National Science Week: Lisa investigates the program for the week in the Adelaide City region of South Australia

TV has done for science what cooking shows has done for the evening meal. Scientists are no longer depicted as kooky, mad professors with strange haircuts and beady eyes - instead their dingy basement laboratories have been replaced with colourful stylised labs with every conceivable piece of technology at their fingertips…

There's a lot more to science than the ultra modern high-tech labs we see on TV and institutions like the Adelaide University are working to promote science as a dynamic field with endless opportunities. The Uni recently hosted a group of Year 12 students from around Australia who are considering a career in science and the message was clear - science is about much more than test tubes and laboratories…

This weekend saw the 4th annual Science Alive program at the Wayville Showgrounds. Two days of science displays, hands-on experiments and demonstrations - again aimed to stimulate our interest in the sciences. It's all part of National Science Week, which starts in earnest on Wednesday August 12 with activities around the state. Its patron is someone very familiar to our television screens.

Many of us grew up watching Professor Rob Morrison and Doctor Deane Hutton on Channel 9's popular Curiosity Show. For 18 years these two wacky guys did simple science experiments - some of which we could do at home. Rob says it was all about making science fun - and it still is.

Prof. Rob Morrison, Science Week Patron: "It's a bit like saying why do you like music or why do you like art? You can't imagine life without it. It's endlessly advancing. I'm an animal man so zoology was the science for me, I'm not much of a physicist, not much of a mathematician but science is broad so you can find you niche in it. To me it was the entry into broadcasting, which I love. A lot of people try to get into television by acting and singing for me it was science and I've been in it for 41 years."

Rob reckons he's proof that science can be fun. Far from being boring, it's allowed him to travel the world - filming documentaries in places like the Galapagos Islands.

Prof. Rob Morrison "I think all kids are turned on to science but they lose it at the end of primary school and once you lose it, because it tends to be based on building blocks it's quite hard to get in later on. So what we try to do is excite people about science and inform them about science. That means we're getting a very much-increased adult audience but also stop kids dropping out of science. And that's really important."

Science Week covers all aspects - from groundbreaking research in the lab to how scientists are using fossils to study climate change in less conventional settings like the World Heritage Caves at Naracoorte. So if science is so exciting - why are people dropping out?

Prof. Rob Morrison: "It's partly peer pressure, it's partly the kind of muppet scientist image, am I a geek, a nerd? These are terms applied to science. And if you are concerned about peer pressure you don't want to be like that. It's also harder than some other subjects and of course it is sequential so if you miss out on the early stuff some of the 'building blocks' aren't there. So it's got all those factors - on the other hand it's the most exciting an interesting field. And if you can get some of that over to children at an early age, you don't lose them."

Science Week kicks off in South Australia next Wednesday… and there are now so many events it actually goes beyond a week so check out the website for a full list. Most of which are free. If you have any further questions please email info@postcards-sa.com.au

National Science Week
From 15 August 2009
Activities around the state