Nerd Nite ChCh #35: Arachtober + Glaciers
Event description
Are you ready to get nerdy!?
Think TED talks with beer. Discovery Channel meets Drunk History.
Be there AND be square!
Speakers
"Dark Ice – how glaciers are saving themselves"
by Heather Purdie
Glaciers have come to realise that if they wait for people to fix climate change - they are doomed. Come along and learn how glaciers are adapting to the heat and slowing down their own demise.
Heather is an Associate Professor and glaciologist in the School of Earth and Environment at the University of Canterbury. Heather loves wandering around the mountains and investigating how glaciers are responding to climate change.
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"Spider Cognition: Unraveling secrets of miniature brains"
by Fiona Cross
Meet Dr. Fiona Cross (AKA Dr Spider) and her eight-legged friends as they celebrate Arachtober, a special month for spiders and their fans. Fiona works with spiders that have brains which would comfortably fit on pinheads, but these spiders can make plans, solve tasks, and even pay attention to number.
Fiona is based in the School of Psychology, Speech and Hearing at the University of Canterbury, where she investigates what spiders can do with their tiny brains. Some of these discoveries are enough to keep a person awake at night!
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"What's wrong with Spider-Man? The marvels of spider biology"
by Cor Vink
As Uncle Ben said, "With great power comes great responsibility". Unfortunately, there seems to have been no biological responsibility when coming up with Spider-Man's superpowers. The actual biology and superpowers of spiders are even more amazing that the famous superhero.
Cor is a Associate Professor in the Department of Pest-Managment and Conservation at Lincoln University. He is six and a half years younger than Spider-Man and has been studying spiders for over 25 years.
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Tickets for good, not greed Humanitix dedicates 100% of profits from booking fees to charity
