March 13. Day 73. Spider woman

It would  be quite unfair to ask my students to do something I wouldn't do myself. So if Tegan had to hold a golden orb spider close to her face for a World Science Festival piece to camera, I also had to have a go. The fact that I am not an insy winsy bit scared of spiders and she is has nothing to do with it. I would deny laughing at her but there was a camera crew so probably no point. Any way, the whole point of today was having fun and having a go and that we did. It was about the science of bubbles, the science of robots, 3D Google glasses and as many ways as possible to get families involved with science. Anyone with arachnophobia may have preferred to be anywhere else but for the rest of us having the World Science Festival in Brisbane for the first time was a blast.

March 12. Day 72. Hands on science

You have to hand it to the World Science Festival folk.
They have found a way to make science not only popular but very hands-on and kid friendly.
The QPAC forecourt was literally heaving with visitors today all eager to meet a robot, throw a science question at the science guru Dr Karl or dip their hand in some slime. Add the street science, food science, talks and demonstrations.
Then there were turtles, street performers, the infinity swing which allows you to create light and sound by the forces you create while swinging and more.
Of course the "serious science" talks continued in the museum and other venues around the South Bank area but in the forecourt the free entertainment was more than enough to keep the crowds happy in the autumn sun.


Possibly the best belt buckle ever

March 11. Day 71. Star gazing

It is a wonderful thing when you go all fan girl and get up close and personal with someone you have long admired and find they actually deserve your admiration and more.

So it was today when I attended a  media call with Alan Alda or as I will always know him M*A*S*H character Hawkeye Pierce.

Alda is in Brisbane as part of the World Science Festival and he sees his job as communicating science to the masses in a way that makes it more easy to relate to.

Humanising the great scientific brains is part of that. This is why he created Dear Albert the theatrical work based on the letters of Albert Einstein.

He said it was eternally interesting that a man who was able to unlock some of the great scientific mysteries was simultaneously able to make such a mess of his personal life

"You can be smart and make dumb emotional choices," he explained.

"As hard as it is to work out curved space, it's even harder to work out curved humanity."

And as he spoke, the fan girl couldn't help but think that sounded like an apt description of Hawkeye.

March 10. Day 70. To infinity and beyond

Forget the first smile. Forget the first steps. Forget toilet training. The real milestone is when your child can swing himself or herself on a swing. Standing there for hours pushing is not only exceptionally exhausting but extremely tiresome. Still, I get it. Swinging on a swing is incredibly liberating. But once you graduate from childhood it's not cool to push the kids out of the way and plant your bottom on the swing. Well here's a way of doing it, all in the name of science. As part of the World Science Festival here in Brisbane the Infinity Swing has been set up under the Wheel. This being people power to the fore. The forces created by the swing are capable of generating enough power for light and sound. Put on headphones and you will hear music if you generate enough the forces needed. More power and let there be light. If you a a real swinger, the giant letters on the top of the swing set will be illuminated.There were kids in the queue to have a go when the CSIRO exhibit opened this afternoon but I couldn't help notice the big kids were anxious to check it out. It's just reward for all that swing pushing of the kids.

March 9. Day 69. Science in the City

Here's a fun fact I bet you didn't know about me which I hide exceptionally well. I actually started my academic career exercising the left side brain. At school I studied physics, chemistry, biology and maths and the first undergraduate degree I enrolled in was physiotherapy. Madness

 These days I use a calculator if I buy two items in the shop. The creative right brain is the bit with the neurones firing most powerfully, most of the time. Still, there's a little bit of nerd buried somewhere under that creative exterior and that bit is rather proud and excited at the fact that Brisbane is now the first city outside New York to host the World Science Festival. Even more exciting is that QUT Journalism has teamed up with ABC Online to cover the event. This means that this week a team of nine students will be working out of the ABC's Southbank headquarters to report on the event largely based at the nearby Queensland Museum. How cool is that. Today was day one and students were talking spiders, dinosaurs, string theory (whatever that might be), water waves and gravitational waves.
And student Toby Crockford used the Brisbane sign as a backdrop for his TV piece heralding the launch of the festival. How good is that? Here's another fun fact about me I hide not at all well. I'd be useless at a piece to camera because walking and taking is a problem. Walking and jumping is out of the question.

March 8. Day 68. Sense of direction

It's a lucky thing I'm not a bird.

A red-necked stint weighs just 30 grams and can migrate between Siberia and Australia each year. My weight may be "somewhat" more than that but I can get lost getting to the mailbox. If I had to use a compass I probably couldn't find my way from the bedroom to the en suite. I'm pretty sure the developers of phone map apps have a picture of me on the laptop to refer to when it is important to have a vision of the target market. Forget using complex directional terms such as north and south, this person has a "little" trouble with concepts such as left and right. My navigational compass is like the one historical gas stripping tower at West End - missing a few elements like north and west.  Yet the birds seemed to be able to navigate their way around the structure this afternoon no trouble at all. I'd have no hope. It's an affliction that has haunted me since I was a child. I still remember school dance lessons where they would bark difficult instructions such as "left, left, left, right, left". In this situation having two left feet was the least of my problems.

March 7. Day 67. To friends, old and new

There's this saying, a saying which I admit sounds like it belongs on a trite greeting card, but which I none-the-less hold to be an absolute truth: Good friends are like stars. You don't always see them but you know they are always there. I'll go further, the great thing about good friends is that they provide light on even the darkest night. Today I was privileged to spend time with special women I consider my friends. At lunch, I farewelled my buddy Donna who is about to leave our shores to live, teach and research in Japan. Donna is one of those people who moved from Virtual reality to reality and we have shared a love of social media, politics, the ABC, photography, blogging and whinging about the state of universities - not necessarily in that order. It seemed fitting, therefore that on our last meeting for a bit we took out the cameras and went for a stroll. Also fitting we each took a pic of each other taking a pic.  Often there has been a coincidental meeting of minds in our pic subjects. Today it just had to be. Then in the afternoon, the furballs and I ventured to Nudgee Beach for a romp with a dear friend Megan and her much larger fur  bundle Rowland. As we tossed the balls to the dogs we tossed around thoughts from the present predicament of the Queensland Reds to the struggles of high school in that random way friends do. And the dogs sniffed each other's bums as dog friends do.... Ladies, a hug will do