Land

Ever wondered where that sparkling diamond in your engagement ring comes from? Diamonds are one of our most important natural resources, not just used in jewellery making, but also to make mechanical tools and even prosthetics! But how exactly do they form, where do they come from and how do we mine them? Diamonds are formed in the mantle, at depths of over 150km below Earth’s surface. Diamonds are transported to the surface when they get caught up in a type of magma called kimberlite. Kimberlite magma is generated in the mantle and quickly rockets to Earth’s surface in a matter of hours thanks to its gas rich nature and high temperature. Come along and learn more about the big picture surrounding these tiny gemstones!

Did you know that submarine cables carry
more than 95% of the global internet? Much
of our online entertainment, communications,
services and finance get from place to place
- not by flying through space via satellite -
but by zipping along the bottom of the sea
on cables no thicker than a garden hose!
Despite how critical they are to society today,
these fibre-optic cables are vulnerable. All
sorts of threats, from fishing boats to subsea
avalanches, damage or destroy them on a
regular basis. Come and find out more about
the natural (and unnatural) disasters that
break seafloor cables, and how we're
adapting to save the internet!

Plants fulfil several important functions on earth, such as the production of oxygen and as a primary source of nutrition. Recent research has shown that their success partially relies on mutualistic symbioses with microbes, especially fungi and bacteria. These microbes colonise the area around plant roots in large numbers, where they are involved in nutrient exchange and fend off pathogens. Specialised microbes, known as endophytes, can even colonise internal plant tissues such as seeds. By doing so they can be transferred from one plant generation to the other and contribute to their host’s health and productivity. I will briefly introduce the plant microbiome and provide insights into current research findings that have changed our understanding of plants.