Roots, Brains and Stars

Imagine being rooted to a place during a heatwave: unable to move or hide, and losing precious water with every “breath”. This is the daily reality for plants. As climates grow hotter and drier, crops face a dilemma: opening tiny pores to take in carbon dioxide for growth while risking dehydration, all while producing seeds to sustain our food supply. In this talk, I will explore the hidden chemistry of leaves and seeds, showing how scientists are precisely tweaking plant metabolism. By reprogramming how plants manage water and protect resources, we are exploring new strategies to develop crops resilient to a changing climate.

Every parent wishes their children the best possible start in life, but, what if the child’s health is influenced before birth? And, what if the diet of their mother could influence their brain development? Microglia, the brain’s own immune cells, play an important role in development by shaping other brain cells, such as neurons. In this talk I will guide you through the fascinating origins of microglia and other resident tissue-macrophages, and how they can influence transgenerational health by being shaped through the maternal environment.

Young stars are often born in pairs or groups, but many of their companions remain hidden from view. In this talk, I will show how high-precision radio observations enable us to track stellar motions with extraordinary accuracy, allowing us to directly measure stellar masses and uncover unseen companions. These results provide critical tests of our understanding of how stars form and evolve.