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A list of talks related to sustainability and the environment
URL: http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/index/22840
Updated: 41 min 21 sec ago

Wed 12 Feb 17:30: Climate-ice sheet interactions in the long-term past and their importance for the long-term future

Fri, 07/02/2025 - 11:57
Climate-ice sheet interactions in the long-term past and their importance for the long-term future

The simulation of the last deglaciation (about 20.000 years before present to present) represents a hitherto unsolved challenge for comprehensive state-of-the-art climate models. During my presentation, I will introduce our novel coupled atmosphere-ocean-vegetation-ice sheet-solid earth model that is used to simulate the transient climate. An ensemble of transient model simulations successfully captures the main features of the last deglaciation, as depicted by proxy estimates. In addition, our model simulates a series of abrupt climate changes, which can be attributed to different drivers that will be discussed throughout the presentation. I will furthermore show, how the model can be applied for simulations of the long-term future. The future simulations show, that parts of the Antarctic ice sheet become unstable even under low-emission scenarios, with significant implications for the modelled climate response. Sensitivity experiments additionally show that, the Greenland ice sheet may exhibit multiple steady-states under pre-industrial climate conditions. This has significant implications for a potential regrowth, once disintegrated entirely.

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Wed 12 Feb 14:00: Short-term, high-resolution sea ice forecasting with diffusion model ensembles

Wed, 05/02/2025 - 11:44
Short-term, high-resolution sea ice forecasting with diffusion model ensembles

Sea ice plays a key role in Earth’s climate system and exhibits significant seasonal variability as it advances and retreats across the Arctic and Antarctic every year. The production of sea ice forecasts provides great scientific and practical value to stakeholders across the polar regions, informing shipping, conservation, logistics, and the daily lives of inhabitants of local communities. Machine learning offers a promising means by which to develop such forecasts, capturing the nonlinear dynamics and subtle spatiotemporal patterns at play as effectively—if not more effectively—than conventional physics-based models. In particular, the ability of deep generative models to produce probabilistic forecasts which acknowledge the inherent stochasticity of sea ice processes and represent uncertainty by design make them a sensible choice for the task of sea ice forecasting. Diffusion models, a class of deep generative models, present a strong option given their state-of-the-art performance on computer vision tasks and their strong track record when adapted to spatiotemporal modelling tasks in weather and climate domains. In this talk, I will present preliminary results from a IceNet-like [1] diffusion model trained to autoregressively forecast daily, 6.25 km resolution sea ice concentration in the Bellingshausen Sea along the Antarctic Peninsula. I will also touch on the downstream applications for these forecasts, from conservation to marine route planning, which are under development at the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). I welcome ideas and suggestions for improvement and look forward to discussing opportunities for collaboration within and beyond BAS .

[1] Andersson, Tom R., et al. “Seasonal Arctic sea ice forecasting with probabilistic deep learning.” Nature communications 12.1 (2021): 5124. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25257-4

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Thu 13 Mar 11:30: TBC

Wed, 05/02/2025 - 09:17
TBC

Abstract not available

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Thu 20 Feb 11:30: TBC

Wed, 05/02/2025 - 08:52
TBC

Abstract not available

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Wed 19 Mar 14:00: Cell edges: from polarity to growth control Please contact the events team at Events@slcu.cam.ac.uk for the online Zoom link.

Tue, 04/02/2025 - 15:43
Cell edges: from polarity to growth control

Abstract not available

Please contact the events team at Events@slcu.cam.ac.uk for the online Zoom link.

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Wed 19 Mar 16:00: From active surfaces to evo-devo-mechanobiology

Tue, 04/02/2025 - 15:01
From active surfaces to evo-devo-mechanobiology

Morphogenesis of biological systems relies on mechanical forces at the mesoscopic, supracellular level to establish shape. Here I will discuss the physical theory of nematic active surfaces, which describes tensions and bending moments arising in active materials such as biological epithelia. I will then discuss how leveraging this theory can allow us to understand the integration of mechanical modules during development, and how these mechanical modules can vary across species, using the examples of comparison of development of cnidarians. I will introduce the concept of « mechanical redundancy », showing that several mechanical modules can have similar effect on shape determination.

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Mon 17 Feb 14:30: Juan Alonso-Serra -Hydraulic patterns in plant development; Ana Patricia Ramos-Forming an Eye: from cell behaviour to tissue shape changes.

Tue, 04/02/2025 - 14:58
Juan Alonso-Serra -Hydraulic patterns in plant development; Ana Patricia Ramos-Forming an Eye: from cell behaviour to tissue shape changes.

Juan Alonso-Serra’s talk title: Hydraulic patterns in plant development

Abstract: Plant cells undergo dynamic changes in water status during normal development, generating hydraulic patterns and water fluxes at the tissue level. These processes are particularly evident, for example, when shoot meristems produce a new flower. While water fluxes are often regarded as passive by-products of development, growing evidence suggests that they not only result from growth processes but also play an active role in shaping them. In my research, I integrate 4D confocal microscopy, water tracing techniques, hydraulic modeling, and genetics to investigate how water fluxes serve as both a consequence and a driver of growth patterning. By uncovering the feedback loops between water movement and morphogenesis, we can uncover how hydraulic signals actively influence plant development and contribute to the regulation of growth and form.

Ana Patricia Ramos’s talk title: Forming an Eye: from cell behaviour to tissue shape changes.

Abstract: Building an organ is a multistep process in which correct morphogenesis arises from feedback loops between genetic regulation and mechanical forces. A key morphogenetic event is the emergence of tissue curvature, which is essential for various developmental processes, such as gastrulation, and shapes multiple organs, including the heart and neural tube.

Curvature can develop alongside other cellular and tissue rearrangements. In many of these complex contexts, the biomechanical interactions driving curvature remain unclear, as the contributions of individual rearrangements and their interplay are difficult to disentangle.

To address this, we investigated the morphogenesis of the vertebrate optic cup, a highly curved structure that forms from a flat bilayered optic vesicle. Using zebrafish as a model system, where cell and tissue dynamics can be studied in native 4D conditions, we combined in vivo experiments, 4D segmentation and analysis, and theoretical modeling. This interdisciplinary approach allowed us to identify key players driving the emergence of optic cup curvature.

  • Speaker: Juan Alonso-Serra,University of Helsinki; Ana Patricia Ramos, Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC), Oeiras, Portugal
  • Monday 17 February 2025, 14:30-15:30
  • Venue: Online.
  • Series: Morphogenesis Seminar Series; organiser: Jia CHEN.

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Thu 06 Feb 11:30: Cracking in Drying Films

Tue, 04/02/2025 - 09:32
Cracking in Drying Films

Abstract not available

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Mon 24 Feb 14:30: Developmental patterning of head-like inflorescences in Asteraceae

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 11:25
Developmental patterning of head-like inflorescences in Asteraceae

Have you ever wondered what the spirals in sunflower heads are and how they emerge? Flower heads (i.e. inflorescences) in the sunflower family, Asteraceae, are iconic examples of geometric beauty found in nature. They superficially mimic solitary flowers but are in fact tightly packed structures, often composed of tens or hundreds of florets. The individual florets emerge on an enlarged meristem in regular left and right winding spirals whose numbers follow the two consecutive numbers in a mathematical Fibonacci sequence. My focus here is on molecular level studies to understand phyllotactic patterning of flower heads. Using the DR5 auxin reporter lines of the model plant Gerbera hybrida, we have shown how patterning is established de novo at early stages of meristem development and how the expansion growth of the meristem drives the emergence of high spiral numbers. The molecular data has been integrated into a computational model that was extended also to cases of non-circular (fasciated) heads. We have also applied synchrotron-based micro-CT imaging to explore the role vascular networks on patterning. Additionally, I will discuss how our work contributes to understanding of the evolutionary origin of capitula.

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Mon 17 Feb 14:30: Juan Alonso-Serra -Hydraulic patterns in plant development;

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 11:24
Juan Alonso-Serra -Hydraulic patterns in plant development;

Juan Alonso-Serra’s talk title: Hydraulic patterns in plant development

Abstract: Plant cells undergo dynamic changes in water status during normal development, generating hydraulic patterns and water fluxes at the tissue level. These processes are particularly evident, for example, when shoot meristems produce a new flower. While water fluxes are often regarded as passive by-products of development, growing evidence suggests that they not only result from growth processes but also play an active role in shaping them. In my research, I integrate 4D confocal microscopy, water tracing techniques, hydraulic modeling, and genetics to investigate how water fluxes serve as both a consequence and a driver of growth patterning. By uncovering the feedback loops between water movement and morphogenesis, we can uncover how hydraulic signals actively influence plant development and contribute to the regulation of growth and form.

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Mon 10 Feb 14:30: Akantsha Jain-Unveiling the choreography of human brain development;Yamini Ravichandran-Topology changes of the regenerating Hydra define actin nematic defects as mechanical organizers of morphogenesis

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 11:21
Akantsha Jain-Unveiling the choreography of human brain development;Yamini Ravichandran-Topology changes of the regenerating Hydra define actin nematic defects as mechanical organizers of morphogenesis

Akantsha Jain’s talk title: Unveiling the choreography of human brain development-Longterm lightsheet imaging unveils morphodynamics in human brain organoids.

Abstract: Brain organoids enable mechanistic study of human brain development and provide opportunities to explore self-organization in unconstrained developmental systems. We have established long-term light sheet microscopy on unguided multi-mosaic neural organoids (MMOs) generated from fluorescently labeled human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which enables tracking of tissue morphology, cell behaviors, and subcellular features over weeks of organoid development. We demultiplex multi-mosaic neural organoids using morphometrics to provide quantitative measurements of tissue and cellular dynamics, using Actin, Tubulin, plasma membrane, nuclei, and Lamin labels, and show that the organoids exhibit tissue state transitions through neural induction, lumenization, and regionalization. We find that despite morphological heterogeneity, different organoids exhibit lumen formation and expansion at a consistent time, coinciding with early neurectoderm switching to late neurectoderm fate. This morphological tissue transition coincides with a switch in underlying gene regulatory networks (GRNs) involving extracellular matrix (ECM) pathway regulators. Presence of a basement membrane rich external ECM promotes cell polarization, cell alignment to form a neuroepithelium, lumen expansion and leads to formation of telencephalic progenitors. However, in absence of external ECM , the tissue transition switch is perturbed forming a heterogenous neuroepithelium with mixed cellular alignment and polarity. This promotes formation of increased neural crest cells and non-telencephalic progenitors. Finally, we show ECM induced patterning guidance is linked to modulations of the WNT and HIPPO signaling pathway, including spatially restricted induction of WLS and YAP1 . Altogether, our work provides a new inroad into studying human brain morphodynamics, and supports a view that mechanosensing dynamics play a central role in constraining brain regionalization.

Yamini Ravichandran’s talk title: Topology changes of the regenerating Hydra define actin nematic defects as mechanical organizers of morphogenesis.

Abstract: Hydra is named after the mythological animal for its regenerative capabilities, but contrary to its mythological counterpart, it only regenerates one head when cut. Here we show that soft compression of head regenerating tissues induces the regeneration of viable, two headed animals. Topological defects in the supracellular nematic organization of actin were previously correlated with the new head regeneration site1. Soft compression creates new topological defects associated with additional heads. To test the necessity of topological defects in head regeneration, we changed the topology of the tissue. By compressing the head regenerating tissues along their body axis, topological defects of the foot and of the regenerating head fused together, forming a toroid with no defects. Perfectly ordered toroids did not regenerate over eight days and eventually disintegrated. Spheroids made from excised body column tissue partially lose their actin order during regeneration. Compression of spheroids generated toroids with actin defects. These tissues regenerated into toroidal animals with functional head and foot, and a bifurcated body. Our results show that topological defects in the actin order are necessary to shape the head of the regenerating Hydra, supporting the notion that actin topological defects are mechanical organizers of morphogenesis.

  • Speaker: Akantsha Jain,Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering, ETH Zürich, Basel, Switzerland; Yamini Ravichandran,University of Geneva, Switzerland
  • Monday 10 February 2025, 14:30-15:30
  • Venue: Online.
  • Series: Morphogenesis Seminar Series; organiser: Jia CHEN.

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Tue 04 Feb 11:00: Planetary uprising: Climate colonialism, Extinction Rebellion and the transformation of global politics Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_Y2VlZmM3OTgtOTQwNS00ZTcxLTk5ZGEtZWZiMzU4NTdiMGY1%40thread.v2/0...

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 10:42
Planetary uprising: Climate colonialism, Extinction Rebellion and the transformation of global politics

Dear all,

CAS seminar will welcome Tobias Müller who will give us a talk on climate colonialism. The talk will be held in a hybrid format with the speaker in-person at the Unilever lecture theatre and on Zoom on Tuesday, the 4th February , 11 AM-12 PM. Please find the abstracts of the talk below.

If you would like this seminar recorded, please let us know in advance. We look forward to seeing you there!

Best wishes, Megan and Yao

—————————————

Leverhulme Early Career Fellow Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) The climate crisis is deeply entangled with the politics of race and colonialism. The concept of “climate colonialism”, (Bhambra and Newell 2022) urges us to analyse what forms of resistance to the socio-ecological continuities of colonialism emerge, and what challenges they face. However, we lack empirical and conceptual studies on how people on the ground confront the intersection of the climate crisis, colonialism, racism and extractivism, and how this differs across former coloniser and colonised countries. This raises the question, what kind of politics are able to confront the intersecting crises of climate and colonialism?

This presentation addresses this gap through an analysis of how climate activists in four different countries respond to the climate crisis and connected social justice issues. Using the case study of a transnationally operating group within the global movement, Extinction Rebellion, the paper compares strategic responses to climate colonialism in four different countries, namely Mexico, South Africa, the UK and the US. Methodologically, the paper uses multi-sited ethnography, comprising 18 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 140 interviews with activists, to gain a deep insight into the internal contentions within different parts of the movement.The paper advances not only our understanding of how facing climate colonialism challenges movement spaces, but also how white environmental activists struggle with building racial justice into their practices and to build coalitions across the social justice movement space. It thereby contributes to the much-needed bridging between decolonial theory, social movement studies and the social scientific accounts of climate change.

Teams link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_Y2VlZmM3OTgtOTQwNS00ZTcxLTk5ZGEtZWZiMzU4NTdiMGY1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2249a50445-bdfa-4b79-ade3-547b4f3986e9%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2253b919d9-f8a7-4f56-9bb0-baaf0ba7404d%22%7d

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Wed 26 Feb 15:30: Title to be confirmed

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:27
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Abstract not available

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Wed 23 Apr 14:00: Title to be confirmed

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:25
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Wed 09 Apr 14:00: Title to be confirmed

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:24
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Wed 26 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:24
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Wed 12 Mar 14:00: Title to be confirmed

Mon, 03/02/2025 - 09:23
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Mon 12 May 19:30: CSAR lecture: The transformative power of empathy for education: reflection and realisation for teaching and learning

Fri, 31/01/2025 - 19:56
CSAR lecture: The transformative power of empathy for education: reflection and realisation for teaching and learning

Empathy is a facilitator of social, emotional, and cognitive wellbeing and achievement that can actualise teaching, learning and the self. I will present some of my research in empathy over the last three decades from the Institute of Psychiatry King’s College London to the Faculty of Education University of Cambridge, including early childhood empathy, pupil voice, teacher-pupil engagement, creativity in the classroom, and the most recent work using empathy interventions in schools that has shown an increase in empathic awareness, wellbeing and school engagement.

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Mon 10 Mar 19:30: CSAR lecture: AI in Manufacturing

Fri, 31/01/2025 - 19:37
CSAR lecture: AI in Manufacturing

Opportunities and Challenges for AI in Manufacturing.

All welcome. More details, including a booking link, are here.

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Thu 13 Feb 16:00: The Greenland Inland Ice Sheet and its watery margins: sediments and freshwater fluxes

Thu, 30/01/2025 - 09:59
The Greenland Inland Ice Sheet and its watery margins: sediments and freshwater fluxes

Abstract not available

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