As part of ASC Victoria’s ‘Case Study’ series, we organised a night on October 7th with ASC member Nicholas J Johnson. Nicholas is someone who combines science communication with magic, literally. His show, Deceptology, was part of the Melbourne Magic Festival earlier this year and he uses magic as a way to explore the psychology of magic shows and how magicians often use our underlying biases and limitations to fool ourselves into believing what we see. He gave several demonstrations of the sorts of tricks he uses in his show, how sleight-of-hands can easily be done on stage and what he talks to the public and school students around critical thinking and skepticism. Nicholas was very honest about his craft (although he says magicians always lie) and from a science communicators perspective it was an interesting exploration of how many ideas in scicom can be effectively explored. It also offered a fascinating dip into the wider world of the magician and how tricks both old and new are put into modern magic shows.

Oh, he also pushed a nail into his head.

Make sure you check out his website: http://www.conman.com.au

Charlie Marshall and Victorian ASC Member is having a great music/science event in June.

He has kindly offered 4 FREE TICKETS to ASC Members. Please email Vic President at vic_president[at]asc.asn.au. First 4 members in get the tickets!!

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Saturday 6th June
The Spotted Mallard
314 Sydney Road, Brunswick Dinner/Doors 6pm
Presale tickets $15 + bf at http://www.spottedmallard.com/events

For more information go to : http://www.charliemarshall.com.au/ http://www.facebook.com/charliemarshallmusic

Melbourne singer, songwriter, science teacher and enthusiast Charlie Marshall presents a unique personal vision, ‘Sublime – Songs of Science, Metaphysics and Ecology’ on Saturday 6th June at The Spotted Mallard.

A musical, visual and spoken word exploration of the extraordinary world of Science and The Sublime. From the breadth of the universe and the eternity of deep time to the infinitesimal world of the atom. From the superorganism of the Gaia Hypothesis to the symbiosis within our cells. From Chaos theory to the challenge of climate change and a new understanding of science and society.

Charlie has always been one of Australia’s most inventive songwriters – first with much loved cult band Harem Scarem alongside brother Chris, Melbourne musical god Chris Wilson and Barry Palmer (Hunters and Collectors), followed by Charlie Marshall & The Body Electric which featured members of such legendary outfits as The Dirty Three, Beasts Of Bourbon and The Avalanches.

Now with his new works which integrate science, philosophy and politics he may have created a new musical genre – poetic, scientific, political rock. For this special event Charlie takes on the role of science communicator in the tradition of his heroes Brian Cox, Carl Sagan and David Attenborough. As well as performing songs with his band The Curious Minds (Clare Moore – Drums, Bryan Colechin – Bass, Tim Deane – Keyboards and Troy Rogan – Cello) he will elucidate the concepts behind the songs and inspire the audience with his passion for science.

Digital artists Thomas Ingram and Maize Wallin will connect the live performance to interactive music visualisers to produce graphics based on the themes of the songs. Each instrument, playing a larger part in the organic machine that is science will control parts of iconic scientific concepts. The guitarist creates rain in a biome, while the bass player carves mountains. Particles are thrown into the Hadron Collider at each drum beat. The band as a whole will bestow life and movement to the programmed visuals.

Accompanying Charlie and crew on this sublime journey will be acclaimed Melbourne poet Sean M. Whelan reading some of his mesmerising, science themed pieces, physicist and 3CR science presenter Chris Lassig providing expert input and physical demonstrations and a special guest appearance by brother Chris Mar- shall. A full colour 20 page Progam booklet with song lyrics, poetic science concepts and images will be on sale on the night. Entry includes a free download of the new single ‘Curious Minds’

Be sure to catch Charlie Marshall as he performs this very rare and intimate performance of ‘Sublime – songs of Science, Metaphysics and Ecology’ on Saturday 6th June at The Spotted Mallard.

The first event the Victorian branch has put on this year, was a delightful screening of the Theory of Everything. While there have been a number of great science movies out over summer, the story of Stephen Hawking’s life, his relationships with his wife and his love of physics was the clear frontrunner. Eddie Redmayne is certainly deserving of his Oscar.

As this event was more social than career-oriented, it was a nice entre into the world of science communicators. As a newbie to ASC, I was encouraged by how welcoming everyone was. Who knew you were all such an open and enchanting bunch?

No ASC event is complete without a little scientific learning, so Chris Lassig was on hand to deliver a rundown about the significance of Hawking’s discoveries – both in his earlier years at Cambridge, and those outlined in  Brief History of Time]. Theoretical physics is not something I’m well-versed in, so this came in handy to untangle the theories Hawking was talking about later in the movie. Chris did an excellent job, and if that wasn’t enough, he made ice cream to share as well!

The film surpassed my expectations. I’m not one who usually gets emotional about movies, but I was not alone in feeling a little fragile when we finally emerged from the theatre. After the movie, several of us discussed the intense, heartbreaking saga over pizza.

What I liked most about the movie, was the way that science pervaded Hawking’s entire life. Not only are Hawking’s phenomenal theories at the forefront, but so are the medical and technological feats which have made Hawking’s life so long and so manageable. Watching Stephen get the opportunity to ‘speak’ again and understanding the research and medical leaps that this must have taken, is as awe-inspiring as his theories. Along with his doting wife Jane, these technological leaps have allowed Hawking to be the voice of physics he is today.

I hope you’ll join us for our next event on Tuesday the 31^st of March. Our very own Tom Lang is performing scientific comedy as part of the Melbourne International Comedy festival. ASC members and friends receive a discounted price but seats are limited.

http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/2015/season/shows/meatbags-dr-pam-rana-tom-lang

Tessa Evans – ASC Vic branch committee member

ASC Victoria are pleased to present a FREE workshop on Crowdsourcing information for humanitarian disaster responses. The workshop will be run by Cobi Smith who has been intimately involved with the project.

When: Monday, October 6, 6pm, for a 6:15 start – 7:30pm
Where: The Meeting Room at the East Melbourne Library and Community Centre | 122 George Street East Melbourne 3002
NOTE: You will need to bring your own laptop/tablet device for the workshop. The library has wifi available.
Afterwards: Coffee and chatting can continue at Hilton on the Park, a short walk from the library.

Register at Eventbrite:  https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/crowdsourcing-information-for-humanitarian-disaster-responses-tickets-13275384031

What is it all about?
During disasters this century, people share photos and experiences on social media, sometimes before emergency services are involved. The GeoTag-X pilot project is a collaborative open-source experiment to integrate information from social media into official humanitarian disaster response efforts.

The project is led by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research’s Operational Satellite Applications Programme (UNITAR/UNOSAT). It is part of Citizen Cyberlab, a broader European collaboration for citizen science projects – which also happens to involve some Australians.

We’re looking for volunteers to help test our beta version and share your experience. For this workshop you will need to bring your own laptop with which to experiment. We will be using GitHub to share bugs and feedback, so preferably you will have a GitHub username already, or you can learn to use GitHub Issues during the workshop.

What will we cover?
This workshop will share an overview of why this project is possible, from the perspective of humanitarian organisations like the United Nations as well as from an open-source technology perspective. Then we will have half an hour in which participants can explore the technology on their laptops, then we will have a half-hour discussion sharing feedback about the project. We will wrap up by discussing how people can get more involved if they’re interested.

Who will be teaching it?
Cobi Smith is presenting this workshop on behalf of the Australian Science Communicators. She is a human rights advocate, open activist, sometimes comedian and former ABC journalist. Her PhD research at the Australian National University’s Centre for the Public Awareness of Science is about participatory governance of science and technology. Cobi keeps taking leave from her PhD to work on cool projects like GeoTag-X.