Protecting our Thriving Planet

How do young animals learn to respond to danger? Female African elephants work together to defend the herd, but it is unclear how males respond to threats without their families. We are investigating if adult males protect adolescents and if younger males copy older ones, by observing their response to dangerous sounds. We are looking for evidence of a whole-group response, and responses changing with age. Elephants can be extremely dangerous to local people, so studying male reactions to farmers defending their property could help human-elephant coexistence.

Every April for the last 8 years, people around the world 'compete' to find as many plants and animals in their cities. From 26 - 29th April 2024, York participated in the global City Nature Challenge for the very first time to record the biodiversity in and around our dear city! There is a Leaderboard. How did York do against 600 other cities? What types of birds, trees, mammals, flowers, insects, fungi and other wildlife did we see, and why does it matter for the people of York? And, what happens next?

Current methods for the synthesis of medicines heavily rely on the use of toxic non-renewable carbon-based solvents. Many of these carbon-based solvents are carcinogens, reproductive hazards, and neurotoxins and their extensive use poses risk to both human health and the environment. For instance, 1 tonne of solvent Dichloromethane, a known carcinogen, has the same environmental impact as done by releasing 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide over a 100-year period. In this talk, I will discuss my research journey's transition towards sustainable chemistry and how I have utlised the nature’s solvent-water, as an environmentally benign reaction media to enable sustainable synthesis of pharmaceutically important molecules.

How can learning about biological CO2 concentrating mechanisms can help us improve crop plants? When talking about photosynthesis, we rarely think about algae, but these extraordinary organisms are responsible for about half of global carbon assimilation. Their task is difficult – water contains less CO2 than air, so they have evolved CO2 concentrating mechanisms, which allow them to photosynthesise efficiently. This crucial process has evolved independently multiple times and understanding it could help us develop a toolbox to improve crucial crop plants.