National Science Week was held this year from
4 to 13 May.

The winner of our Get Published competition was Sarah Grey from Brigidine College, Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Queensland.

The highlight for her was Adam Spencer with his one hour (plus) maths/comedy show.

Here's Sarah's report.

The audience sat in wonder, waiting to see what Brisbane’s South Bank Piazza had served up for them at a National Science Week gig.

First Professor Richard Arculus from Department of Geology at the ANU told us about the ever-changing environment of our planet. We were baffled by shifting continents, climate change, super-continents, where-the-world-is-heading and human impacts on the planet. Which is always good to know, but after six days of Bunsen burners and test tubes, the audience breathed a collective sigh of relief when Adam Spencer, well known triple-J personality, bounded on stage and changed the subject.

Spencer kept the audience rapt with his widely loved banter as he summed up the work of many great mathematicians (past and present), took us through some practical uses for maths (obviously, ripping off your mates), talked about prime numbers, their uses, and the biggest ones in captivity. But the fun didn’t stop there. The roars of laughter from the Piazza continued well past nine o’clock as Adam went on to explain betting strategies, how to stay alive in a duel and why other subjects just don’t measure up to maths or science.

All in all, it was an entertaining night; for a while I didn’t even realize I was learning. Everyone should go and enjoy the free entertainment.

See you next year!