CSIRO's Seonaid Philip explains how her team examined soil in northern Australia to identify potential farmland suitable for growing plants, including testing for carbon, nitrogen and erodibility.
Dr Xand visits 12yearold Matthew and gets to witness a lifechanging operation. See the surgeon wire Matthew for a cochlear implant. After a brief healing period, our patient is hopefully ready to receive sound signals. In a meeting with his parents and specialists, the ecstatic lad gets to hear his first words his name spoken by his father!
Dr Damien Reid from the Fire and Rescue Scientific Branch of the Queensland Fire and Emergency Services specialises in a different kind of emergency; chemical spills!
Reluctant Kellyn takes a nighttime tour of Boggo Road Gaol, one of Brisbane's oldest prisons, with guide David. Then they go to the cells, and learn the story of a frequent prison guard ghost sighting. We hear of the apparition of a certain escaped prisoner, as well as the ghost of one longgone inmate's pet cat who visits nightly.
Joe pulls a face at Dr Xand and asks, When riding a really fast rollercoaster, why does your face get pulled backwards distorting your facial features Dr Xand explains that the heavy feeling you get as you accelerate, is all that Gforce is pulling you back.
Digital images can taken by using a satellite that orbits the earth. The satellite is equipped with a series of mirrors and detectors that take pictures of different strips. Scientist piece them together to show digital images.
The production of Lion King musical involves master puppeteers that mechanically operate the animals. The products that are engineered for the costumes are very light.
To demonstrate our perception of the spoken word, the doctors play a trick on us. What follows is the revelation that when we hear a sound, we tend to read lips. This goes to show the dominance of vision over all the other senses.
Some love the highs and lows that come with an intense rollercoaster ride. Other prefer to keep their feet well and truly planted on the ground. But why is that Dr Rob heads out to Dreamworld with rollercoaster academic Malcolm Burt, to find out.
Solar energy has its limitations and so far, homes powered by solar can quickly lose power when the sun isn't out. But new tech now means that the sun's energy can be stored in batteries for later use in the home.
Scott Bidmead goes scuba diving in a marine conservation park, sees seadragons, fur seals and sea lions, and learns why marine conservation is important.
Adam Cox visits Bollyfunk Dance where Andrea Lam explains where Bollywood dancing originated, what makes it unique, and how it is a fusion of different dance styles.
Following the announcement that Coles and Woolworths will be phasing out single-use plastic bags, Mornington Peninsular schoolgirl Meg explains why such plastics are bad for the environment and how she has campaigned to stop shops using them.
Griffith University's Jun Jo reveals how a smart vision drone uses artificial intelligence to recognise people using feature detection, and follow them around.
Junior scientists Jasmine and Holly explain how having two eyes helps with depth perception, and demonstrate an experiment a test to see if covering one eye makes any difference to a person's ability to direct a friend to drop a marble into a cup.
Omega3 is a type of fat that is essential for our health and is added to many foods and dietary supplements. Most omega3 is sourced from fish and has a fishy smell so how do scientists create versions of omega3 that both smell and taste odour free
As technology has progressed, people have become to rely on steam engine trains a lot less and now they're mostly used to take tourists around to see the sights of Australia. Jaden may be just a kid but his love for trains led him to take on the job of car captain on one of these steam engine trains and he shares his story with us, explains why he thinks trains are so cool and describes what it's like to be a car captain.
Robots are designed to make our lives easier and that's exactly what junior scientist Sarsha wants to do with her robotic arm, which aims to help stroke victims with their rehabilitation
Duane talks to drone racer Micah Buedin who gives insight as to why drones crash a lot. Interviewing other racers who competing at this through special, digital headsets that put them 'in the drone' Duane hears about finger jitters, accelerated heartbeats, and dizziness.
It started as a simple homework assignment and soon transformed into an exciting school trip to China! Hear the story from Connor and Lucy as they show us what they saw and learned as guests of the Chinese government on their trip to China.
It's unbelievable how much food developed countries waste every single year, but some places are looking into ways to discourage it from happening any further. Find out more about why food waste is such a troubling trend and the ways you and others can make sure you're not becoming part of the problem.
What does it take to become an Australian citizen And what does it mean to be a citizen of two different countries Find out all about the process and a controversial new position that could leave some Aussies without a right to citizenship after a crime is committed.
Meet Anzac, the great-great grandson of a World War I soldier at Gallipoli, as he tells us about the inspiring man he's named after. The elder Anzac actually lied in order to be able to serve in World War I and he was eventually killed fighting for Australia. Now, we celebrate Anzac Day to remember those who died serving their country.
When people talk about climate change, it can be a bit confusing as far as what that means and what causes it. The main culprit is greenhouse gases, which occur naturally but due to human involvement, a lot more have been released. What are the consequences and how can we reverse them
Most kids probably don't put a lot of thought into what their rights are as a child, but it's important to understand them. Josh is UNICEF youth ambassador and he explains those rights to us as well as the efforts of UNICEF to make sure children around the globe have those rights.
Dusting for fingerprints is an essential part to any crime scene investigation. But those fingerprints can sometimes be hard to find. Not to fear; Dr Kang Liang and Dr JJ Richardson have developed a new technique that makes fingerprints glow!
Lucinda wrote an essay about a World War I soldier named Leslie Varley Duxbury and that essay won her a trip to France to visit some of the historical sites of World War I. She takes us along for the trip as she visits monuments, graveyards, historical battle sites as well as the grave of the soldier she's come to know so much about.
Students learn about Olive, a nurse during World War I, by examining old letters and other material to get a better picture of what life was like back then. Whether serving as a nurse like Olive or taking over jobs men vacated back home, women played a crucial role in World War I and many of them put their lives on the line.
Student creates a drone that can be computerized with software and hardware. The uses of the drones are diverse and the new models can fly for a long time.
Alex talks to a mosquito expert who defends and dignifies these bloodsuckers! He shows us a homemade trap we can catch them in and Dr Joanne MacDonald tests the dead ones with her students to make sure they're negative for disease.
Kellyn interviews Aviation State High School teacher Jack Clarke. Starting out as a regular state high school, they added speciality courses to the curriculum making it the place to train for budding pilots, engineers, and even flight attendants.
Fiveyearold Erin and her hurting pinky finger wait in Emergency. Nurse practitioner Julia Maxted is on hand to examine it. After Xrays, we can plainly see the little digit sticking out and needing realignment. No need for an operating table this will be done right in the chair. See part 2 to find out what effect laughing gas has on alreadychipper Erin!
At the Sea Life Sydney Aquarium, Duane has helped thread lettuce into trays, and sinks them to the bottom so the dugongs can eat naturally. These captive dugongs are being studied to help their wild brethren, who face extinction.
Elevenyearold Oscar lands at emergency with his mum because he has a 'weird feeling' nose. This, after colliding with another player's elbow in school football training. Ear, nose and throat specialist, Baskaran Ranganathan, takes a look at the lad and can tell his nasal bone is broken. In an animated sequence, we see the inner structure of the nose and what could go wrong if banged! So, it's an operation to straighten the bones out again and make sure Oscar has no lingering breathing problems.
Chris goes to town to play an optical illusion on the passersby. It's more enticing than usual because he has two groupings of freshly baked cupcakes. The cupcakes at the centre of each arrangement are, unbeknownst to the public at large, the same size. But the left grouping on the tray is surrounded by small cupcakes, whereas the right grouping is surrounded by large ones. Everyone who guesses, thinks they should pay more for the cupcake surrounded by the other large ones! Xand later reveals th
Fourteenyearold Luke talks to Chris about the heart problems he's had from birth. One of these was a hole in his heart, and through an animation, we see how the lack of oxygen flow is a tiring and draining thing indeed. Studying heart conditions in children. Dr Guido Pieles runs the research at Bristol University. Luke helps out by participating in these studies to find out how much exercise is safe for children with heart conditions. We get to look at a heart scanner which shows realtime heart
Did you know that lasers can be used to help detect greenhouse gases Lasers can even detect different types of gases by utilising different wavelengths of light.
Kellyn gets information from PhD student Essie Rodgers all about crocodiles and climate change. The study involves young crocs and heated water tanks varying in temperature to see how that affects their diving and foraging. Behavioural changes in an apex predator reflect on those of every Critter in the ecosystem!
If you love the snow and winter sports, wouldn't it be great to be able to ski and snowboard all morning before you hit the classroom for some afternoon education! That's ski school in a nutshell, allowing athletes to train every morning on the slopes and attend to their maths, English studies and onsnow tracking task for the other half a day. Natalie's in the Victorian High Country talking to teacher Sam Magree about the curriculum geared towards the alpine environment, and called Altitude.
Experiment with watermelon and rubber bands around the middle of the watermelon shows force. The more you stretch a rubber band, the more a small force is exerted. Rubber bands bundled together can make a bigger force. The force is applied to watermelon.
In this Mindbender, Chris and Xand basically gaslight the group of students before them. Directing them to count the bones in a photo of a skeleton, they meanwhile play musical chairs even swapping with standins for themselves. All the while the students are studying the picture of the skeleton, nothing else in the room even before their eyes registers with them. This Mindbender is great fun and will leave jaws dropped when you present this to your class!
In the OuchMobile, nineyearold Kayla shows the interesting white line on her stomach. It's indeed special, as Xand explains it's from when Kayla was still inside her mum, and it's a line that cells marched along as she was growing. Also as Kayla has darkcoloured skin, there weren't as many melanocytes filling in this line so it stayed uniquely white.
Nineyearold Niella visits Chris in the Ouch Mobile, concerned about the spot on her eyeball. We learn it's called 'scleral melanocytosis' basically a freckle an extra bit of wayward skin pigment that got in there. Niella will have it for life, and as Chris says to her it's faint, unique, and definitely cool!
Natalie takes us on tour of Australia's oldest and biggest underground cave network the Jenolan Caves which are still under exploration. Two most enriching experiences are the explanation of how caves are formed, plus the fossil sightings, showing what kind of sea creatures once inhabited the space.
Today Scott is running about having a ball, playing Robin Hood with his band of merry men while enjoying the game of archery tag! Scouts SA leader Derek Boath watches from the sidelines and tells Scott about the fun and builtin safety measures of the sport. It's a team thing, open to both boys and girls, and while you're trying to take the opposite team out the emphasis is on having lots of fun!
Alex hits the pool to interview National Water Polo champs, the Brisbane Barracudas Ash, Bronte and Maddy. Although modest, Ash's shot is anything but clocked as the fastest for women in the world! Alex gamely treads water with the best, even completing some of the drills and warm up exercises. Then we get to be spectators, as the barracudas split in half for a fun match, with one side carrying Alex. See the short highlight reel to find out who wins!
Leela queries keeper Rebecca Bain as to whether the platypus is more adorable or dangerous! Rebecca reveals, through a routine visual health inspection, that the male of the species has a venomous spur on both hind legs. We find out their bills have a secret power too electroreceptors. Conclusion: cute and dangerous!
Today, trainer Francisca McDonald teaches Kellyn about dog agility. Francisca participates in this event as shown by her very fit body. She also loves to train others, and we meet a young girl and her dog who are totally enthusiastic about the bonding and exercise they get out of it. Border collies are featured, and they move like lightning. At the end, Kellyn gives the course of tunnels and hurdles a go. The energy whipped up with her canine companion leaves us laughing and in awe!
