About this Event

We are currently in the middle of the earth’s biological evolution and revolution. Since the start of time, the animals in this world have constantly adapted to the changes in the environment and so have we. Interested in learning more about the past and future of biology? Come join us for an evening where two of our experts discuss biological change – from both a natural evolutionary perspective, as well as our plans to move forward in a synthetic world.



***Proceedings for this event will be going towards the Against Malaria Foundation. The Against Malaria Foundation is a United Kingdom-based charity that provides long-lasting insecticidal nets to populations at high risk of malaria, primarily in Africa. ***



Deception in Animals

The cryptic camouflage of a stick insect and the dazzling colours of the peacock’s tail would seem to be polar opposites. However they have a profound similarity: they are adaptations to the perception and mind of another animal. Camouflage exploits the way eyes sample only a fraction of the colours in the natural world and the mind takes shortcuts in order to reconstruct a 3D scene from the 2D image on the retina. Similarly animal signals, whether for warning or attraction, tap into biases in perception in order to persuade rather than necessarily to inform. Innes Cuthill, Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bristol, explains how perception shapes the evolution of animal colours and behaviours and how, in turn, coloration can help us understand the minds of other species.



Biography

Innes Cuthill has been Professor of Behavioural Ecology at the University of Bristol since 1998. After a first degree in Zoology at Cambridge and a D.Phil. at Oxford, he held a Junior Research Fellowship at Brasenose College Oxford then moved to a lectureship in Bristol in 1989. Most of his work is strongly interdisciplinary, in the last decade focusing on the interplay between animal colour vision and animal coloration. In 1998 he won the Scientific Medal of the Zoological Society of London, and in 2005 the Nature (Nature Publishing Group) and NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) award for mentoring in science; he was President of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour from 2007 to 2010 and is currently one of the senior editors of the leading journal Proceedings of the Royal Society, Biological Sciences.



Do scientists dream of synthetic sheep?

We are in the middle of a molecular biology revolution, as our ability to manipulate, understand and design biological systems is increasing rapidly. As experiments become cheaper, faster and more reliable such power may become widely accessible – and of course, with great power comes great responsibility.

Jack Heal will describe the field of synthetic biology, and we’ll address questions such as:

What is a spider goat?

Can we create artificial life?

Why haven’t we made Jurassic Park yet?



Biography

Jack Heal is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the School of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. Having completed a degree in Mathematics at the University of Warwick, as well as a MSc and PhD in Mathematical Biology and Biophysical Chemistry, Jack moved to Bristol for his current position in 2014. He is also a previous Chortle Student Comedian of the Year and has been the first person to bring a comedy lecture about synthetic biology to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.