Latest news with #BeakerStreet
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Glow-in-the-dark animal captured on camera for first time
It's a bird! It's a plane! Wait, no, it's a glow-in-the-dark animal? A photographer from Down Under has become the first person to capture a photo of a glowing marsupial in the wild. Aussie photographer Ben Alldridge submitted a photo as part of the 2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize. The photo was of a wild Eastern quoll, which is carnivorous marsupial that's native to Tasmania and exhibits biofluorescence. Using invisible ultraviolet light, Alldridge captured the mammal glowing in the dark, and his photo is considered the first photographic evidence of a quoll exhibiting biofluorescence in its natural habitat, reported. 'Where their fur is normally fawn or black, under certain wavelengths of light, they exhibit a process referred to as biofluorescence — like nature's version of a white shirt glowing at a disco,' Alldridge said, per the Daily Mail. Smithsonian Magazine reported that several mammals across the globe, many of them nocturnal, are known to exhibit this phenomenon, including polar bears, moles, zebras, wombats, armadillo and more. Non-mammals such as corals, insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds also exhibit the phenomenon, although the exact biological purpose of biofluorescence is still unknown. Alldridge said he hopes his photos and studies into biofluorescence will help solve the mystery surrounding it. Recommended video 'I'd say it's likely a messaging or identifying system similar to our fingerprints, but that is wild speculation at best,' he said, per the Daily Mail. 'For now, we will just say they like to party.' Alldridge's photography will be considered as part of the ongoing research. 'The amount of light we waste illuminating space — both physical and now literal — is ridiculous, and in many cases is counterproductive to why the lights are installed to begin with,' Alldridge said. Alldridge's photo is one of 12 finalist images to be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from Aug. 6-31, as part of the Beaker Street Festival. Experts puzzled as chimps reportedly getting extra cheeky with grass fad Pets can stave off dementia for people over 50 living alone: Study
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Glow-in-the-dark animal captured on camera for first time
It's a bird! It's a plane! Wait, no, it's a glow-in-the-dark animal? A photographer from Down Under has become the first person to capture a photo of a glowing marsupial in the wild. Aussie photographer Ben Alldridge submitted a photo as part of the 2025 Beaker Street Science Photography Prize. The photo was of a wild Eastern quoll, which is carnivorous marsupial that's native to Tasmania and exhibits biofluorescence. Using invisible ultraviolet light, Alldridge captured the mammal glowing in the dark, and his photo is considered the first photographic evidence of a quoll exhibiting biofluorescence in its natural habitat, reported. 'Where their fur is normally fawn or black, under certain wavelengths of light, they exhibit a process referred to as biofluorescence — like nature's version of a white shirt glowing at a disco,' Alldridge said, per the Daily Mail. Smithsonian Magazine reported that several mammals across the globe, many of them nocturnal, are known to exhibit this phenomenon, including polar bears, moles, zebras, wombats, armadillo and more. Non-mammals such as corals, insects, spiders, fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds also exhibit the phenomenon, although the exact biological purpose of biofluorescence is still unknown. Alldridge said he hopes his photos and studies into biofluorescence will help solve the mystery surrounding it. Recommended video 'I'd say it's likely a messaging or identifying system similar to our fingerprints, but that is wild speculation at best,' he said, per the Daily Mail. 'For now, we will just say they like to party.' Alldridge's photography will be considered as part of the ongoing research. 'The amount of light we waste illuminating space — both physical and now literal — is ridiculous, and in many cases is counterproductive to why the lights are installed to begin with,' Alldridge said. Alldridge's photo is one of 12 finalist images to be exhibited at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery from Aug. 6-31, as part of the Beaker Street Festival. Experts puzzled as chimps reportedly getting extra cheeky with grass fad Pets can stave off dementia for people over 50 living alone: Study
Time Out
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Time Out
Australia's coolest science festival returns to Tasmania for another mind-blowing year in 2025
You won't find many festivals where you can plunge into icy Arctic waters, speed-date scientists, drink booze with death experts, or debate the science of sex – but that's just a taster of the program at Beaker Street Festival. Returning to Tasmania in August 2025, Australia's quirkiest science and arts festival is ready to blow your mind with more than 70 wild and wacky events, all focused around themes of death, pleasure and humanity. This year, the festivities will unfold during National Science Week – from Saturday, August 9 to Sunday, August 17 – with activations spanning from the Tasmania Museum and Gallery, City Hall and The Old Mercury Building, to lively pubs, bars and restaurants dotting the Hobart waterfront and CBD. Forget boring school science experiments or dull university lectures – this year's Beaker Street program is one of its biggest and boldest yet. The festival's signature stage at Hobart City Hall will return with headline talks and raucous debates. You can learn about the science of better sex in Come Again? An Evening of Sex and Science, look for love in Melbourne's cult nerd-dating show Human Love Quest: Your Chemical Romance!, question AI in What's Your p(Doom)?, see Dr Karl in a headline solo show, and test your knowledge in the festival's flagship Beaker Street Game Show. It's a rite of passage for anyone visiting Antarctica to brave the cold with a polar plunge. Beaker Street Festival will once again bring this freezing 'hot trend' to the Hobart waterfront, aka Australia's Gateway to Antarctica, so you too can freeze in the name of science. Don't worry, a steamy sauna will be waiting to defrost you post-plunge. Back by popular demand, Beaker Street's Roving Scientist Bar will take over Hope and Anchor – Australia's oldest continuously licensed pub – for three lively nights of speed dating, science-style. Meanwhile, the Tasmanian Museum and Gallery will be the heart of the festival's free program, featuring After Dark sessions, where you can explore the galleries and exhibitions late at night, including the 9th annual Science Photography Prize. As we mentioned before, this really is just a taster of the Beaker Street Festival program. Budding scientists and curious travellers can also dine beneath the starry night sky, play hide and seek with pink-glowing possums, witness the wonders of the Aurora Australis, harvest mushrooms in a historic tunnel, and tour a cutting-edge seaweed farm. Ready to geek out? You can peruse the full program here.
