Nature’s Colours
Time and Place:
Thursday 1st May
7.15 pm for a 7.30 pm start
UTAS Sandy Bay Campus in the Law Building Seminar Room (Room 132)
About
One of Justins aims as a research neuroscientist and marine biologist is to understand how other animals perceive their environment. As arrogant humans we tend to assume we are the pinnacle of evolution, however, certainly in sensory terms this is far from true. By taking an approach to vision and the colours of nature based around what is called visual ecology Justin hopes to decode the ‘language’ of colour.
The mantis shrimp (stomatopod crustacean to be more scientific and long-wordy) is a stand-out critter in Justins research after he discovered it has 4 times as many colour photoreceptors (cone equivalents) in its eyes than the comparatively colour-blind human eye and also sees a form of light (polarized light) that we cannot visualize at all. The optical design of its visual system is the rich source of bio-inspired design mentioned above. Mantis shrimps are often found on coral reefs, a rapidly disappearing habitat.
Professor Justin Marshall from the University of Queensland has recently published a brilliant book, “The Colour of Nature”, looking into this topic.
Registration for non-membersNon-members are welcome. If you think that the club is a good fit for you and you would like to regularly attend events then we ask you sign up as a member (https://tasfieldnats.org.au/member)
Venue
We use the rear entrance to the building and access is easy – from the corner of Grosvenor St and Alexander St (see red star and arrows on map) walk down the laneway on the northern side of the Law Building and enter via the sliding doors at the back of the building. There should be plenty of parking available close by along Grosvenor St just past View St or on Dobson Road which is one-way down (see green squares). Sometimes sports practice is taking a lot of the parking along Grosvenor Crescent by the oval. Bring a torch if you are worried about the footpaths.
On entry into the lower foyer please enter your name and phone number on the meeting attendance sheet. Access will be from 7.15pm.
Hope to see you there!
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we study natural history.