A group of keen young scientists at Cessnock High School this week had the chance to field some curly questions to one of Australia's best-known science communicators.
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The 8C science class, taught by Amanda Lynch, took part in a one-hour Q&A session with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki via Zoom on Wednesday.
Questions about the human body, animals, time, space and the universe were among those put to Dr Karl - covering everything from the age-old "What came first, the chicken or the egg?", to bees, dogs and dinosaurs, and black holes, parallel universes and the possibility of time travel.
Students Lilly Vasilis and Gabrielle Streitberger-Sams said it was an informative and entertaining session.
"His responses to our questions were very good and he explained them well. He was also very funny," Lilly said.
"As well as answering our questions, he also told us other facts, more than we asked, which was useful as we learnt about more topics that expected," Gabrielle added.
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Dr Karl has been doing Q&A sessions on science for a couple of decades, and said it is "incredibly satisfying" to do it for schools - especially in remote areas.
"The scientists have a saying, 'it's not the answer that gets you the Nobel Prize, it's the question'," he said.
"One thing that surprised me is that the younger the age, the better are the questions - and often they are harder to answer, or sometimes there is no answer yet."
In addition to the Q&A session, Dr Karl kindly donated 11 of his best-selling books to the school's library.
Cessnock High School principal Peter Riley said it was a great opportunity for the students.
"Dr Karl is incredibly engaging in the field of science and students are absolutely thriving on it," he said.