Join us for a taste of climate science, as we chat with two local scientists about their research!
Eric Scott, Tufts University
Climate change and the quality of tea
The effects of climate change on crop yield are well studied, but it's less well understood how climate change might affect crops where quality is as important, or more important, than yield. Tea is one such crop, consumed mainly for its flavor, health benefits, and stimulating effects. These properties of tea are all impacted by climate change—both directly by how tea plants respond to changes in weather, and indirectly through changes in insect pests that can improve or worsen tea quality.
Diane Thompson, Boston University
Tropical climate change & coral reefs
El Nino events drive intense floods, droughts and temperature extremes all over the world, resulting in massive coral bleaching and mortality on reefs worldwide. Despite their importance, it is still unclear how the frequency and intensity of El Nino events will change as global climate continues to warm. I'll discuss how we can use corals to study how ocean temperatures and El Nino have changed in the past and elucidate how they might change in the future with continued warming.
Eben Cross, Aerodyne Research, Inc.
Sensors, Pollution, and Everyday Life: How to hone your inner air quality superhero skillset
Although we often take it for granted, the air we breathe has a tremendous influence on how we feel, think, move, and act within our day-to-day environments. Urban air pollution is NOT a well-mixed soup, but rather an extremely heterogeneous beast with sharp concentration gradients rapidly changing over short distances and fast timescales. Given this landscape, I'll speak about the need to develop a 6th sense to minimize your pollution exposure and how air quality sensors may help.
Event information:
- Doors open at 7:00pm, and our event kicks off at 7:30pm.
- Taste of Science pint glasses will be given away at the door on a first come first served basis while supplies last!
- In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our TOS Boston webpage, Facebook, and Twitter
- Purchase of this ticket is a non-refundable donation to Taste of Science
- If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at boston@tasteofscience.org