Catalyst

8:00pm – Thursday, August 19 on ABC1

Scientists in Schools Educators and policy makers are concerned about statistics that show a declining interest by school students in science and mathematics. Debate goes back and forth about the reasons why and how to reverse the trend – whether it’s a matter of more labs, more teachers, or not enough homework! Now there’s an innovative national program where classrooms adopt their very own working scientist. Mark Horstman spent some time at one primary school in Tasmania where science is one of their favourite subjects.

The Big Sleep Sleep deprivation can be a terrible thing. Thinking clearly is difficult when you’re extremely tired and driving a car or operating machinery is very dangerous. Extreme sleep deprivation is rare; a much more common problem is partial sleep loss, known as sleep restriction.

Maryanne Demasi and Graham Phillips visit the Woolcock Institute in Sydney, to test their wits following a terrible night’s sleep.

SCUBA Archive In 2008 John Allport and his wife, Marg, were watching TV, Catalyst in fact, when something caught their eye. In a story about levels of methane in the atmosphere, Dr Paul Willis identified a sample of air collected in 1978 – the oldest sample stored in the CSIRO air archive at Cape Grim, Tasmania. John however, had an older specimen in his shed – a SCUBA tank last filled in 1968. Ruben Meerman visits John and the CSIRO’s Dr Paul Fraser who received his exciting contribution to atmospheric study.

Truckie for Nature You might think years of study are required before you can take part in real scientific research.

But that’s not necessarily the case. Truck driver Terry Lane is a passionate naturalist in his spare time and his work has had a dramatic impact on improving the home of some very special creatures. Tanya Ha joined Terry on one of his field trips.