Past events

Find information about past ANU Science events.

Thu, Jul 15 2021, 4:30pm

Electricity contributes a third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Solar photovoltaics and wind generation are now the lowest cost sources of new electricity capacity, and Australia is leading the world with rate of uptake of these renewable generators.

Thu, Jul 8 2021, 4:30pm

Many famous Sci-Fi movies feature artificial intelligence (AI) or robots going mad and killing all the humans. But in reality, AI is the only way we, as humans, are going to be able to cope with an increasingly digitised world...

Mon, Jul 5 2021, 4:30pm

Genomics sequencing has created opportunities and challenges to gain new insights in biology and biomedical research.
Genome sequencing data usually consists of millions or billions of short DNA sequences, called reads, that are randomly drawn from genomes.

Thu, Jul 1 2021, 4:30pm

The price of renewable electricity has dropped lower than the price of conventional electricity in recent years. Globally, solar and wind now account for more than half of new electricity capacity. This masterclass will give an overview of the astonishing growth in renewables that we’ve seen to date, and discuss what we can expect for the future.

Wed, Jun 30 2021, 4:30pm

The majority of Earth’s volcanism is concentrated at tectonic plate boundaries, where plates move away from one another to create mid-ocean ridges, or where one plate slides beneath another to form a subduction zone.

Tue, Jun 29 2021, 4:30pm

Early assumptions that the secret to complexity was tied up in our DNA led to one of the most surprising outcomes of the Human Genome Project—that we have far fewer genes than many other seemingly simple organisms! This talk will explore the hypothesis that the true origin of biological complexity lies in our proteins and their intricate chemical structures.

Mon, Jun 28 2021, 4:30pm

What do the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama (1460-1524), the Italian painter Caravaggio (1571-1610) and the English poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) have in common? They all died of malaria!

Fri, Jun 25 2021, 4:30pm

While we'd like to think our knowledge of plate tectonics allows us to confidently identify the sources of large, destructive tsunamis, this isn't always the case. This is particularly true for Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelagic country in Earth’s most active tectonic region,...

Thu, Jun 24 2021, 4:30pm

In most low and middle income countries a profound transition is underway in patterns of health burden. Diseases of infection and poverty, and maternal and child health risks, are being joined by a rising tide of non-communicable disease and population ageing...