Pune Science on Tap

Last weekend at we went to the moon and the sun. This fantastic session taught us about how and why we are investing time and money to go study these celestial objects that have enthralled humans since forever.

Topic: Science of Consciousness
Human consciousness remains one of the deepest mysteries of science. Current theories originate from diverse sources such as neuroscience, philosophy, spirituality and mathematics, yet we remain far from any conclusive truth. We all have common tools to experience the world, yet personal consciousness which is quite prevalent in the natural world is not a pre-requisite for life, so why did we evolve to our current state of consciousness which has helped us civilise and "rule" the world. How does it shape our personal experiences and how do animal experiences differ from our own?

During this talk Dr. Siddharth Singh will explain how we construct our worlds around us using our senses and our thoughts. Why despite many impairments in our senses by disease or ageing, our perceived world remains complete as a whole. How can we understand different types of intelligence and the difference between intelligence and consciousness. In the near future AI machines will become more intelligent than us but will they ever have something close to human sentience? And finally we will explore whether the evolution of human consciousness is the worst thing to happen to planet Earth?

About the speaker: Dr. Siddharth Singh is currently working as a Neurologist at Sahyadri Hospital in Pune. He has done a Fellowship in Stroke Medicine after completing his Neurology studies. Including research on Psychiatric manifestations in Parkinson's disease, Delirium in ICU and seizures in the elderly. He has given multiple talks in India and Ho Chi Minh City as a Melvin Yahr young scholar travel grant awardee. His personal interests include literature and sports, especially their interactions with neuroscience!

Tickets link in the Bio.

Today we learnt that mushrooms are magical, in more than one ways. Thanks to and for such a wonderful informative session!

Lets start the new year with some slimey science.

Title: Science of Shells and Slimes

Have you ever gone rock pooling, jumping across pools of waters looking for shells? You must have come across many creatures known as molluscs. Examples include the tiny snails to the famous conch, which is still used in temples. But did you know, there are plenty of these creatures which are non-marine too. This talk will explore molluscs which have a large diversity and but are not well known and even less appreciated. Aravind will try explain why we need to study and conserve these 'less charismatic' species of animals.

About the speaker : Speaker: Aravind Madhyastha

Aravind Madhyastha is a Senior fellow and convener of Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation at ATREE, Bangalore. He aims to understand diversity, systematics, evolution and conservation of non-marine mollusks and amphibians. He also uses citizen science to communicate and analyze the biodiversity data for conservation.

Date: Sunday 8th January 2023
Location: Great State Dive

Tickets link in bio