Late Night Conference
Given the current global situation, we feel there is a need for a ‘conference’ for a broad audience. Working during the pandemic has shown us that broadcasting science over the internet is cheap and easy to run, and a great method of communication with a broad audience.
In this spirit, we are inviting top scientists as guests for our Late Night Conference to give short presentations on their research followed by a lively discussion, fed by questions and comments from the audience.
Our target audience are natural sciences undergraduates/PhD students. The level of presentation should be gauged accordingly (i.e. chemists, physicists, geologists etc. should be able to understand enough of the presentation and discussion). The student audience is likely to be interested in such a format as a light introduction to new science, as well as an inspiration for their careers via professional insights from the guest.
The Late Night Conference is a series of live-streamed themed lectures and interactive discussions for students of science and those with an interest in science in general. We have tested the technology and are now ready for Season 1!
Season 1
We will explore one of the greatest unanswered questions of modern science: the origin of life. We will look at chemistry between the stars and on distant planets, and bring into focus the challenges of studying life’s prebiotic origins.
In laboratories all over the World, scientists study how collections of molecules can come together into something that bears fundamental traits of Life. These innovators are challenging our understanding of what Life is and how it may be found beyond our Solar System.
Over 6 episodes, this season will take you on a journey from test tubes to distant planets, with physics and chemistry as your guide!
Pilot Episode
Maike Hansen (www.thehansenlab.com) began as an assistant professor here at Radboud University in the group of Biophysics this January. Her interdisciplinary research combines computational modelling, cell-free biochemistry and single-cell biology to answer the question: how does robustness emerge from cellular complexity?
Livestream details: Thursday, 26th November, 8.00 PM.
Season 1 Program:
7 January: Life in the Universe
EWINE F. VAN DISHOECK
Professor of Molecular Astrophysics, University of Leiden
- James Craig Watson Medal, US National Academy of Sciences, 2018
- Kavli prize winner in Astrophysics, 2018
- Spinoza prize, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO), 2000
Ewine van Dishoeck has helped develop the most powerful telescopes in the World to peer into the thin, ice-cold clouds of gas found between stars. These clouds are the nurseries from which new stars and planets are born. Van Dishoeck looks at how these celestial bodies are formed, and how the clouds’ chemical composition imprints upon the new planets.
4 February: Life in the Universe
SARA IMARI WALKER
Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration and Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Arizona State University
Sara Walker is an astrobiologist and theoretical physicist. She seeks to explain what life is, how it emerged and how to find it on other worlds using new physical theories. Walker is also an advocate for science communication to the public, and has discussed her work in many interviews, panels and lectures.
4 March: The RNA World
JACK SZOSTAK
Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University
- The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2009, “for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.”
Jack Szostak studies the chemical and physical processes that gave rise to biological evolution on the early Earth. His laboratory is trying to build a synthetic protocell that undergoes Darwinian evolution, potentially leading to the spontaneous emergence of genomically encoded catalysts and structural molecules. Szostak was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 for the discovery of how chromosomes are protected by telomeres and the enzyme telomerase.
1 April: Inorganic Life
LEROY (LEE) CRONIN
Regius Professor of Chemistry, University of Glasgow
- RSC Tilden prize, 2015
- RISE Award (1 of the UK’s top 10 Inspiring Sciences and Engineers), 2014
Lee Cronin’s broad range of research interests includes the development of ‘inorganic biology’, artificial lifeforms, discovering alien life and constructing chemical computers. His multidisciplinary research group is one of the largest in the World. Cronin has presented TED talks, a recent series of lockdown lectures, and boldly challenges our understanding of chemistry.
6 May: The Metabolic Origins of life
JOSEPH MORAN
Professor, University of Strasbourg
- C&EN Talented 12, 2018
Joseph Moran is a synthetic organic chemist interested in catalysis in complex systems and the origin of biological metabolism. His research applies concepts from systems and supramolecular chemistry to catalysis and the chemical origins of life. His work has shed light on how metabolism may have arisen in prebiotic waters before the onset of Darwinian evolution.
3 June: Exoplanets
DIDIER QUELOZ
Professor at Cavendish Lab, Cambridge University, UK (main) Professor, Astronomy department, Geneva University, Switzerland (part time)
- Nobel prize in Physics 2019 “for the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting a solar-type star.”
- Wolf physics prize 2017
Didier Queloz discovered the first extrasolar planet orbiting the Sun-like star 51 Pegasi, sharing the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physics for this discovery. Having kick-started the field of exoplanet research, Queloz now leads research in furthering the understanding of exoplanet formation, structure, and habitability, as well as to promoting and sharing the excitement of his work through documentaries, movies, articles, TV and radio interviews.