Lund Cultural Night at Geocentrum

As well as the lectures, there is plenty more to discover in the Geocentrum area. Among other things, you can hunt for fossils in the sand and meet the student union GNOMES. The Mensa Sweden association is organising activities such as logic puzzles, Rubik’s Cubes and board games; there will also be an opportunity to discuss intelligence and giftedness.

Read more about Mensa’s activities during Culture Night in Lund (in Swedish, MyNewsdesk.com)

The lectures take place in Geocentrum I, whilst activities are also taking place in Geocentrum II, which is located just across the road. Together, the buildings form a cohesive area at the junction of Helgonavägen and Sölvegatan in Lund.

Welcome!

13.00 Tomography – visualising the unseen (in Swedish)

How can you see inside an object without cutting it open? Tomography makes it possible to create three-dimensional images of what lies inside – from simple experiments using visible light to advanced research using X-rays and neutrons. The lecture will be given in Swedish.

Speaker: Emanuel Larsson, researcher in tomography and visualisation, Lund University.

13.30 Climate benefits of perennial crops? (in Swedish)

The current food system accounts for a significant portion of global emissions, where the cultivation of annual crops affects both soil and the environment. This lecture presents research on perennial wheat and its potential to contribute to more climate-sustainable agriculture. The lecture will be given in Swedish.

Speaker: Veronika Widengren, doctoral student, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and the Agenda 2030 Graduate School.

14.00 The light signature of nature

When photons from the Sun reach the Earth, they interact with matter. Different wavelengths are absorbed, reflected or scattered, giving rise to a rich and unique spectral signature. In this talk, we follow the journey of light from the Sun to the natural world and back to our eyes and instruments. We explore why a leaf appears green, why water changes colour, and how invisible wavelengths can reveal information about vegetation, sediments, algae, water quality, and the condition of ecosystems. This lecture is suitable for younger audiences and will be given in English.

Speaker: José Beltrán, research engineer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

14.30 Life on a bog: why should we take care of our peatlands? (in Swedish)

Wetlands dominated by sphagnum mosses are also known as mires and cover a large part of our country. If you stand on a bog in southern Sweden, you may have a layer of 10-12 meters of peat under you. The total amount of carbon bound as peat in the world is estimated to be greater than the amount of carbon stored as wood in the world's forests. I describe how a mire functions and what we should do to maintain or even better increase the ability to sequester carbon. This lecture is given in Swedish and is suitable for younger audiences.

Speaker: Nils Cronberg, senior lecturer, Department of Biology.

15.00 Can AI + citizen science identify ticks at scale?

Our tick project uses citizen-submitted reports and images to better understand where and when ticks appear in Sweden. By combining public participation with artificial intelligence, we aim to support faster detection of unusual tick species and strengthen surveillance of tick-borne disease risks. This lecture will be given in English.

Speaker: Najmeh Abiri, senior lecturer in Machine Learning, Malmö University.

15.00–16.30 Sustainability Board Game: Zero Waste Roadmap Game

Learn about sustainability through a game designed as part of an ongoing research project.

Facilitator: Jagdeep Singh, researcher, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

15.30 The physics of biology + AI against breast cancer

The physics behind microscale biology (in Swedish)

How can physics be used to understand biology at the cellular level? A quick overview from a theoretical perspective. The lecture will be given in Swedish and is suitable for younger audiences.

Speaker: Erik Clarkson, doctoral student, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Prediction of early breast cancer spread: Integrating routine clinical data and AI

We develop artificial intelligence algorithms to predict early breast cancer spread using patient data routinely available in the clinic, including mammograms and gene expression. This AI framework shows great predictive power and potential for avoiding unnecessary surgeries. This lecture will be given in English.

Speaker: Daqu Zhang, postdoctoral fellow, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

16.00 Probability gymnastics and the art of being safely uncertain (in Swedish)

Everyone is more or less uncertain about what the right answer is or what will happen in the future. In this talk, we take a playful look at how experts and decision-makers express their uncertainty. Through games, I aim to show how uncertainty is a starting point for learning something new. The audience will get to experience what it’s like to be uncertain. The talk is given in Swedish and is suitable for younger listeners.

Speaker: Ullrika Sahlin, senior lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

16.30 Aircraft design and climate forecasts – flow simulation maths (in Swedish)

The design of the Boeing 777 has been done solely on computers. The same applies to the forecast of tomorrow's weather and what global average temperature we can expect in 2100. Behind these flow simulations lies mathematics. What kind of mathematics is it? How does it relate to fluid mechanics? And how do computers come into play? The lecture will be given in Swedish and is suitable for younger audiences.

Speaker: Philipp Birken, professor, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

17.00 We love our Swedish nature – but is it really culture? (in Swedish)

The landscapes we seek for outdoor activities, relaxation, aesthetic experiences, etc., are in most cases not natural but have been influenced by human activity to varying degrees, often over very long periods. How can we gain knowledge about the processes, both natural and human, that have shaped the landscapes we have today? I illustrate this in various ways and emphasize the importance of having a long-term perspective on landscapes. The lecture will be given in Swedish.

Speaker: Mats Rundgren, senior lecturer at the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

17.30 Space rocks rock – unravelling Earth and Solar System evolution

Because geologic activity constantly renews the crust of our planet, we cannot use rocks from Earth to understand the earliest evolution of our planet, including the time when life arose. Here you will learn how geologists work with extraterrestrial material to unravel Earth's early evolution. This lecture will be given in English.

Speaker: Sanna Alwmark, associate senior lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

18.00 Remote sensing of ecosystems

By using satellite imagery, scientists track how forest species and vegetation change over time. These measurements show how ecosystems respond to climate shifts and help guide global biodiversity conservation. This lecture will be given in English.

Speaker: Abdulhakim Abdi, researcher, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

18.30 Harry Potter mathematics (in Swedish)

The three central objects towards the end of the Harry Potter books are the three Deathly Hallows. During the lecture, we will focus on the Invisibility Cloak and discuss a mathematical framework for how to model invisibility and what it might mean. This will lead us through differential equations to the still unsolved Calderón problem. The lecture is given in Swedish and is suitable for younger audiences.

Speaker: Magnus Goffeng, senior lecturer, Centre for Mathematical Sciences.

19.00 Climate, disasters, and cultural heritage; what we can learn from ancient trees (in Swedish)

Tree rings reflect the climate and environmental changes that have affected the trees during their lifespan. With time series extending thousands of years back, it is possible to study and date climate and ecosystem changes, as well as significant parts of our cultural heritage. The lecture will be given in Swedish and is suitable for younger audiences.

Speaker: Johannes Edvardsson, researcher, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

19.30 The hidden plastic legacy underground; why our grandkids will pay

Micro- and nanoplastics enter the environment and are transported into groundwater systems. Over time, they are discharged into lakes and streams that supply drinking water to the Swedish population. This talk explores how today's plastic consumption is creating a pollution legacy that future generations will inherit. This lecture is suitable for younger audiences and will be given in English.

Speaker: Sascha Müller, researcher, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

20.30 What's in the Air? Exploring Earth's modern atmosphere

We'll look at the gases that make up Earth's modern atmosphere, from the abundant to the rare, and from low to high in the atmosphere, and explore how they help maintain the hospitable conditions we enjoy today. This lecture will be given in English.

Speaker: Tim Arnold, senior lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

21.00 Thunderstorms

Thunderstorms are pivotal for the climate, for atmospheric chemistry, and for the global electric circuit. They are the most vigorous type of convective clouds, which act to mix heat and moisture throughout the depth of the troposphere. In this presentation, an introduction is given to the reasons for the vigorous dynamics of thunderstorms, involving the buoyancy force, and how this leads to intense precipitation. This lecture is suitable for younger audiences and will be given in English.

Speaker: Vaughan Phillips, senior lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

21.30 Mass extinctions!

During the time of complex life on Earth (around 540 million years), five major mass extinctions occurred with a loss of species diversity exceeding 60%. How do we know that? What happened? How fast? How long did the ecological systems need to recover? What can these answers tell us about the present loss of diversity? We will take a journey together through deep time to see how rocks and fossils can answer these questions. This lecture is suitable for younger audiences and will be given in English.

Speaker: Sylvain Richoz, senior lecturer, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

22.00 What trees remember + Computer models for recreating brain cells

What trees remember: Hidden stories of pollution and volcanic eruptions through time

Trees record far more than their age. Hidden within their annual rings are chemical traces of the changing environments in which they grew, from industrial pollution in recent centuries to the aftermath of major volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago. This talk takes you on a journey through the science of dendrochemistry, revealing how researchers use tree rings to uncover the stories that trees have preserved over time. This lecture will be given in English.

Speaker: Maria Karamihalaki, doctoral student, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.

Computer models for recreating brain cells (in Swedish)

Brain cells can be grown in the laboratory, but they must become the right kind of brain cells to be used in healthcare. To produce specific brain cells, we study – using computer simulations – what effect different genes have and how they should be manipulated for the desired outcome. The lecture will be given in Swedish.

Speaker: Alexander Degener, doctoral student, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.