iRats are robots with ideas that they can communicate. They can make a date with each other to meet in a particular place - once they know where they both know where that particular place is.

A team at the University of Queensland's Information Technology and Engineering Department are developing these Lingodroids. 

National Science Week brought one of the researchers, Dr Dan Angus, to the Ekka to talk with Speculative Fiction writer, Charlotte Nash, about how science fiction inspires science.

Dr Dan, as he was dubbed by the event compere UQ science & communication student Carl Smith, explained how most of his work with computers and robots is inspired by nature so really nature inspires science fiction as well as science.

Bees and ants have secrets that he - and other researchers - try to learn to solve difficult organizational and navigation problems.  For instance, have you ever stopped to think how something you buy on the internet overseas arrives on your doorstep?

Dr Dan explains how the way bees pack their honey in a hive helps solve the dilemma of packing shipping containers - check out the video on our Does Sci-Fi Inspire Science Channel.

When you shop on the internet, your item may end up in a shipping container and that shipping container may be one of thousands loaded onto a ship. So what happens it the ship stops in Brisbane and your container is at the bottom of the pile and the ship's next port is Sydney? They would have to unload all the containers to get the Brisbane crate off and then load all the Sydney crates back up? 

"Because bees are good at organizing things like their honey we look for those kinds of solutions they make to inspire solutions here," Dr Dan said. 

But when it comes to programming a computer to schedule trains, like in Japan, scientists look to ants, he says. 

"Ants can actually find a shortcut through networks really, really well and we use this to inspire systems that can solve these kinds of transport problems," he said.

Dr Dan also explains the process of making idea maps in order to teach a robot how to communicate. Robots with ideas actually think for themselves but, he warns, it's a long way to go yet before they take over the world like in science fiction movies such as The Matrix or Terminator.

 

Thanks to the University of Queensland School of Jouralism and Communication team:

Presenter/interviewer: Carl Smith

Editor: Alexander Campbell

Camera: Jackson Scott & Pete de Kruijff

Australia's Dinosaur Trail website

 

 

"The year 11 Biology students were very excited about National Science Week. Being a part of the activities brought a buzz to the school and lifted our cheese making activity (that was filmed) to a new level. Students are already asking about it for next year!" _ Sylvia Hicks | PAR - Biology, Science.                                                                                                       St Aidan's Anglican Girls' School

 

 

 

Jessica Armitage

Year 11 Biology class

St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School

Who would have thought that cheese making required massive amounts of hand sanitizer?

Bacteria - the right bacteria found in rennet and Penicillium candidum - makes milk into cheese.

But only if it's not contaminated by the bacteria found in our daily lives, on our hands, faces, desks - bacteria is everywhere! 

We learned this in a class about ... why milk goes off.... before we stared making cheese.

 

Cheese making was an extremely exciting experience. 

We were forced to leave the warmth of our jumpers and enter a world full of unattractive hairnets, aprons and hand sanitiser.

This provided a sterile environment that would prevent contamination.

Before beginning cheese making we had mainly been focussing in class on pathogenic bacteria that can cause disease.

It was therefore very interesting to see firsthand how some bacteria that have not been contaminated can actually have a positive impact in the food making process. I mean they turned milk into cheese!

 

The process of cheese making required patience and accuracy when following the procedures. 

First we had to pour milk into a container and place it into a water bath until it was 38^oC.

I drove my group insane because I was paranoid the water level would get so high that it would spill into the milk.

 

It was also difficult to get the milk at the right temperature so we were constantly added and taking hot water from the water bath.

We then added a liquid started and a sprinkle of Penicillium candidum. Once it had ripened, rennet was added and then stirred.

 

After forty minutes, it was set and the curd was cut into 2cm cubes. I was in charge of the cutting even though I was apparently terrible at it.

It was like cutting jelly, quite amazingly super. 

 

After it had rested we all began to gently rock our baby cheeses back and forth. It was quite cute. I was really excited when I got to stir with a massive spoon and watched with fascination as the cubes swam around the container.  They were then placed into their maturing containers. 

 

I was quick to volunteer a couple of days later when it came time to turn the cheese which we did using an excessive amount of hand sanitiser.

With the blue vein cheese, I got to poke lots of holes in it to allow for mould to grow inwards. The cheese also had to be turned to make sure the mould growth was evenly spread.

Once the cheeses were ready to be wrapped they actually looked amazing.

 

Try to imagine a perfectly round cheese covered in what looked like beautiful white snow. Oh, my gosh, it was super.  We then wrapped the cheese as tightly as possible with silver paper and they were ready to go.

 

Overall this cheese making experience was so much fun.

I absolutely loved all the processes and then the beautiful product at the end. 

 

by Lisa Yallamas

Visit National Science Week at the Ekka where you have the chance to touch the fossils of real Queensland dinosaurs from Australia's world famous Dinosaur Trail in outback Queensland.

Marathon Station owner and Richmond Shire Councillor, Rob Ievers, gives short talks on the dinosaurs that were found on his property. Hear about the first stage of a multi-million dollar Natural Histiry Museum, Australian Age of Dinosaurs which is built on the picturesque "jump-up". See a Natureworks model of one of the dinosaurs. Grab a show bag with a dinosaur egg, a skeleton and a shark tooth for $28.

And best of all, you get to help prepare real dinosaur bones in the Prep Lab at the National Science Week Pavilion.

Jump and play on QUT's Interactive Floor! Hundreds of kids are mesmerized as they play musical instruments, run races, play Space Invaders and more by jumping on this wonderful educational interactive game mat.

The Geological Society of Australia reveals all the secrets of earthquakes, tsunamis and our planet. See glowing rocks, shells and fossils. 

Talk to Green TV's Nigel Walker about filming on the Great Barrier Reef or at the top of New Zealand's Mt Cook. Watch Green TV documentaries or see yourself on TV.

You may even see an Ekka fairy or two...

When you are a scientist you get to the very core of learning the very nature of things.