The Why Waite program offers a range of fun and educational hands-on activities around plants and agriculture for school groups. Bianca and the Why Waite team welcome Waite students and researchers to get involved and help out with the program. Some of the activities they have coming up in the next couple of months are:
- May 17 and 18. As an extension of World Plant Fascination Day– Why Waite will have school groups coming on campus for tours and activities. Feel free to join in and get your hands dirty. $5 will get you all the pieces you need to build one of our famous succulent jars.
- May 20: Why Waite are hosting two free public lectures for the Dream Big Festival in the Napier Bldg on North Terrace.
Lecture 1: 10am – 11am. ‘DNA – Definition of Life’, Presented by Bianca Kyriacou. Researchers at Waite study the transport of water and nutrients across plant membranes and investigate how we can improve the stress tolerance and nutrient management of plants, among so much more. We study whole plants, plant cells and individual genes and proteins. By improving the efficiency of plant membrane transport processes we are working towards increasing the yield of crop plants without increasing the inputs required. How do you we do that without understanding all the genes? Hang on, what even is a ‘gene’? What is DNA anyway? Come and find out. Not only will we tell you- we’ll show you!Lecture 2: 12 noon – 1pm. ‘Aroma Sensory : What’s in my drink?’, Presented by Bianca Kyriacou. How do we define flavour and aroma? What makes some things we eat delicious and others, well, yucky? Get your taste buds and nose warmed up as you learn how to tell the differences in a world of food and drink sensory.
If you think you might like to be involved in any of these activities, it’s not too late. Please email Bianca.kyriacou@adelaide.edu.au for information.
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