Sciences Lectures
About this podcast
Inaugural Professorial Lectures, public lectures and events from the Division of Sciences.
Categories
The podcast Sciences Lectures is embedded on this page from an open RSS feed. All files, descriptions, artwork and other metadata from the RSS-feed is the property of the podcast owner and not affiliated with or validated by Podplay.
About this podcast
Inaugural Professorial Lectures, public lectures and events from the Division of Sciences.
Categories
The podcast Sciences Lectures is embedded on this page from an open RSS feed. All files, descriptions, artwork and other metadata from the RSS-feed is the property of the podcast owner and not affiliated with or validated by Podplay.
Sciences Lectures
Episodes
- 2017
IPL: Earthquakes, Quaternary faults, and seismic hazard in New Zealand and beyond
Professor Professor Mark Stirling's inauguaral lecture: 14 March 2017
- 2016
IPL David O'Hare - Above Us Only Sky: Human Error, Accidents, and Aviation Safety
The talk describes David's personal journey as a pilot and psychologist to understand the role of decision making in aviation safety.
IPL - Abby Smith - Sea, Sand, Shells
Prof Abby Smith has been fascinated by shells and how they are formed since she was a child. She takes us on a journey with her, and we learn that shells have a lot to tell us!
IPL Lisette Burrows "I like the sausage sizzle but it makes me feel gulty" - Shaping the healthy child in obesogenic times.
Professor Lisette Burrows of the School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise Sciences gave her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 19th of April, 2016. She talks about her research into teh demonising or larger body shapes and how effective - or not - the current educational campaigns are in providing balanced information about healthy eating and exercise, and whether in fact there is an obesity epidemic. It was very thought provoking and engaging - have a listen!
IPL Cliff Law "Between the sea and the sky: marine microbes, chemistry and climate"
Professor Cliff Law delivered his Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 16th of February. Professor Law holds a joint appointment between Otago and NIWA, exploring the chemical interactions at the interface between the sea and the sky.
IPL David Hutchinson "Curiosity doesn't kill the cat".
Professor David Hutchinson delivered his IPL on the 15th of December, exploring theories of light as wave and particle, explaining that the description of something is not necessarily its reality, and talking about how his theoretical work builds into the exciting research taking place the Dodd-Walls Centre for Photonics and Quantum Technologies.
IPL David Larsen: Therapeutic molecules from sweet sugars and toxic gases
Professor David Larsen delivered his IPL on the 17th of November in 2015. He described his work in synthesising organic molecules . This work is in collaboration with biologists primarily, developing therapeutic molecules - PIMs - aimed at reducing asthma, and also looking at molecules designed to slowly release carbon monoxide to support organ transport. This very practical work has required entirely new methodologies and many years' dedication.
- 2015
John Smaillie Tennant Lecture : David Bowman "Humans and fire in Australian food webs from the Pleistocene to the Anthropocene"
Professor David Bowman discusses the complex interactions between fire and food webs, and the part humans have played in manipulating that system; how fire impacts on biodiversity, and how some animal species impact on the severity of landscape fires.
Geoff Baylis Lecture 2009 - Steve Higgins " The Discovery of slowness - life in the plant lane"
The Geoff Baylis lectures are a joint initiative between the Otago Botanical Society and the Department of Botany, University of Otago. Steve higgins talks about how impressive plants really are - the biggest, tallest, oldest and most dangerous living oprganisms on teh planet. He discusses how grasses evolved and changed the face of the planet, and how leaf phenology can help us map changes in atmosphere and climate. This lecture was given on the 9th of September 2015
Sir Geoffrey Palmer: Climate change in New Zealand - is it doom or can we hope? gases to rotary motors
Sir Geoffrey Palmer reflects on regulatory efforts to deal with Climate Change, both in New Zealand and internationally. He describes climate change as a slow motion tragedy, and discusses mitigation of the effects of anthropogenic climate change. This lecture was given at University of Otago on Monday 5th of October 2015.
IPL: Nancy Longnecker "Effective Science Communication - a scientific approach
Professor Nancy Longnecker delivered her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 15th of September 2015. Nancy's journey from Biologist to communicator to researcher in Sciecne communication has been a fascinating one, and her current work in evaluation of science communication experiences is vital in validating, fine-tuning and and sometimes revolutionising the field.
Leonard Cockayne Lecture - Janice Lord "Flowers in the fridge"
Janice Lord won this year's Leonard Cockayne prize from the New Zealand Royal Society. This is her commemorative lecture, outlining cutting edge work on the pollination of sub-antarctic plants. There's a number of large, brightly coloured flowering plants in the sub-antactic, which is a sharp contrast with NZ alpine plants with thei predominantly white flowers. Janice explores the reasons for both of these phenomena. The talk was given on the 3rd of September 2015.
IPL: Christina Hulbe "West Antarctic building blocks"
Professor Christina Hulbe gave her Inaugural Professorial Lecture on the 1st of September 2015. She talked about her work on mapping deformations in West Antarctica, and how GPS technology has changed her work. Satellite imagery of meltwater ponds has led to a clearer understanding of the creation of deep crevasses and shattering of icesheets.
Luminescence - The Lightbenders: How black holes influence light
The Physics Department celebrated the International Year of Light with its luminescence festival. Here is one of the talks, from Jorg Frauendiener. Jorg explains how black holes happen, what they do to light and why.
Luminescence - Discovering other worlds
The Physics Department celebrated the International Year of Light with its luminescence festival. Here is one of the talks, from Eyal Schwartz. Eyal talks about discovering other planets and just how hard that can be; the techniques and tools scientists use to track down exo-planets.
Luminescence - Peeking and poking at atoms using laser light
The Physics Department celebrated the International Year of Light with its luminescence festival. Here is one of the talks, from Niels Kjaergaard who works in the Centre for Quantum Science. Niels talks about manipulating groups of atoms, dividing them, the patterns they make etc.
IPL: David Bryant "Proofs and Evolution"
Professor David Bryant delivered his Inaugural Professorial lecture on July 21st 2015. He gave an overview of his work, modelling genetic information to assist with tracing points of origin for plants or animal species.
IPL: Liz Slooten "Whales, dolphins, science and conservation"
Professor Liz Slooten delivered her Inaugural Professorial Lecture to a packed theatre on Tuesday 24th of August. The lecture gave an overview of Professor Slooten's work documenting populations of Hector's and Maui dolphones aorund New Zealand's coast as well as tracking and documenting bahaviour of sperm whales and right whalee. Professor Slooten's work highlights the dangers of gill-net fishing and the impact it has on endangered species of marine mammals.
Our Energy and Climate Challenges - Professor Stephen Chu
1997 Nobel Laureate Professor Stephen Chu talks about his role as Secretary for energy in the Obama administration, whether peak oil is the real problem, and what will make a difference in the uptake of sustainable energy technologies. This lecture was delivered on December 17th 2014
IPL: Steve Wing "Southern ocean ecosystems"
Professor Steve Wing's research explores the interconnectedness of ocean ecosystems - the physical and chemical processes and how they impact on the food webs, how spatial factors impact on population resilience and so on. This work has been applied with considerable success in the Fiordland area where marine reserves have led to stronger populations across the ecosystem.