Enjoy a pint of science with JCU
Fascinating insight from James Cook University researchers will headline the annual Pint of Science events in Townsville and Cairns on May 18 and 19.
The Townsville Brewery will play host to the two-night event in Townsville, with Pint of Science an annual science festival aimed at connecting researchers to their community in the most Australian of venues – the local pub.
It kicks off with ‘A Night Beneath the Waves’ at 6pm on Monday, May 18, with JCU PhD Candidate Mitchell Heide to discuss his honours research, where he studied the tiny animals living on Sargassum seaweed to find out whether drifting clumps of seaweed can act like a natural raft.
JCU Associate Professor and Senior Scientist and Curator of Corals at the Queensland Museum Tropics Dr Tom Bridge will also be featured, talking about his work collecting corals from around the world to study their diversity and evolution.
Night two in Townsville, from 6pm on Tuesday, May 19, is called ‘Lets’ Get Moving’, with JCU Clinical Exercise Physiology Lecturer Kate Oxnard to explain how active people exercise and how their bodies adapt throughout pregnancy.
It will also feature JCU Postdoctoral Research Fellow Dr Stuart Russell talking about his work using seismic waves to explore the deep inner earth.
The Cairns event kicks off at Macalister Brewing Company in Smithfield with ‘Ocean Mysteries & Elephant Tales’ at 7pm on Monday, May 18.
JCU TropWATER marine ecologist and molecular biologist Dr Scott Morrissey will reveal how scientists can detect deadly box jellyfish using tiny traces of DNA they leave behind in seawater.
Just like forensic investigators at a crime scene, researchers can collect water samples and analyse the invisible genetic clues drifting through the ocean to determine whether box jellyfish are present.
Monday night will also feature TropWATER's Dr Jaelen Myers, who used aerial drones to track fine-scale stingray feeding behaviours and movements, paired with gastric lavage (essentially a vomit pump) to sample what rays have recently eaten.
Night two in Cairns, from 7pm on Tuesday, May 19, is called ‘Hazards, Habitats & Hidden Species’, features JCU Research Associate Nigel Tucker explaining how restoring fragmented forests benefits wildlife. PhD student Sophia Love will be sharing her work on understanding more about FNQ platypus populations.
To book tickets or find out more information about each session and speaker, visit the Pint of Science website here.