One of my annual pleasures is MCing CSIRO’s ‘Big day In’. This is a two-day celebration the work of vacation scholars at several CSIRO groups. The room is full of very clever undergraduates and very important scientists and the energy is fantastic.

What these students have achieved over only a few weeks is remarkable, but that’s not all they do. They are also required to make a presentation of their work. This is a great opportunity for the rest of us to get a taste of what current and future research directions (and the next generation of scientists).

Among many other things, this year’s ‘Big Day In’ projects included exploring software options to detect sarcasm and irony in online/electronic communications, sensing catheters and approaches to modelling viscous fluids. There was also the donut blimp – check it out here.

We had a great time debating whether or not “Technology is making us Lazy” and Dr Phil Diamond, Chief of CSRO’s Astronomy and Space Sciences, took us through Australia’s bid for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). Check out the fantastic video below.

Forty-eight hours after ‘Big Day In’ I was at the BHP Billiton Science Awards camp, followed by another favourite gig, MCing the finalists’ presentation function. I don’t want to drop names, but it was quite the VIP list, with Australian of the Year Simon McKeon, BHP Billiton Chairman Jac Nassar and some very impressive students. They are talented, they are dedicated and they are creative, but the camp is also a just a lot of fun.

2011 BHP Billiton Science Awards student winner, Alix Pichon.With research covering oil spill clean-up techniques, vacuum cleaner emissions, the nutritional analysis of microwaved food and so much more, there was plenty of brain fodder to go with the laughs. Congratulations to this year’s winner, Alix Pichon who worked on the effects on health of preservatives in wine, especially sulphur dioxide. At 17 Alix is not able to legally drink the peach wine she made for her experiments. That might have helped her focus on the data and the project in general, although I was disappointed that she had not saved some for the rest of us. In any case, it appears that the future of science is in good hands.