Neighborhood Science at Howson Branch Library
Science Under the Stars has expanded to include the Austin Public Library! At Neighborhood Science, previous SUTS speakers will present at different library branches around the city a couple times a month. Below are the dates and descriptions for this fall at the Howson Branch Library, 2500 Exposition Blvd, Austin, TX 78703. All talks begin at 7:30pm. **These talks will be held outdoors, so bring a chair!
A Sweat Bee native to Texas covered in pollen. credit: Alejandro Santillana, Insects Unlocked
Tuesday, September 24, 7:30pm: Megan O’Connell – “Bees go grocery shopping”
Bats use sonar to see. Credit: Uwe Schmidt
Tuesday, October 29, 7:30pm: Caitlin Leslie – “Sensory Superheroes: Extreme Animal Sensory Systems”
Tuesday, November 26, 7:30pm: Chase Rakowski – “Plankton: the little alien-like creatures that might save us all”
Leafcutter ants defending their nest against an army ant. Credit: Alex Wild Photography
The Amazon rainforest is home to two unexpected titans. Leafcutter ants are peaceful, sedentary farmers responsible for processing huge volumes of tropical vegetation. They use their foraging material to cultivate obligate, fungal nurseries that cradle precious brood deep within their subterranean fortresses. Few organisms are courageous or capable enough to threaten mature leafcutter colonies, but the tank army ant is one of them. Tank army ants are nomadic, subterranean ant-killing machines. Their colonies can reach as many as several million and their hunger for leafcutters is insatiable. They flush out and overwhelm kilograms of prey every day with their numbers, mandibles, and venomous stings. And yet, leafcutter nests are not without defenses. Leafcutter colonies rapidly mount impressive responses to the alarming presence of tank army ant scouts including specialized soldiers, construction of barricades, and air-tight linear battlefronts. These two large, complex, derived societies clash in epic battles akin to the wars waged long ago by the Greeks and Romans with heroes just as notable as Hercules and Achilles. Such examples of social conflict are of great interest to systems science and parallels can be drawn to instances of immune systems vs disease, competing economies, and even human warfare. Join me for a night of bravery, sacrifice, and storytelling as I share my passion and knowledge about this riveting rivalry!
September 12, Megan O’Connell
Bees go grocery shopping
How to Think, Dance, and Grocery Shop Like a Bee! We humans depend on bees for a lot more than we realize, but the bees need our help! Around the world bees are struggling to survive and now it is up to us to save them. One place to start is to understand which bees live around us (spoiler alert: it’s not just honey bees!), how they think, and what they like to eat. We’ll share all the interesting ways scientists gather this information, what we know so far, and most importantly, what you can do to help!
Science Under the Stars is a free public outreach lecture series in Austin, Texas. The talk will be held outdoors at Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703. Here’s the schedule for this month’s event:
- 7:00 pm: Snacks, kids activities, and displays of local animals and plants found at Brackenridge Field Laboratory will be available.
- 7:15 pm-7:45 pm: Guided tour of the field lab (wear sturdy shoes and bring water)!
- 8:00 pm: Settle in, because the talk begins now!
- 8:45 pm: Q&A with the speaker.
First time visitor? Please read our pet policy & field station rules here, and find parking info and directions here.
May 10, Robby Deans
Scuba Diving Arthropods: How insects (and spiders) make their living underwater.
Modern insects and spiders both evolved from terrestrial ancestors, but some have evolved to live on or in the water. At Science Under the Stars this May, EEB PhD Candidate Robby Deans will discuss some of the challenges of this environment and how aquatic species overcome them. Additionally, he will talk about the diversity of aquatic arthropods and their interactions with humans. You can read more about Robby’s research interests on his lab’s website.
Science Under the Stars is a free public outreach lecture series in Austin, Texas. The talk will be held outdoors at Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703. Here’s the schedule for this month’s event:
- 7:00 pm: Snacks, kids activities, and displays of local animals and plants found at Brackenridge Field Laboratory will be available.
- 7:15 pm-7:45 pm: Guided tour of the field lab (wear sturdy shoes and bring water)!
- 8:00 pm: Settle in, because the talk begins now!
- 8:45 pm: Q&A with the speaker.
First time visitor? Please read our pet policy & field station rules here, and find parking info and directions here.
February 9, Alejandro Santillana
Insects Unlocked: Entomology for Everyone
Insects Unlocked is a public domain project from The University of Texas at Austin’s Insect Collection. In 2015, our team of student and community volunteers crowd-funded a campaign to create thousands of open, copyright-free images. From more than 200 small contributions, we built an insect photography field kit and photo studio. Come join us to learn about this exciting project and how you can get involved with the UTIC!
Science Under the Stars is a free public outreach lecture series in Austin, Texas. The talk will be held outdoors at Brackenridge Field Laboratory, 2907 Lake Austin Blvd, Austin, Texas 78703.
Here’s the schedule for this month’s event:
- 6:15pm – Snacks, natural history displays, and activities designed for kids of all ages will be available!
- 6:30-6:50pm – Guided tours of BFL will be offered, dependent on weather and light conditions (wear sturdy shoes and bring water)!
- 7:00pm-7:45pm – Settle in to hear the talk!
Dr. Mark Moffett
Life Among the Ants
Dr. Mark W. Moffett, research associate at the National Museum of Natural History, author of the book Adventures Among Ants, and protégé of E.O. Wilson, talks about the ways that modern humans are much more like ants than we are like chimpanzees. With our societies of millions, only certain social insects and humans need to deal with issues of roadways and traffic rules, public health and environmental safety, assembly lines and teamwork, market economics and voting, slavery and mass warfare. The talk will be illustrated with a few of the hundreds of images from Mark’s National Geographic Magazine stories, many of subject never seen before. The lecture will transport the audience around the world, to experience the fierce driver ants of the Congo, deadly bulldog ants of Australia, marauder ants of Asia, leafcutter ants of South America, and slavery ants of the USA.
Science Under the Stars is a free, monthly public outreach lecture series founded and organized by graduate students in the Section of Integrative Biology at University of Texas at Austin. Our goals are to host fun, informal science outreach events for Austin citizens of all ages, and give scientists a venue to share their work with the general public.
Science Under The Stars 