Thank you!
Thank you all for a great fall semester! We will be back in the spring with more awesome talks! Keep an eye out here and on our Facebook page for the Spring Semester schedule, to be posted in January. 🙂
December 12, Claire Hemingway
Brainy bats: strategies for finding food in the jungle at night
Bats are remarkable in their diversity. Over 1300 species of bats can be found in every continent, except Antarctica. They come in a variety of different sizes, shapes, and colors They also eat many different things such as fruit, nectar, insects, frogs, and fish. Because many bats have to find their food at night, they have evolved a whole suite of different hunting strategies. The brains of these impressive animals have been shaped for a long time to allow bats to find and remember where food is. I will cover just a handful of examples of the ways in which these animals have come up with solutions for finding food at night.
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 (please note time change):
- 6:00 pm:Â Snacks, kids activities, and displays of local animals and plants found at Brackenridge Field Laboratory will be available.
- 6:15 pm-6:45 pm: Guided tour of the field lab (wear sturdy shoes and bring water)!
- 7:00 pm:Â Settle in, because the talk begins now!
- 7:45 pm:Â Q&A with the speaker.
First time visitor? Please read our pet policy & field station rules here, and find parking info and directions here.
November 14, Chase Rakowski
Plankton: the little alien-like creatures that might save us all
Is that an alien? Or is it just an Earthling that’s totally different from anything you’ve ever seen? Welcome to the world of plankton, the tiny living things found in almost every bit of water on Earth. You might never realize they’re there, but just a handful of natural water contains astonishing numbers, and life as we know it wouldn’t be possible without them. What’s more, they may hold the key to solving some of our biggest problems. Come see these little water-”aliens” in action and find out how important they really are!
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 (please note time change):
- 6:00 pm:Â Snacks, kids activities, and displays of local animals and plants found at Brackenridge Field Laboratory will be available.
- 6:15 pm-6:45 pm: Guided tour of the field lab (wear sturdy shoes and bring water)!
- 7:00 pm:Â Settle in, because the talk begins now!
- 7:45 pm:Â Q&A with the speaker.
First time visitor? Please read our pet policy & field station rules here, and find parking info and directions here.
October 10, Caitlin Leslie
Sensory Superheroes: Extreme Animal Sensory Systems
Like Superman’s X-ray vision or Daredevil’s radar sense, animals often have abilities to perceive the world that humans could only imagine! They see colors that we are blind to, detect heat with their faces, send calls through the ground, and communicate with electricity. Come learn about some of the extreme sensory systems that exist in the animal world that allow them to hunt, navigate, and communicate in superhuman ways!
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:Â 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:Â Settle in, because the talk begins now!
- 8:45 pm:Â Q&A with the speaker.
First time visitor? Please read our pet policy & field station rules here, and find parking info and directions here.
Neighborhood Science at Twin Oaks 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 Twin Oaks Branch Library, 1800 S 5th St, Austin, TX 78704. All talks begin at 7pm.
A Sweat Bee native to Texas covered in pollen. credit: Alejandro Santillana, Insects Unlocked
Thursday, October 3, 7pm: Megan O’Connell – “Bees go grocery shopping”Â
Leafcutter ants defending their nest against an army ant. Credit: Alex Wild Photography
Thursday, November 7, 7pm: Tristan Kubik – “Clash of the Myrmidons”Â
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!
Amazon molly (Poecilia formosa), an all-female clonal fish
Thursday, December 5, 7pm: Allison Davis – “How to get a date: story of a clone”Â
Science Under The Stars 