It was a knockdown battle of brilliance, fought with fake diamonds and lasers, a mystery quantum cat in a box, hula hoops and witty PowerPoint presentations.
Five of the Australian National University's top physics PhD students kicked off Science Week at the Shine Dome last night, with a communications challenge.
How do you explain the mind-bending complexities of quantum physics, super-atoms, time travel or chalcogenide glass to the average person in the pub? The five contenders were each given 10 minutes to explain, and simplify, the complexities of their research, with the winner collecting a $2000 prize donated by Canberra science consulting company Tarcus.
Guy Mickelthwaite used a couple of hula hoops to explain the physics of time by acting out a scene from cult science fiction horror film Event Horizon, in which a top-secret spaceship creates an artificial wormhole, or short cut through space and time.
Graham Dennis took on the tricky topic of cold atoms to explain how the Bose-Einstein (that's Albert and Satyendra, the brilliant Indian mathematician) theory of condensation of dilute gases could create a super-atom.
Lachlan Rogers explained how a nitrogen flaw inside a diamond could provide a breakthrough clue in the case of the elusive quantum computer, and power up the next information revolution.
''If we can manipulate the structure of diamonds at an atomic level, we can assemble the q-bits, or quantum bits, to eventually create a working quantum computer.''
Maurits Evers explored the quantum paradox of Schrodinger's cat can a cat in a box with a flask of poison be considered both alive and dead? and Amrita Prasad explained how the lightning-fast optical switching properties of chalcogenide glass chips would be the next phase in the internet revolution.
It was a tough call for the four judges, but after deliberating for some time they awarded a special commendation to Mr Rogers and the prizemoney to Ms Prasad.
When several contestants were asked what they'd do if they won the $2000 prize, Ms Prasad said she'd put some of it towards developing an optics kit to help explain aspects of the research being conducted at the ANU Laser Physics Centre. Last year, she was among a group of ANU physics students who drove 3000km to five schools in NSW outback towns to explain the science of fibre optics. A month ago, the students hosted five outback families, showing them the ANU physics labs and the local sights.
''If we could develop up an optics kit to explain our research, that would be fantastic,'' she said.