National Science Week 2010 Preview (oh, and vote for Marc!)

Australian National Science Week is being held in 2010 between the 14th and 22nd August.

One of the competitions being run for this year's festival is a hunt for Australia's best science blogger called The Big Blog Theory - and I am rather humbled to have made the shortlisted top 10. There are some top Australian science blogs in the list, and it will be a tough ask to gain more votes than the ABC and sceptic blogs (not climate sceptic, thank goodness...), so if you feel like voting and checking out the final 10, check out the comp website.

Dan Keogh, one of the judges, put together this video on what he likes in science blogs.



They are also looking for Australia's best microblogger. Shortlisted in this category is @brainsmatter who you may remember from our combined show on fictional scientists. The closest other contender (IMHO) in this category is @cbsquared_, who made this video we featured a few weeks back on climate change for the Australian current affairs program Q and A.

There are a few cool events that I'll be looking out for during the week. Apart from the usual cavalcade of scientific fun and excellence, if you are in Melbourne check out the aforementioned @brainsmatter and his From Slime to Dinosaurs show at the Monash Science Centre. If you're not in Melbourne, you'll be able to watch it live online on the Brains Matter site.

I'm also intrigued by the Big Sleep Survey 2010. People of all ages are invited to take part in the survey during Science Week, during which time they get online at the Sleep Survey website, answer questions about their sleep habits and fill in a week long sleep diary. As well as contributing to a real research project, each participant will find out their Sleep IQ (hmmm, sounds pretty pop-sciencey to me, although probably fun) and go into the draw for a prize. Check out the National Tour and Guests page for more info on the science week happenings.

I'm very much looking forward to seeing Simon Pampena in what I guess you would describe as a humorous maths stage show called Planet of the Primes. Last year I saw Simon in Super Mega Maths Battle and it was one of the funniest things I've seen on stage, certainly on a "science" stage - although I'm pretty sure the kids in the audience didn't get the jokes! If you are near one of these shows, make sure you get along to see it, not only because it is maths communication (a particular passion of mine) but because it's very funny - well I presume it is, going on last year's show. Below is the video from last year's show - I'm not sure it does it justice, but you can sense the absurdity, which is right up my alley.



I'll be at various Sydney shows, hope to see you there. And don't forget to vote!