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Many of the most powerful forces shaping our world operate quietly, out of sight — encoded in genes, hidden in data centres, or embedded in mathematics.
This event brings together surprising stories about the unseen systems that influence our food, our technology, and even how we tell scientific stories. Join us at Stomping Ground for creativity, curiosity, and a few uncomfortable realizations about how much of the world runs quietly in the background.
This event brings together surprising stories about the unseen systems that influence our food, our technology, and even how we tell scientific stories. Join us at Stomping Ground for creativity, curiosity, and a few uncomfortable realizations about how much of the world runs quietly in the background.
Cloudy with a Chance of Carbon: Why Your Data Isn’t Free
Maz Corrales
(Maz has spent over 13 years working in labs, starting out in medical microbiology & cancer research before moving into lab management. Along the way, she realised that behind the breakthroughs and experiments, labs are also highly resource-intensive. For the past five years, she’s focused on making research more sustainable, working with teams to reduce waste, energy use, and all the invisible stuff that adds up behind the scenes. She’s the founder of LAB ZER0, a sustainability platform helping Aussie labs.)
Behind every “cloud” file, AI prompt, and shared drive is very real infrastructure gobbling on energy and water. LAB ZER0 along with RMIT's Digital Masters students have been studying how research institutes manage High Performance Computing, data storage, and AI use, and what we’ve found applies just as much to your overflowing inbox and “just in case” folders. Come for the science, stay for the mild existential crisis about your storage habits.
Wondrous worlds: extraordinary adventures of a curious mathematican (book read)
Dr Katie Buchhorn
(Dr Katie Buchhorn holds a PhD in statistics and machine learning, now data scientist. She's worked on varied applications from environmental monitoring to gender-based violence, from skin cancer diagnosis to coding a model for personalised perfume.)
Mathematics is often described as precise, logical, and dry but what if it also has rhythm, narrative, and voice? Presenting spoken-word poetry with short reflections and anecdotes.
How to ghost a plant pest
Donovan Garcia-Ceron
(Donovan, a doctor of biochemistry, recently learned that using the title “Dr.” not only fails to get you bumped to business class, but is a perfect way to irritate the cabin crew looking for a GP. He studied fungi during his PhD - molds, specifically; the ones that stink and make plants sick. He is interested in how pests & plants talk to each other at a molecular level and works to create safer pesticides for sustainable agriculture. In his spare time, he enjoys building furniture, sports, or hiking.)
A changing climate is introducing agricultural diseases where they previously did not exist, requiring increasing pesticide use. This generates pollution and pesticide resistance, creating a need to find new pesticides that are safe and remain effective over time. My research has investigated a new type of fungicides made with RNA, a molecule with the capacity to send a message to the pest to turn off the genes needed to cause an infection.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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