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This event series is an opportunity for high school and college students to participate in fun and hands-on weekly challenges on a range of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) topics. The competition is being organised by the Australian National University (ANU).

Registration is essential and will stay open throughout the activity period.

The modern ocean moves like a giant conveyor belt. In winter, as ice is forming in the North Atlantic sea, salt is pushed out of the ice creating a layer of water that is very salty and very cold. Because cold water is more dense than warm water, this layer sinks to the deep ocean. This water enters a current that carries it to the Pacific Ocean where it warms and rises to the surface before travelling back to the North Atlantic where it cools and sinks again. If a large amount of fresh water is added to this system, the conveyor belt could slow because freshwater is less dense than salty water and would not be able to sink to flow through the deep ocean.

Make a video of yourself performing the experiment. After finishing the activity, you can compare the situations in the cups to the "real" ocean.

· 2x glass jugs or bowls (same size for both)

· Timer (stopwatch / timing app on a phone)

· Ice chips (500ml in the beaker)

Note: Before you start your experiment, make a prediction which ice cube will melt faster, the one in salt water or the one in fresh water? Why?

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 9th November. The winning entry will be posted to our Facebook and Instagram and on the website. The winner will be notified by email. Other submissions may be included in an Instagram story.

This week we have two challenges created for you. You can complete one or both. To be in the running for a prize this week you must complete just one of the challenges, but to double your chances of winning complete both!

This week’s submissions close at 11.59pm on Sunday 14th November of your local time. The winner for both challenges will be announced on Tuesday 16th November. Follow us on the Facebook and Instagram @ScienceANU to check out the last week's winning entries and other submissions on Tuesday 9 Nov. The winners will also be notified by email.

Here at ANU, we are proud to have the ANU Solar Racing Team who compete in the Bridgestone World Solar Challenge every 2 years. They fund, design, build and race a solar car. In the challenger class, the goal is to go as fast as possible. When building a car like this, there are many important design considerations to make in order to maximise the car’s efficiency. When building a car like this, there are many important design considerations to make in order to maximise the car’s efficiency. Aspects of the car like the number of wheels, the area of the solar array, the shape of the occupant cell are all carefully thought out.

1. Do some research into solar cars, have a look at ANU Solar Racing at ANU Solar Racing or other cars in the BWSC.

2. Make a drawing of a solar car of your design. Include some labels and size measurements.

1. Take a photo of yourself with your solar car design.

2. Post your photo to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email your photo and caption including your name to science@anu.edu.au.

Understanding biodiversity is increasingly important as climate change affects the habitats of many species. This is an area where citizen science – where scientists use data collected by ordinary citizens – can have a big role. This allows scientists to monitor biodiversity in local habitats on a much larger scale than they could themselves.

1. Download the iNaturalist app (it’s free).

2. Find wildlife in your local area, and find 5 different species and aim for as much diversity as possible.

3. Use iNaturalist to take a picture of each species you find and record its location. Your 5 species should include:

                                 a. At least one plant

                                 b. At least one invertebrate

                                 c. At least one vertebrate.

4. Use iNaturalist to identify each species (or come up with your best guess if the identification is uncertain). If you wish, you can share your observations on iNaturalist so that scientists can access them.

Note: if you have trouble downloading/using this application, it’s all good, you can still participate in this challenge by following the submission instruction below.

1. Create a 1-page collage of your photos and label each photo with the species name and whether each species is native to Australia or introduced. For the students in India, the same rule applies but identifying species native to India or introduced.

2. Post your photo to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email your photo and caption including your name to science@anu.edu.au.

This week you also have two challenges to choose from.

The submissions for both challenges close at 11.59pm on Sunday 21st November of your local time. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 23rd November.

1. Here are the chemical formulae of six molecules: CO2 (carbon dioxide), BF3 (boron trifluoride), NH3  (Ammonia), CH4 (methane), PF5 (Phosphorus pentafluoride) and SF6 (Sulfur hexafluoride)

2. Choose one of these molecules and Google it to learn about its 3D structure.

3. Once you have researched your molecule, use materials that you can find at home to make a 3D model of it (As examples, you could use marshmallows and toothpicks, or flowers with their stems poked into a tomato – see how inventive you can be!)   

1. Send us a photo of your 3D creation of your chosen molecule, in the photo please also tell us the formula of the molecule and what kind of 3D structure it has (For example, O3 (Ozone) is a trigonal planar molecule, for help with identifying molecule structure check out this link).

2. Post your photo to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email your photo and caption including your name to science@anu.edu.au. 

Ever made a ball hover? Wonder why it is hovering?

It’s because the air pushes up on the ball, and the force of gravity pulls down on the ball – where those forces two balance is where the ball hovers. The ball also stays hovering because air rushing past the ball to its sides and curls around the ball holding it in place like two cupping hands. When we tilt the blower those cupping hands of air hold it up.

• Hair dryer. CAUTION: Hairdryer needs to set on cool air not hot.

• Ping pong ball. Don’t have a ping pong ball? That’s okay! See what else you have around the house that you can get to hover in your air stream. This experiment can even be done with a leaf blower and inflatable ball for a more extravagant outcome!

1. Keep hair drier blow cool air. If your dryer doesn’t have this setting, take care the ball (or other item) doesn’t get too hot.

2. Turn on the blower aiming it straight up and place the ball about 10cm above in the stream of air – it should start to hover!

1. Take a photograph of you with your object as it hovers.

2. Post your photo to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email your photo and caption including your name to science@anu.edu.au .

This week we have also got two challenges for you. We will have one winner for each challenge, again you can choose to complete both challenges or just one of them. We are having so much fun viewing all your submissions, we can’t wait to see what you submit this week!

This week’s submissions close at 11.59pm on Sunday 28th November of your local time. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 30th November.

What to submit  1. Send us a photo or video of your working lungs, in the photo or video please also share your favorite fact about the lungs.   2. Post your photo to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email your photo and caption including your name to science@anu.edu.au .

This week your two challenges are a crypto caption challenge and a memory challenge.

The submissions close at 11.59pm on Sunday 5th December of your local time. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 7th December on our Instagram and this website.

Cryptography and codes have been used throughout history to keep secret messages safe from eavesdroppers. They take a message you want to send, and convert it into a jumbled message, called a ciphertext, that can’t be understood without reversing the process. 

As time goes on, people will discover ways of breaking the old codes, and so they are replaced by new, stronger codes. Modern codes operate not on letters and words, but on bits and bytes inside computers. To keep it simple, we’ll be sticking with just jumbling letters this time. 

Your challenge is simply to follow the instructions. Filling out this table may help:

The letters of the alphabet are secretly paired, and then you swap each letter with its partner in the message. To decrypt it, if you know the pairing, you just swap them again.

Without knowing the pairing, you can break it by counting the letters “frequency analysis” and swapping the most common letter with the most common letters in the English alphabet.

Working memory is a type of short-term memory that holds information temporarily. Think of it like a sticky note in your brain that allows you to remember information while you are using it. For example, you are using your working memory when your teacher asks you to carry out instructions such as “Get out your math textbook, open up to page 23, and answer question number 4”.

Phase 1 Task 1: Person 1 shuffles the card deck and hands to person 2; Person 2 has 3 minutes of studying the cards to remember the order and cannot change the order of the cards or record information anywhere. After 3 minutes, person 2 writes down as many card values in order as they can remember. Person 1 checks person 2’s results and records the number of consecutive correct values without error. Repeat task for person 1.

Task 2: Person 1 shuffles the card deck and hands to person 2; Person 2 has 3 minutes of studying the cards to remember the order and cannot change the order of the cards or record information anywhere. After 3 minutes, person 2 writes down as many card values and corresponding suits in order as they can remember. Person 1 checks person 2’s results. Repeat task for person 1.

Phase 2 We are going to try tasks 1 and 2 again but first let's learn a little bit about “chunking”. Chunking is the process of grouping bits of information together to make them easier to remember. For example, a phone number 47113248 is hard to remember as just a strong of numbers. But, we can chunk this number into 47-11-32-48 or even 471-132-48 and the number becomes a lot easier to remember. We take the number from 8 individual numbers to 3-4 groups of information.

If you are working with a list of vocabulary words, for example, you might create small groups of words that are similar or related to one another. A shopping list might be broken down into smaller grouping based on whether the items on the list are vegetables, fruits, dairy, or grains.

Have a look at this link to learn more about chunking.

Now repeat tasks 1 and 2 using chunking strategies.

1. Send us a photo of your results from phase 1 and phase 2 (don’t forget to be creative with your submission). 2. Post your photo to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email your photo and caption including your name to science@anu.edu.au.

This week your two challenges are an astronomy challenge measuring the speed of light in your microwave, and an environmental challenge all about frogs. Pick one or do both! You only have one more challenge after this week so let’s make it a big one! 

This week’s submissions close at 11.59pm on Sunday 12th December of your local time. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 14th December. 

The speed of light is one of the most important, fundamental values in astrophysics. In a vacuum light travels at nearly 300,000,000 m/s, or 300,000 km/s. The current value is 299, 792, 458 m/s.

This value has been repeatedly measured in labs all across the world. However, you can measure it at home, with a microwave and something tasty. Microwaves are a form of electromagnetic radiation – light, and so we can use it to measure the speed of light.

c (speed of light) = 2 x distance (between melted spots) x frequency of microwave (in Hz)

Note: Make sure to convert your MHz microwave value to Hz (multiple the microwave value by 1,000,000)

Like many species, frog numbers are declining as human urbanization spreads and we lose natural habitats. However, even as we change the natural world, there are lots of species which adapt and live alongside us – including frogs. This challenge gives you a taste of how to identify frogs in your local area. This is important for both scientific data on biodiversity, but also our understanding of how we share our world with many other creatures – even in our own backyards.

You have all worked so hard and made some truly amazing submissions. So, let's have some fun for your last submission for 2021. To help you get festive and spread some joy for the holiday season, you are going to use math to make an ornament stellated icosahedron.

Our last submissions closes at 11.59pm on Sunday 19th December of your local time. The winners will be announced on Tuesday 21st December on our Instagram and website.

Festive Stellated Icosahedron A polyhedron is a shape with many flat faces (from Greek poly- meaning "many" and -hedron meaning "face"). In geometry, an icosahedron is a polyhedron with exactly 20 faces.

Your challenge this week is to fold a stellated icosahedron out of paper. You can hang your Stellated Icosahedron on your Christmas tree, use it to decorate your room, or give it to a family or friend who helped you with your challenges over the past 7 weeks.

1. Take a photo of you holding your finished stellated icosahedron. For an extra challenge, make a video of you folding your stellated icosahedron (videos should be <1 minute). 2. Post your photo and caption or video to Instagram and tag @ScienceANU, or email it including your name to science@anu.edu.au.

The challenges have been created through a collaboration between the ANU College of Science, the ANU College of Health and Medicine, and the ANU College of Engineering and Computer Science. Please contact us via the email below if you have any questions.

+61 2 6125 5111 The Australian National University, Canberra CRICOS Provider : 00120C ABN : 52 234 063 906