Let’s get immersed in a high-tech virtual world with five fascinating fast facts about virtual reality, an interview with Dr Vanessa Moss, an astrophysicist who uses virtual reality to collaborate with other scientists, and an eye-opening binocular activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

04:05 Interview with Dr Vanessa Moss

10:33 Dominant eye activity

Virtual science exhibition, The Future of Meetings TFOMxCSIRO Exhibition Hall

NOTE: This virtual space uses quite a lot of data (100MB). The space is compatible with Safari, Chrome and Edge browsers (partial support for Firefox). It is also accessible via the Spatial.io phone app or Oculus Quest 2 (VR).

https://www.spatial.io/s/TFOMxCSIRO-Exhibition-Hall-64a1609a2e4f7d91d95a43bd?share=9027864886891104356

Dominant eye activity instructions:

The hand you use for writing is your ‘dominant hand’ and most of us are either left-hand dominant or right-hand dominant. A few people are ambidextrous, which means they can use one hand just as easily as the other.

Did you know that you probably have a dominant eye as well as a dominant hand?

Follow these steps to test which is your dominant eye.

1. Stretch your arms out in front of you and use your fingers and thumbs to make a triangle shape that you can see through.
2. Focus on an object in the distance and keep staring at it.
3. Keep your arms stretched out, but slide your hands together to make the triangle smaller, while still looking at the distant object.
4. Keep looking at the object, and close one of your eyes.

If you can still see the object, the eye that is still open is your dominant eye.

If you can’t close one eye at a time by winking, try asking someone to help you by carefully covering one of your eyes with their hand.

1. If you can’t see the object, switch eyes, so the other eye is closed.

If you can now see the object with your open eye, then this is your dominant eye.

If it didn’t work, try again, or maybe you are one of the few people who does not have a dominant eye.

As well as testing for your dominant eye, this activity demonstrates how each of your eyes sees a slightly different picture of your surroundings. Virtual reality relies on this binocular vision to create realistic images of three-dimensional worlds.

Get ready to launch into fascinating fast facts about space junk, an interview with Mars Buttfield-Addison, a computer scientist and science communicator who knows a lot about space debris, and an easy orbital activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:28 A big collision in space

04:10 Interview with Mars Buttfield-Addison

10:49 Orbiting sock activity

Orbiting sock activity instructions:

You will need: a pair of long socks, for example, knee-high socks or football socks,

or ask if you can borrow a pair of adult-sized socks.

1. Roll up one of the socks and push it down into the other sock, so it is in the toe end of the sock.
2. Make sure you have plenty of space around you before doing this step. Hold the open end of the sock and swing the sock around in a circle, so the rolled-up sock is orbiting your hand. Make the sock swing around in a circle as fast as you can, and then slow down the speed until the sock only just stays in a nice, round circle-shaped orbit.
3. Hold the sock about halfway along the length, so the orbit is smaller. Swing the sock around again so it orbits your hand in a smaller circle. Make it swing around as fast as you can again, and then slow down the speed while keeping it in a circle-shaped orbit.

What do you notice about the speed of the larger orbit compared to the smaller orbit?

The sock can orbit a lot slower in the larger orbit compared to the smaller orbit.

This is only a model made from socks, so the forces are a bit different compared to a real satellite orbiting Earth. In our sock model, the long sock is providing the force to keep the rolled-up sock in its orbit, so the long sock is a bit like gravity holding a satellite in orbit.

A satellite is held in orbit by the force of gravity. For lower orbits, the force of gravity is stronger and a satellite in a lower orbit has to move faster to avoid falling down to Earth. Higher orbit satellites experience less gravitational pull, and they move more slowly to stay in orbit.

Let’s step back in time with five fascinating fast facts about how scientists date the ages of ancient artefacts, an interview with Belinda Huntriss, a Worimi woman who is passionate about sharing her knowledge of Aboriginal science and technology, and a tasty sedimentary layer activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Belinda Huntriss: https://freshwater-education.com/

Freshwater Education: Aboriginal education consultancy, professional development workshops, teaching resources, keynote speaker, educator mentoring

Books mentioned by Belinda:

Young Dark Emu – A Truer History by Bruce Pascoe

The First Scientists by Corey Tutt

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

04:07 Deep dive into the Madjedbebe rock shelter in Arnhem Land

05:28 Interview with Belinda Huntriss

12:24 Edible sedimentary layers activity

Edible sedimentary layers activity instructions:

You will need: a bowl, a few spoons, a glass or tumbler, 2 or 3 biscuits or cookies of your choice, custard or chocolate pudding, chopped fruit and sprinkles. Note: You don’t have to use all of these ingredients to make the sedimentary layers. You might have some tastier ideas you’d like to try.

1. Place the biscuits or cookies on a chopping board or in a bowl and make biscuit crumbs by crushing the biscuits with the back of a large spoon.
2. Make layers of the ingredients in the glass or tumbler, by adding the ingredients one layer at a time. Start by covering the bottom of the glass with biscuit crumbs. Add a layer of custard or pudding, a layer of chopped fruit and a few sprinkles.
3. Repeat the layers, starting again with biscuit crumbs, and keep adding layers until you are happy with your sedimentary layer dessert.
4. Use a small spoon to dig into the layers and eat your dessert. You can travel back in time to a few minutes ago when you added the first layer of biscuit crumbs!

Sedimentary layers form when small pieces of rock, sand, and soil settle on top of each other. The layers can also include left over material from plants and animals. As more and more layers are buried, pressure and time causes solid rock to form, and this type of rock is called ‘sedimentary rock’.

It’s time to fire up the mind with five fun and fascinating fast facts about imagination, plus some questions for Sarah Macdonald and Max Gambale, two creative people with interesting imaginations, and a visualisation and drawing activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: https://www.creativescience.com.au

Facebook: @creativescienceaustralia

Instagram: @creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:43 Deep dive into aphantasia

04:30 Interview with Sarah Macdonald and Max Gambale

10:09 Visualisation and drawing activity

Visualisation and drawing activity instructions:

You will need: two pieces of paper, coloured pencils, and a banana. You don’t have to use a banana, but you will need an object that has a familiar shape and that is not too complicated to draw.

1. Hide the banana so you cannot look at it while you draw. In your mind’s eye, picture a banana in as much detail as possible. If you have aphantasia, you might be thinking of the idea of a banana and the concept that it is yellow, or maybe a bit green, and that it has a curved shape.
2. Draw a picture of the banana you are thinking about. Take your time to draw as much detail as possible. When you have finished your drawing, turn the paper over so you can’t see the picture.
3. Take the banana out of its hiding place, put it down in front of you, and look at it very carefully. Look at the colour and shape of the banana. Can you see any shadows on the banana and any markings on the skin?
4. Draw a picture of the banana and look at the real banana as many times as you like to try to make your drawing as realistic as possible.
5. When you have finished drawing the real banana, turn over the first drawing and compare your two pictures. Did you find it easier to draw a picture of a banana when you could see the real banana? Or did you find it difficult to draw all of the details?

When we picture a banana in our mind, we often see a simple image of a curved yellow shape, and maybe some black spots. Looking at a real banana reveals many details that we might not imagine in our mind. To draw a realistic picture, it also takes a lot of practice and skill to make an accurate drawing of what we are observing with our eyes.

It’s time to take a deep breath and get ready for five fascinating fast facts about breathing, an interview with Dr Kenneth Soo, a hospital-based doctor who knows a lot about breathing, and an energetic activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: www.creativescience.com.au Facebook www.facebook.com/creativescienceaustralia Instagram www.instagram.com/creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:45 Respiration with Dr Kenneth Soo

09:59 Breathing rate activity

Breathing rate activity instructions:

You will need: a pen and paper and a timer (e.g. a smartphone timer, a stopwatch, or a clock with a second hand). 1. Sit quietly, breathing normally, and time exactly 60 seconds while you count the number of times you breathe in 60 seconds. A full breath in and a full breath out is counted as one breath. After you have counted your breaths for 60 seconds, write down the result. This number is your breathing rate, which is the number of breaths you take in one minute.

2. Repeat Step 1 to measure the resting breathing rate two more times to get a more accurate result.

3. Time another 60 seconds and do some very energetic star jumps, otherwise known as ‘jumping jacks’, and try to really push yourself to jump high and go as fast as you can.

4. Stop jumping, time 60 seconds, and measure your breathing rate again, by counting your breaths for 60 seconds, and write down the result.

5. If you are feeling energetic, Repeat Steps 3 and 4, by exercising again and re-measuring your breathing rate.

Did your breathing rate change after you exercised? When you exercise, your muscle cells use up oxygen and sugar and they make carbon dioxide. Having too much carbon dioxide in the blood makes the blood more acidic. This triggers the body to breathe faster to get rid of the extra carbon dioxide from the body. Breathing faster helps your body remove carbon dioxide from the blood and it delivers more oxygen to your cells.

Let’s get fired up with five fascinating fast facts about climate science, a deep dive into carbon footprints, an interview with Stuart Goldsmith, an English comedian with a passion for communicating about climate change, and a sea level experiment for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: www.creativescience.com.au Facebook www.facebook.com/creativescienceaustralia Instagram www.instagram.com/creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:41 Carbon footprints and reducing carbon emissions

05:43 Stuart Goldsmith and climate comedy

12:58 Rising sea level activity

For adult listeners, find out more about Stuart Goldsmith’s stand-up comedy, climate comedy, and comedy podcast: https://www.stuartgoldsmith.com

Rising sea level activity instructions:

You will need: A few ice cubes, two small drinking glasses that are the same size and shape, sticky tape, and a rock or some other heavy object that will fit in the base of one of the small glasses.

1. Place the two small glasses side-by-side on a bench.
2. Put the rock in the bottom of one of the glasses and add water to this glass until the water is just below the top of the rock.
3. For the other glass, add water until the water is at about the same level as the glass with the rock.
4. Place one or more ice cubes on the rock, making sure the ice is not touching the water.
5. Add the same number of ice cubes to the glass without the rock, making sure the ice cubes are floating. If they are not floating, add some more water to the glass.
6. Use sticky tape to mark the water level in each glass. You might have to dry the outside of the glasses with a cloth to get the tape to stick and you should carefully line up the side of the tape with the surface of the water before sticking it to the glass.
7. Wait until all of the ice cubes have completely melted and then look at the water level in each glass. Have the water levels changed?

When land ice melts, like the ice in glaciers, the melt water causes the sea level to rise. When sea ice melts, the sea level doesn’t change much because the ice was already floating in the sea. However, with less sea ice, the ocean absorbs more light from the Sun, which makes the oceans warm up even more. And when the oceans warm up, the volume of water in the sea increases, causing the sea level to rise.

Let’s get growing with five fascinating fast facts about seeds, a deep dive into seed banks, an interview with Cassy Polimeni, a children’s author who writes stories featuring science, and a see-through seed growing activity for you to try yourself at home.

Presented by Jenny Lynch and Matilda Sercombe. Written and produced by Jenny Lynch. Music by Purple Planet Music. Sound effects by Pixabay.

Creative Science: www.creativescience.com.au Facebook www.facebook.com/creativescienceaustralia Instagram www.instagram.com/creative_science_australia

Episode content:

00:00 Introduction and fast facts

03:09 Seed banks

03:47 Cassy Polimeni and ‘The Garden at the End of the World’

08:33 CD bean plant activity

Cassy Polimeni: https://cassypolimeni.wordpress.com/

UWA Publishing: https://uwap.uwa.edu.au/collections/ella-and-the-frogs-series

CD Bean Plant Activity Instructions:

You will need: Old CD case, moist soil or potting mix, broad bean seeds, and a shallow tray. If you can’t find a CD case, you can try using a DVD case or a clear plastic zip lock bag instead.

1. Open the CD case, lay it out flat on a bench and take out the plastic inner part. The inner part is often made from black plastic and it has the round part that holds the CD.
2. At the end of the CD case that doesn’t have the hinge, add some moist soil or potting mix and place up to three broad bean seeds in the middle of the soil.
3. Close the CD case and stand it up in the plastic tray. You might need to lean the CD case against a wall or a box so it stands up on its side with the soil at the bottom.
4. Leave the CD case until the first signs of germination appear, with roots and leaves growing out of the seed, and continue to observe the plant growing over several days. You will need to keep the soil moist by adding a small amount of water through the gap at the hinged end of the CD case.

A dry broad bean seed stays dormant until it has the soil and water it needs to grow. The seed has enough energy and nutrients to start growing, but it soon starts making food from carbon dioxide gas in the air and takes up water and nutrients through the roots.

As the bean plant grows, the different parts of the plant can be observed through the clear CD case, including the roots, stem, and leaves. The stem grows up and the roots grow down because the plant can detect light and the force of gravity.