment of cancer, to determining the structures of materials to generating power. Also displayed are materials used to shield workers from radiation, means of dealing with nuclear waste and a nuclear suit.

When: Friday 21 – Sunday 30 August
Where: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo
Cost: Free with entry to Powerhouse Museum – Adult $10, child $5 more information available here: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/visit/hours&charges.asp

More information available http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/exhibitions/nuclear.asp

Sponsored by ANSTO (The Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation)

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EcoLogic: creating a sustainable future

EcoLogic is an exhibition about the way we use the world. It’s about hopes, fears, imagination and action. It’s about redesigning the way we live. It’s about caring for our environment, our economy, tomorrow’s children and ourselves – without destroying the Earth. A sustainable future depends upon the choices we make today and every day. Making those choices isn’t always obvious or easy but in this challenging and inspiring exhibition we present new ideas and technologies that can reduce our individual and collective impact on the planet. EcoLogic focuses on what we can do in Australia for the future of the planet and it demonstrates how smart ideas and environmental design can make a difference.

Take a journey through rural and coastal Australia and witness the soil and water crises threatening our food supplies. Meet farmers and communities who are finding solutions to the problems. Walk through our sustainable ‘house’, full of products, energy-efficient appliances and materials that are available now.

Find out why a sustainable lifestyle is good for your health and your wallet.

When: Friday 21 – Sunday 30 August
Where: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo
Cost: Free with entry to Powerhouse Museum – Adult $10, child $5 more information available here: http://www.powerhousemuseum.com/visit/hours&charges.asp

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Space & transport exhibition

Space: beyond this world – The history of the human desire to travel beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Try the new zero gravity experience.

When: Friday 21 – Sunday 30 August
Where: Powerhouse Museum, 500 Harris St, Ultimo
Cost: Free with entry to Powerhouse Museum – Adult $10, child $5 more information available here:

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Frontiers of Science

This brilliant science comic series appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald from 1962 to 1987.

A display of original artwork and reproductions from the Frontiers of Science comic series. This long-running comic strip covered space travel, Relativity, climate change and dozens of other science issues at a time when the first satellite was being launched, humans were landing on the moon, and the nuclear arms race was in full swing. The comic strip was the result of an unlikely alliance between two men from utterly different worlds. Professor Stuart Butler was a theoretical physicist at the University of Sydney and Bob Raymond was a journalist, writer, filmmaker and executive producer of ABC TV’sFour Corners program. The black and white artwork has a stunning retro look and the comics makes fascinating reading today, 40 years on. The comic strip ran for 30 years, was syndicated to hundreds of overseas newspapers and translated into 12 languages.

When: August 10 – August 29: Open weekdays only, except also open Saturday 29 August.
Where: ABC Atrium, 700 Harris St, Ultimo
Cost: Free – no booking required

Artwork kindly on loan from Rare Books and Special Collections, University of Sydney Library.

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Website: www.ultimosciencefestival.com

By Maureen Burns

In 1961 comic strip ‘Frontiers of Science’ debuted in the Sydney Morning Herald. Covering space travel, relativity and dozens of other scientific issues Frontiers of Science ran for 30 years, was translated into 12 languages and sprung up in hundreds of newspapers around the world. Social researchers Maureen Burns and Joan Leach from the University of Queensland discuss the Frontiers of Science comic here.

Frontiers of Science comic strip

Comic strip Frontiers of Science was the brainchild of friends Professor Stuart Butler (a theoretical physicist) and Robert Raymond (a documentary film-maker). We are looking to answer questions such as: How did Frontiers of Science fit into the Australian and world media environments of the 1960s and 1970s? What can the strip tell us about the relations between scientific communication (between scientists) and science popularisation?

Continue Reading »