Do you know there is an invisible army helping us to clean up the planet? Join us at Café Science Dundee in our NEW venue – Chambers Café on South Tay Street (map) to learn about the incredible powers of tiny living organisms – microbes – and their roles in shaping our environment.

The Earth is under ever-increasing threat from pollution often created to support a massive human population. Microbes represent a more environmentally-friendly method of cleaning up pollution. They have many special abilities that allow them to treat and reduce levels of radioactive material, pesticides and industrial waste.

Professor Geoff Gadd from the University of Dundee will outline how these tiny microscopic species can be harnessed to protect the Earth’s diverse environments, as well as the recycling of materials and reclamation of polluted habitats.

If you missed this talk, then view it on our YouTube channel! Click below to watch the first part of Geoff’s talk.

When lasers were invented in 1960 they were called “a solution looking for a problem”. Since then we have seen lasers find uses in nearly every part of our lives, in supermarket barcode scanners, CD players, corrective eye surgery and many other medical and cosmetic procedures.

Most lasers emit a continuous beam of light, whereas an ultrafast laser concentrates its energy into incredibly short bursts of light, resulting in very intense pulses. This means ultrafast lasers can be used in new ways such as in the operating theatre, cutting biological tissues with extreme precision without damaging nearby tissues.

Dr Maria Ana Cataluna from the University of Dundee is a researcher in the development of a new generation of miniature ultrafast lasers and will discuss how these sophisticated lasers are pushing the boundaries in biomedical imaging and minimally-invasive diagnostics and treatments.

Maria’s talk embodied the spirit of  Cafe Science with lots of audience particiaption and a lively discussion. You can view the videos of her talk on our YouTube channel or you can view the first clip below.