Name: The Purpose of Life
Start: 2016-05-23T
End: 2016-05-23T
Location: The Slaughtered Lamb

Earth has supported life for 90% of its existence, so what makes it so different from all the other planets?

Human survival on Earth is partly due to our ability to exploit our natural habitats for resources. However, with natural resources on the decline thanks to overuse and climate change, monitoring these changes has become essential, possible through citizen science and new emerging technology.

During the event there will be a quiz and special Pint of Science goodies to be won!

This event will be held in the basement.

Why is the Earth habitable?

Dr Philip Pogge von Strandmann (Senior Lecturer in Isotope Geochemistry)

The Earth has been inhabited by life for almost 90% of its 4.5 billion year existence. However, life requires specific conditions, especially quite a narrow temperature range. The question, therefore, is why the Earth's climate has been able to maintain these conditions for so long, given the huge changes that have occurred to the Earth over time.

Technology for Nature?

Professor Kate Jones (Professor of Biodiversity)

Wild nature and natural ecosystems are declining rapidly as humans use more of the earth’s resources and change climate patterns. Thanks to the growth of networks of citizen scientists and new sensor technology such as animal movement tags, camera traps and passive acoustic sensors, scientists studying the impact of anthropogenic change now have access to huge amounts of data about our changing environment and declining wildlife populations. However, analysing these ‘big biodiversity data’ brings its own challenges.

[{"lat":51.52335,"lon":-0.10124,"title":"The Slaughtered Lamb","html":"<div class=\"location-tooltip\">\n    <h6>Events at The Slaughtered Lamb<\/h6>\n\n    <address class=\"mb-1\">34-35 Great Sutton St, London, EC1V 0DX, United Kingdom<\/address>\n\n    <div class=\"mb-3\">\n        <a href=\"https:\/\/maps.google.com\/maps?daddr=34-35+Great+Sutton+St%2C+London%2C+EC1V+0DX%2C+United+Kingdom\" target=\"_blank\">\n            Get directions <i class=\"fa fa-external-link\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n\n    <ul class=\"lt-events\">\n        \n        <li>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/pintofscience.co.uk\/event\/the-purpose-of-life\">\n                <span class=\"lt-event-name\">The Purpose of Life<\/span>\n                <span class=\"lt-event-date\">(23 May 2016)<\/span>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/li>\n        \n        <li>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/pintofscience.co.uk\/event\/from-biggest-to-cutest-dinosaurs-vs-dogs\">\n                <span class=\"lt-event-name\">From Biggest to Cutest: Dinosaurs vs Dogs!<\/span>\n                <span class=\"lt-event-date\">(24 May 2016)<\/span>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/li>\n        \n        <li>\n            <a href=\"https:\/\/pintofscience.co.uk\/event\/the-end-of-the-earth\">\n                <span class=\"lt-event-name\">The End of the Earth<\/span>\n                <span class=\"lt-event-date\">(25 May 2016)<\/span>\n            <\/a>\n        <\/li>\n        \n    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","zoom":15,"icon":"https:\/\/pintofscience.co.uk\/assets\/Topics\/earth-map__ScaleWidthWzMwXQ.png"}]

Other London events