Nerdnite Auckland – Chapter 17
So, time for some geekery then. That time being next Tuesday evening in Kingsland. We have a bioengineer and a paleobotantist coming to speak geeky things at you while you sit back and relax with a beverage of your choice. Luxury.
First up, we have David Cumin. The specialisation of modern healthcare has meant great advances in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. However, it has also meant greater complexity in the system and a need for staff to communicate effectively. David will talk about a novel project to train operating room teams that has just been piloted in Auckland. Come see how a little movie magic and some stressful situations could make our hospitals even safer.
Next, paleobotanist Mark Large will be cramming an epic spanning millions of years into a 20 min time slot. In the Late Triassic c.201 MYBP – an event occurred that caused the mass extinction of a fifth of all families of marine animals (34% of marine genera). On land, many large archosaurs and large amphibians became extinct. At least half of the species now known to have been living on Earth at that time disappeared. This extinction seems to have taken less than 10,000 years and occurred just before Pangaea started to break apart. Gradual climate change, and mass volcanism in the late Triassic reached a tipping point. However, this does not explain the suddenness of the extinctions in the marine realm. Is this past the key to our future?
The story of this event links the explorations of Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander in NZ, the pre-WII Greenland holiday activities of a Cambridge professor of Botany, Thomas Harris, and our own studies here in 21st century Auckland.
Got that? Right. Make sure you friends have seen this, then have a sit down and discuss over a beer or three over the weekend. Make it the subject of intelligent Sunday morning coffee conversation. Then remember to head along to Nectar in Kingsland next Tuesday around 6:30/7ish.
Cheers
Ben.
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