Earth Matters

Lithium is a critical metal now in huge demand due to its use in electric vehicle batteries.

We will explore why this metal is so crucial, where lithium deposits are found, and how they are formed.

With JWST it is now possible to search for potential biosignatures in rocky exoplanet atmospheres. Finding signs of life on another planet will satisfy the question "are we alone" but replace it with many more. In this talk we will discuss why we should reconsider the Rare Earth Hypothesis.

The ocean isn't still - it's constantly on the move. Water flows at the surface, but it also sinks thousands of meters deep into the ocean, eventually rising again somewhere else on the planet. This global "conveyor belt" of sea water - known as the global overturning circulation - connects nearly all parts of the ocean and plays a crucial role in Earth's climate, with heat and CO2 carried to depth often remaining there for hundreds or thousands of years before re-emerging.

How much carbon do salt marshes and mudflats store, why is this important? What are the anthropogenic effects and how can we go about restoring these effects?

How can studying tephra (volcanic glass shards) transition from manual processing to automated and AI-enabled processing?

While intertidal mudflats can seem grey and lifeless to the unequipped observer. Only the occasional bird or seagrass making it look more like an ecosystem. In reality, however, the mud is full of life, from colourful microalgae that capture the energy of the Sun and reduce erosion, to the worms and other critters that eat them and get eaten. All of these provide important services to us as humans but can be too easy to overlook. These ecosystems, however, are also exposed to a lot of stress, so it is important to understand how and why we should protect them.

The very first life on earth required fixed nitrogen to form. Today, most life requires free O2. We will explore how nitrogen in crustal rocks can help answer the question: where did these ingredients come from?