A Night of Science in the South

A Night of Science in the South (Friday 24 September, 6–8pm), presented by Onkaparinga Libraries and Inspiring South Australia, brings together the nine diverse scientists—most of them alumni of the prestigious Tall Poppy campaign—giving them each six minutes to present their research.

The bite-sized science treats will be delivered alongside drinks (beer and wine available for purchase), a light supper, networking and door prizes, in what promises to be a unique—and likely sold-out—event.

Bookings ($15 per person) are essential, with numbers for the COVID Safe event strictly limited to adhere to COVID-19 requirements.

Presenters include:

• Dr Grace Vincent, whose talk, ‘Why do we sleep’, will provide an overview of the basics of sleep science, how much we need and what happens to our body and mind when we don’t get enough of it
• Dr Yan Jiao, who’ll discuss why clean energy is important to us, the bottleneck in realising a clean energy future, and more
• Associate Professor Tasha Stanton. Her talk ‘Pain, the brain, and perceptual trickery’, will discuss how we create our own “reality” in our brain, using available sensory information, our past experiences, and our expectations; and discuss using perceptual trickery for good—tricking the brain with virtual/mediated reality to change bodily feelings, like pain
• Dr Margaret Shanafield, whose talk ‘From rain to runoff to recharge: tracing water through the Willunga Basin’ will discuss how much water flows through our streams when it rains, how much of that water becomes groundwater, and how fast does that groundwater move out to the sea. She’ll also describe what we know about the Willunga Basin, from rainfall to streamflow, evaporation to groundwater flow—and what we don’t know
• Dr Sheryn Pitman, whose research explores how much we know about how nature works, and who knows, because the sustainability of human life on Earth depends upon the integrity of the relationship between humanity and nature
• Dr Kylie Dunning, whose talk ‘The Power of Light to Measure’ discusses how light has been used to measure and discover things such as gravitational waves, the level of oxygen in your blood, and even the health of an embryo—which could lead to improved success rates for hopeful parents undergoing IVF.
• Dr Ashley Hopkins, whose research aims to unleash the potential of emerging big data and machine learning to empower patients and oncologists to better understand the pros and cons of cancer treatments
• Dr Yee Lian Chew, a neuroscientist who seeks to uncover new treatments for chronic pain by studying worm brains to better understand pain responses in order to discover new therapeutic targets.

Team Leader Woodcroft Library Kathrin Davidson said the event format and experts in their field would make for a truly unique experience and a fun night out.

“There’ll be something for everyone in this all-star lineup of speakers, and their short, punchy talks about people and places mean you’ll learn some fascinating insights in a fun and easy-to-understand way,” she said.

“Make sure to book your tickets now as this one is sure to fill up fast.”