Reserve the last Tuesday of each month to hear from some of the leading minds in science today. Massey University Auckland scientists and guest speakers take you into the fascinating world of scientific discoveries.
Most lectures are held on the Massey Auckland campus in the Sir Neil Waters lecture theatre. See map on the right.
Lectures start at 7pm. Light refreshments are served after the talk.
Recent technological advances have made it possible to figure out the sequence of all three billion basepairs in the human genome. Scientists have since used this data to understand ancestry, to predict health outcomes and even solve crimes.
Dr Olin Silander will discuss how these technological advances in DNA sequencing came about, how they help us to understand human history and ancestry, and whether knowing your genome sequence actually helps to predict how you look, feel, and behave.
Reef-building corals are a delicate, but remarkably productive association between a cnidarian (similar to a sea anemone) and a colony of single-celled algae called zooxanthellae. This mutually-beneficial relationship is the powerhouse fuelling the coral reefs we see in tropical seas around our planet. Yet, corals, and all the biodiversity they support, are under threat from climate change.
Increases in ocean temperature cause the zooxanthellae to become toxic to the cnidarian host, and the hosts evict the zooxanthellae. The only hope for corals is that they can adjust to the new regime or move to cooler locations further from the equator. In this talk Dr David Aguirre will discuss some of the ongoing work to better understand the potential for corals to endure or outrun climate change.
Find out more about previous speakers and their topics.
Massey University offers study programmes at the undergraduate and postgraduate level.
Massey University demands excellence in our research.We bring together world-leading experts from several disciplines to further knowledge and make a difference in New Zealand and the world.
We are keen to hear your thoughts about this series and ideas about topics you are interested in.
All lectures take place from 7–8.30pm unless noted otherwise.
Sir Neil Waters Lecture Theatre
Massey University Auckland, Albany