Y?

"Y?" is an educational children's science program shown on the Nine Network in Australia. It was produced by Southern Star Endemol between 1999 and 2002. Each episode runs for 30 minutes. A total of five seasons were recorded. Each season is 65 episodes long.

Season 1 was hosted by Joanne Nova and seasons 2 to 5 were hosted by Tara Colegrave and 'science host' David Lampard. The show features in-studio science experiments. In season 1 these were presented by Joanne Nova but in later seasons these were presented by David (and occasionally by Tara). The program is interspersed with external segments where other presenters go to forests, factories, etc. and explain practical science phenomena, usually based upon questions sent in by viewers.

The presenters include Brad Hills, Kristy Mollica, Joseph May, Lisa Barry and Taryn Onafaro.

The show is in many ways similar to The Curiosity Show, which ran many years earlier. However, the hosts of Y? are charismatic younger adults, compared with the older academic Prof. Rob Morrison and Dr. Deane Hutton who hosted the earlier counterpart, making Y? inherently more appealing to children.

Y? does not labour to "dumb down" the science content of its experiments and explanations, aiming its explanations at a late-primary school audience with above average intelligence.

Y? is almost unique among children's science shows in that explanations of complicated scientific experiments are not illustrated with any diagrams. All explanation is done verbally, with hosts using their hands to gesture to the relevant sections of their experimental apparatus.