2016 Sydney Science Festival lunchtime science talks

Royal Society of New South Wales Sydney Science Festival lunchtime talks

More details about the Festival are to be found at: https://sydneyscience.com.au/

Venue: The University of Sydney Business School CBD Campus, Level 17, Stockland Building, 133 Castlereagh St.

Talk 1 “Complex Systems and Swarm Intelligence”

Professor Mikhail Prokopenko

University of Sydney

Date: Friday 12 August 12.30 – 1.30pm:

Mikhail started by distinguishing complicated from complex systems, the latter being self-organising and having emergent properties.  They are also not subject to any central control or design.  Their behaviour depends on how the actors involved interact.  These rules can be quite simple yet produce suprising patterns like the dynamic schooling behaviour of fish or the building of a termite nest. Mikhail explained how the flow of influence or information within such a system takes place, how it relates to artificial intelligence and how these insights have beeb used by his team to win the 2016 World RoboCup - a simulated football game. 

Talk 2: “The Royal Botanic Gardens 200^th Birthday”

Dr Brett Summerell

Royal Botanic Gardens

Date: Tuesday 16 August 12.30-1.30pm

Brett described the beginnings of the Gardens and how the site has changed over the years. We learned about the way the science agenda has developed over time, the nature of the valuable collections they have, and the important research they are and have been involved in. 

Talk 3" “Courts, Criminals and Chemistry: Forensic Science in NSW”

Professor Brynn Hibbert

President of the Royal Society of NSW and Emeritus Professor, University of NSW

Wednesday 17 August 12.30 to 1.30pm

Brynn explained the role of the expert in court proceedings and how they work for the court rather than either side, even though they are hired by one side. He explained how forensic science developed and some of the important contributors. Lastly, he used examples from his many times as an expert witness to show the problems of communicating scientfic results in a way that can understood and used by the court. 

Talk 4 “Community-driven Internet of Things: the new revolution?”

Professor Pascal Perez

University of Wollongong

Thursday 18^th August 12.30-1.30pm

Pascal explained how the Internet of Things(IoT) is misrepresented because the focus is on the things and ignores the people involved. He gave many examples of the way the IoT is pervasive and changing our lives.  He also discussed both the benefits and dangers arising such as social inequities (financial and knowledge), privacy, "uberveilannce" and security breaches.  For example, how a big solar flare could have devasting effects. He provided a detailed example of a recent project in which crowd sourced information from mobile phones and Twitter feeds has changed the way Djakarta can know about and deal with flooding disasters. Lastly, he told us about a new type of disruptive technology, low power long range (LoRa) communication, that is already present in Australia.