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National Science Week returns from Saturday 15 to Sunday 23 August with a program spanning burlesque geology, Dungeons & Dragons neuroscience, Sci-Fi film festivals and a travelling astrophysics lecture series. Events will be held in every state and territory, with organisers expecting millions of participants across more than 2,500 registered activities.
First held in 1997, the annual festival has grown into one of Australia’s largest public science programs. It is supported by the Australian Government alongside Questacon, CSIRO, the Australian Science Teachers Association and ABC Science.
Here is a look at some of the events on offer this year.
Hollywood gets human bodies wrong – and a UNSW researcher will show you how
Dr Kosta Kotsidis will dissect what Hollywood gets right and wrong about the human body in a public talk titled Anatomy According to Hollywood, hosted at UNSW’s Museum of Human Disease.
Drawing on scenes from House, Indiana Jones, Austin Powers, Poltergeist and other films, Kotsidis will walk audiences through the real science of anatomy while pointing out where filmmakers have taken liberties.
The event is recommended for ages 16 and above and includes discussion of human anatomy, injury and horror themes, along with clips from MA15+ films and television programs. It takes place on Thursday 20 August in Kensington, NSW.
Iranian refugee turned Trekkie filmmaker brings space stories to Canberra
Former IT Professional turned Filmmaker Masoud Varjavandi grew up in a Baha’i family persecuted in Iran during the 1980s. He found strength watching Star Trek during that period and has since channelled that experience into Canberra’s Space Faring Civilisation Film Festival.
“This isn’t about escapism. It’s about reminding people that progress, peace and a better future are still within reach,” Varjavandi explained.
The festival screens award-winning Sci-Fi and documentary shorts with a focus on positive perspectives on science and space exploration. A full-day program on Sunday 23 August includes creative workshops, a Q&A panel and film screenings.
Free stop-motion animation workshops will run in Canberra shopping centres in the lead-up to the festival.
Burlesque meets geology in a Canberra cabaret
By day, Dr Karina Judd conducts research at the Australian National University on making the zero-carbon transition more people-friendly. By night, she performs as “Roxie” in her one-woman cabaret Rock Hard! The Geological Cabaret, which won the 2026 Science at the Fringe Award.
The show blends geological and earth sciences with cabaret performance, cocktail-hour wit and a shimmer of burlesque.
“Funny and bold … an enjoyable learning experience!” judges at the Adelaide Fringe Festival commented.
Judd studied environmental geology at UNSW Sydney, specialising in soil and mineral chemistry before completing Honours in geology. She is also a performer of cabaret, burlesque and dance. The show runs Friday 14 to Saturday 15 August in Canberra.
Dungeons, Dragons and brain science collide on a Brisbane stage
Cutting-edge neuroscience research meets tabletop role-play in Monsters and Molecules, a Dungeons & Dragons-inspired comedy show improvised live on stage in Fortitude Valley, Queensland.
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Comedian Jaimeson Gilders, Educator Joel Gilmore and Professor Lezanne Ooi will attempt to save a fantasy world from chaos while exploring quantum research mapping one of the most complex systems in existence: the brain.
The show is presented with the ARC Centre of Excellence in Quantum Biotechnology, hosted by Science Communicator Shu Ezackial with live music by Sean Sully. It takes place on Wednesday 19 August.
Planetarium concert tackles misinformation with pop-rock-funk
Musician and Science Communicator Nate Eggins, performing as Conspiracy of One, returns with his Planetarium Variety Show at the Sir Thomas Brisbane Planetarium in Toowong, Queensland.
The evening pairs songs like “We’re All Aliens, Baby” and “The Sound a Duck Makes” with planetarium visuals, audience participation and a workshop on critical thinking. Attendees will have the chance to contribute data to an ongoing study.
Special Guest Melanie Trecek-King of Thinking is Power, author of the upcoming book A Field Guide to Spotting Misinformation, will join the show. The concert takes place on Friday 21 August.
Beaker Street Festival brings psychedelics, slime moulds and roving scientists to Tasmania
The Beaker Street Festival returns to Hobart and venues across Tasmania from Thursday 6 August to Monday 17 August, centred around the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery.
“For ten years, Beaker Street has created events and spaces where science becomes the catalyst for great conversations, new ideas and shared experiences,” Founder and Creative Director Dr Margo Adler remarked. “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.”
The week-long program features talks and workshops, interactive science and art installations, photography exhibitions, live music and performance, and Tasmanian food and drink.
Among the highlights is a debate titled “Social media should be banned for Over-16s too!” hosted by the ABC’s Natasha Mitchell, with Astrophysicist Kirsten Banks, Economist Saul Eslake, Content Creator Meredith Castles and Tim Nugent, who holds a doctorate in mobile human-computer interaction and urban informatics.
Dr Paul Liknaitzky, Head of Monash University’s Clinical Psychedelics Lab, will present on how psychedelics such as mushrooms and MDMA are reshaping mental health care.
Other events include an immersive international sound work inspired by dark energy titled VAST, a true crime science event called Murder on Beaker Street, an exhibition and talks from Slime Mould Expert Sarah Lloyd, bat ecology with Dr Lisa Cawthen, Dr Karl live on stage in Hobart and Burnie, and a chance to have a drink with roving scientists at the Hope and Anchor pub.
The festival’s Hobartica program offers an Antarctic-inspired waterfront takeover with a night market, interactive geodesic domes, VR tours of Macquarie Island and a Polar Plunge Challenge.
Sex-ed takes the stage in The Clitoral Chronicles
Dr Tiana Pirtle, who holds a PhD in reproductive ecology and physiology, is putting the clitoris centre stage in The Clitoral Chronicles, a show blending comedy, physical theatre and anatomical costumes with stories from the animal kingdom.
The show explores how the clitoris has been overlooked and written out of history for centuries. Pirtle is joined by performers wearing sparkly clitoris and penis costumes as the production flips outdated ideas about sex, gender and science while putting female and LGBTQIA+ perspectives centre stage.
Pirtle’s previous show, Vaginal Vignettes, explored multi-chambered vaginas, elongated clitorises, pseudo-penises and armoured vaginal openings that put female animals in the driver’s seat of reproduction and evolution.
The show plays in Ulverstone on Tuesday 11 August and in Hobart on Friday 21 and Saturday 22 August.
A porcupinefish walks the red carpet in Adelaide
Audiences can walk the red carpet for the official premiere of two new animated short films made with Fastbreak Films for National Science Week 2026 at an event in North Adelaide.
Little Scientists, Big Blue follows Porci the Porcupinefish on an underwater journey through kelp forests and deep-sea ecosystems, while Porci Explores Marine Parks showcases South Australia’s 26 state and Commonwealth marine parks and the science behind protecting them.
Hosted by the Marine Discovery Centre and National Parks and Wildlife Service SA, the family event on Saturday 22 August includes a panel of marine scientists, live music from Sea Star Rock, VR reef dives, marine touch tables and Indigenous science displays.
Robot challenges and wildlife shows hit Adelaide Showground
Science Alive! brings a mix of robot wars, flying drone displays, space science and VR experiences to the Adelaide Showground in Wayville on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 August.
The program includes Nitro Nat’s Crazy Colourful Chemistry Show, the Animals Anonymous Wildlife Show, Super Science with Simon, and gaming and visual effects demonstrations.
Where Sci-Fi meets Sci-Fact in Hobart
From black holes in Interstellar to a robot cleaning up a deserted Earth in Wall-E, Sci-Fi has long inspired real research. The “That’s What I Call Science” group brings science and art together at From Fact to Fiction, screening a Sci-Fi film followed by a panel of STEM experts.
The panel will unpack the science behind the film and connect it to research taking place in Lutruwita/Tasmania. The event takes place on Sunday 16 August in Hobart.
Listening to the sound of cosmic collisions
The most violent events in the universe create elements such as gold, platinum and the iodine in human blood. Dr Karelle Siellez is listening to the aftermath of these kilonova events through electromagnetic radiation and gamma-ray bursts.
Siellez, an Astrophysicist and Lecturer at the University of Tasmania, will explore the “sound” of cosmic collisions and what these signals reveal about the universe during public talks across the country as part of the 2026 Marie Curie lecture series.
She contributed to the first detection of a gamma-ray burst and gravitational waves from the same cosmic event, work recognised with the 2017 Breakthrough Prize. The lecture series visits Canberra, Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle, Adelaide and Brisbane, with an online option also available.
Full event listings for National Science Week 2026 are available at scienceweek.net.au.
Last Updated on July 27, 2026 by Nick Ross
