World Science Festival 2017

The World Science Festival brings together great minds in science and the arts to produce live and digital content that presents the wonders of science and the drama of scientific discovery to a broad general audience. The 2017 World Science Festival in Brisbane saw over 55,000 people attend.

Thousands of visitors engaged with staff from the Australian Museum while we extract DNA from over 300 strawberries, demonstrated the dissection of 12 squids. We helped the Brisbane community discover more about the Australian Museum with Museum in a Box treasures; all across 2 days of Street Science.

There were also two performances of the new stage show ‘At the Scene of the Crime’ developed by the Science Engagement and Events unit, which introduced audiences to the world of wildlife forensics and the work of the Australian Centre for Wildlife Genomics. The show used presumptive testing for blood and fingerprints to give audiences an idea of how ivory is identified, and the DNA fingerprints used for rapid rhino DNA testing.

Brisbane crowds loved it, with one of the stage volunteers coming up afterwards to ask us to sign off on her completing an experiment where there was a chemical change so she could get her Scout science badge!

Several audience members came up after the show, saying that they wish the show was longer as they were so fascinated by the work of the Australian Museum.

With a focus on quality scientific content and creating fun learning experience, Outreach event are a great way to connect with The Australian Museum. Next time you see us at an event be sure to come up and say hello and share your passion for the natural world with us.