But residents of the Pacific island paradise will see plenty of it this week as Tūhura Otago Museum science outreach staff and two members of the University of Otago’s physics department team up to run the nation’s first science festival.
Science engagement director Dr Craig Grant said one of the highlights would be the museum’s StarLab — a mobile planetarium that could take audiences from under the ice in the Antarctic to a virtual flight through space.
There would also be a large range of hands-on science interactives and demonstrations exploring everything from the properties of light, nanotechnology, green energy and climate change, through to te mātauranga o te rongoā (the science of medicines).
"In 2019, we took our ‘Far from Frozen’ science showcase to Niue to help demystify the concepts and science behind climate change and its impact.
"The response we had from the whole community was amazing.
"The students hadn’t had such science outreach previously and were hugely curious and engaged.
"So we decided to return ... and turn the experience into a full science festival."
He said the team had already been working with the Niue pupils remotely.
"Niue High School is currently short a science teacher, so the museum and the physics department have been running video-link tutorials each Friday over the last few months, for those students studying towards their NCEA in physics."
University physicist Dr Daniel Schumayer said the pupils were "great and super-keen to learn".
"The school sends through some questions the day before and then we work through them over the video link.
"It can be a bit challenging with the vagaries of connections at times, but they’ve stuck with it.
"Seeing the glee they show when they work out the answer is really rewarding as an educator."
Dr Grant said Niue was the only nation on Earth to have International Dark Skies accreditation status, so the team took a telescope and some solar scopes to help those wanting to run astro-tourism activities to learn more about their skies.
"There should be absolutely no reason why a future Nobel Prize winner couldn’t be from Niue.
"We’ve just got to help ignite and nurture their inherent curiosity and potential."
