Toowoomba’s Mouse Proof Brewery hosts Pint of Science 2024

Pint of Science is back in Toowoomba after a seven-year hiatus, with local UniSQ doctorates and researchers sharing their findings with the public.

Researchers from USQ share their topics at Pint for Science at Mouse Proof. Monday, May 13, 2024. Picture: Christine Schindler

More than 40 people joined Pint of Science on Monday drinking a pint and sharing a bowl of chips at Toowoomba’s Mouse Proof Brewery as a couple of University of Southern Queensland doctorates shared their research.

After a seven-year hiatus Pint of Science returned to Toowoomba, organised voluntarily by a group of UniSQ researchers and doctorates passionate about sharing their research in a more informal, accessible space.

“We want to show that we’re not the scary crazy little scientists as you see on TV,” organiser Dr Anna Chruscik said.

“The point of this is to show we’re trying to find that answer to the unknown and that it’s OK to ask questions.”

Organiser and volunteer Anna Chruscik at Pints for Science, where researchers from USQ share their topics at Mouse Proof. Monday, May 13, 2024. Picture: Christine Schindler

Pint of Science is an annual three-day festival which started in the United Kingdom in 2014 and spread rapidly around the world, where scientists and researchers descend upon their local and talk about their studies.

The festival kicked off in Toowoomba on Monday night around the topic, Our Body, with Dr Nikita Walz and Dr Prajwal Gyawali sharing their research.

A lecturer of biomedical science at UniSQ, Dr Walz did her PhD in Curtin University in Perth and focused on the role of vitamin D in women doing IVF.

“Essentially looking at women in IVF, if they had a higher level of vitamin D, did they have better outcomes,” Dr Walz said.

“We did find that the blastocyst (mature embryo) development rate was significantly higher in those women who were sufficient in vitamin D, but it didn’t translate to clinical pregnancy, just due to numbers unfortunately.”

A few fun facts she presented is that the fastest sperm is not always the sperm that fertilises the egg; despite the amount of sunshine Australia gets, one in four people in Australia have vitamin D deficiency; and from 40 years of age the chance of pregnancy in women “is a big drop down,” she said.

Dr Nikita Walz presented her PhD from USQ share their topics at Pint for Science at Mouse Proof. Monday, May 13, 2024. Picture: Christine Schindler

Dr Walz said it was nice to present in a more informal relaxed way and it challenged her use of hard science language, presenting to people who are more “interested from the public health point of view”.

Dr Gyawali also shared his research, sharing the invisible obstacles of stroke recovery within in regional Australia, where it is 17 per cent more likely for individuals to suffer a stroke.

Tuesday’s topic is planet Earth and Dr Noel Knight will present ‘Plants get sick too?’ and Dr Christina Birnbaum on the unseen majority: why we should care about microbes around us?

Wednesday’s topic is Tech Me Out and Associate Professor Polly Burey will present from liquids to solids and back again and Steph Piper on 3D printing adventures at the UniSQ Makerspace.

Pint of Science starts 6.30pm each night and runs until Wednesday, May 15. Tickets are $8.

Visit pintofscience.com.au/events/toowoomba for more information.