© Pint of Science, 2026. All rights reserved.
Break up your week a little differently.
Pint of Science brings researchers into the pub to explore how life on Earth copes with rising temperatures — from microbes living in scorching hot springs to crops under heat stress, and the evidence behind human‑driven climate change.
Come along for a relaxed evening where you can grab a drink and some food, hear directly from scientists, ask questions, and be part of the conversation — no science background required.
Pint of Science brings researchers into the pub to explore how life on Earth copes with rising temperatures — from microbes living in scorching hot springs to crops under heat stress, and the evidence behind human‑driven climate change.
Come along for a relaxed evening where you can grab a drink and some food, hear directly from scientists, ask questions, and be part of the conversation — no science background required.
Hot Spring Time Machine: A journey of the microbes thriving in Australian hot springs
Gemma Laird
(Gemma Laird (she/her) is a microbial ecologist in the fourth year of her PhD at The University of Queensland, where she spends her time thinking about the whimsy of life that thrives where others cannot — like boiling hot springs. She studies how microbes interact and survive in extreme environments, and what this can reveal about the origins of life on Earth. )
Welcome to the hidden world of microbial ecology — where we figure out how microscopic life interacts, competes, and survives. Think of it like studying a rainforest… just on a scale you can’t see! Thanks to technological advances, we can now explore these tiny worlds in ways we never could before — including extreme environments like Innot Hot Springs, just outside Cairns in northern Australia. This thermal spring is full of microbes thriving in steamy 70°C waters. By exploring places like this, we’re uncovering clues about how life on Earth first evolved — and how these tiny microbes helped shape the ecosystems we see today.
How do we know humans are causing climate change?
Ryan Heneghan
(I'm an applied mathematician, using maths and stats to understand how climate change impacts ecological systems, from the Great Barrier Reef to the global ocean.)
Why is the climate changing? Here, I'll walk through drivers and evidence of human-caused climate change and what "climate change" actually is (and isn't).
Too Hot to Handle: Adapting Crops to a Hotter World
Millicent Smith
(Dr Millicent Smith researches climate impacts on crops. Her team uses advanced phenotyping tools to identify traits underpinning yield and quality, translating genetic discoveries to breeders developing climate-adapted varieties for growers.)
When temperatures spike, crop yields can collapse, and with climate change, these heat events are becoming more frequent. So which plants survive, and how do we find them? Thousands of chickpea varieties from around the world are screened using drones in the field and detailed measurements in controlled heat chambers to identify the traits that make some plants thrive while others fail, and how breeders can use these discoveries to develop climate-ready crops.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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