National Science Week 11-19 August 2018
National Science Week for ACEMS is a busy time of year. With lots of external buzz being generated nationally about the importance and impact of science in Australia, ACEMS of course is heavily involved.
During National Science Week 2018 ACEMS held four public lectures, talks in schools, it's annual Maths Arcade and created the ABC's Citizen Science Project of the year. So much science, so much fun!
Virtual Reef Diver
The Virtual Reef Diver was the ABC Science online citizen science project for National Science Week 2018. During the month of August, there were approximately 105,000 images classified online by more than 5,000 people. Led by ACEMS AI Erin Peterson and CI Kerrie Mengersen the project has brought the Great Barrier Reef to citizen scientists' homes and phones. The project asks Australia, and the world's, armchair scientists to look at hundreds of thousands of photos from across the Great Barrier Reef and identify coral, algae or sand. These classifications help scientists get as much information as possible about the Great Barrier Reef, information that can then be turned into useful data, that can be modelled and used that to make predictions of coral cover across the Great Barrier Reef and help in its management and conservation.
Search for the Missing MH370 flight
The first public lecture to kick off the week was a talk on the science and mathematical modelling behind the search for missing Malaysia airlines flight MH370, which disappeared in 2014 after it departed from Kuala Lumpur International Airport bound for Beijing, China with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board. The public lecture held at QUT in Brisbane convened a panel of speakers that have been working tirelessly on the search for the missing aircraft. Peter Foley, who was the Program Director Operational Search for MH370 at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, and Neil Gordon, author of 'Bayesian Methods in the Search for MH370' spoke to the audience about how mathematical and statistical modelling methods have been used to define the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean. The event was chaired by Vaughan Clarkson, and organised by Peter Forrester and Kerrie Mengersen.
Is this your Card?
Audience at "Is this your card?", University of Melbourne
At the University of Melbourne Anthony Mays and Jennifer Palisse gave a talk entitled 'Is this your card?', on the secrets behind mathematical card tricks. The pair encouraged their audience to 'Pick a card, any card!' The immortal phrase of the magician. The event was all ages and participants brought along decks of cards and do some mathematical magic.
Public talk "Is this your card?", University of Melbourne
Melbourne, the Maths Capital of the World
Mathematics in Melbourne's architecture
Melbourne is an amazing city for mathematically inspired architecture. For this public talk given at Monash University, 'Mathemagician' Burkard Polster took his audience on a whirlwind tour of mathematical Melbourne. Exploring the rep-tiles of Federation Square, casting a 5-dimensional Penrose shadow at Storey Hall, experiencing life in a one-sided holiday house, and much more.
Organised by ACEMS CI Tim Garoni the talk was a huge hit
Mathematics: Beauty, Power and Danger
ACEMS AI Tony Guttmann presented the 2018 Archimedes lecture at Swinburne University, entitled 'Mathematics: Beauty, Power and Danger'. Mathematics is one of humanity's most powerful inventions. Tony discussed what makes it is that makes mathematics so powerful, why mathematicians place such an emphasis on its beauty, and how, like any powerful tool or technology, it can be dangerous.
Jono's Tall Tale
In Adelaide ACEMS AI Jono Tuke took part in an event hosted by the Superstars of STEM and Science in the Pub Adelaide to present a night of fun, laughter and sharing of weird and wonderful science stories. Jono was one of six scientists who shared a weird or wonderful story about their profession and where the audience had to decide which three were complete fiction. You can read Jono's Tall Tale here and vote whether you think it is complete fiction or not.
Read Jono's Tall TaleMaths Arcade
Competitors for the grand prize at the Maths Arcade
ACEMS once again sponsored the Maths Arcade, which is becoming a staple of the University of Melbourne's Science Festival. With a drop-in format, students play maths-themed arcade-style games and compete for prizes.
Gallery
Young Tassie Scientists
Aviva Samuelson from the University of Tasmania, an ACEMS Satellite node, took part in the National Science Week event promoting science (and maths!) to primary school students across the state. Aviva wowed her young captive audience with tales of how maths is something we use everyday, even if we don't even realise it.