http://talks.cam.ac.uk/show/rss/5408

Abstract not available

• Speaker: Professor Stephen Thomas, University of Edinburgh
• Monday 13 May 2024, 16:00-17:00
• Venue: Dept. of Chemistry, Wolfson Lecture Theatre.
• Series: Synthetic Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Dr. Robert J. Phipps.

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In this talk, I explore the ethical dimensions of using brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), focusing on the critical role of mental actions—such as intention formation and imagination—as prerequisites for BCI -mediated overt actions. Considering the recent case of Neuralink’s first brain implant patient, I present a novel problem – the contemplation conundrum – in brain-computer interface tool use. This issue revolves around how BCIs interpret and overtly act upon mental actions, which poses significant ethical challenges concerning implementational control, agency, and an erosion of privacy of thought. As these technologies edge towards commercialization, the plausibility of unintentional overt actions through BCI usage amplifies these concerns. To address these issues, I propose an expanded research agenda aimed at understanding the neural correlates of intention formation and imagination, which is crucial for developing neurotechnology that is both safe and ethically aligned.

• Speaker: Dvija Mehta, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
• Tuesday 07 May 2024, 13:10-14:00
• Venue: 1 Newnham Terrace, Darwin College.
• Series: Darwin College Humanities and Social Sciences Seminars; organiser: Janet Gibson.

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The ecosystem of cryptocurrencies has grown and changed significantly since Bitcoin’s inception in 2008. This expansion, however, has opened opportunities for cybercriminals, leading to an increase in cryptocurrency-related scams. Although extensive research has been carried out in relation to this type of scam, there is limited research that analyses the textual content from online forums and social media to identify cryptocurrency investment scams at scale in an automated manner. This talk presents applications of machine learning models to detect cryptocurrency investment scams through the analysis of textual conversations, offering insights into the evolution of scam luring tactics and the monetary impact these fraudulent schemes have in society.

RECORDING : Please note, this event will be recorded and will be available after the event for an indeterminate period under a CC BY -NC-ND license. Audience members should bear this in mind before joining the webinar or asking questions.

NOTE : Please do not post URLs for the talk, and especially Zoom links to Twitter because automated systems will pick them up and disrupt our meeting.

• Speaker: Jose Gilberto Atondo Siu (University of Cambridge)
• Tuesday 07 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: Zoom webinar - link to follow.
• Series: Computer Laboratory Security Seminar; organiser: Hridoy Sankar Dutta.

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In this talk I will present work that I have done on aerosols and clouds in UKCA -based models: the UK Earth System climate model and the regional high resolution UKCA model. The work spans a large range of time and spatial scales ranging from historical climate modelling of the 1850-2014 period to a case study of volcanic event at 4km resolution.

In the historical study we determined what caused the long-term trends in the upwelling short-wave (SW) top-of-the-atmosphere (TOA) fluxes over the North Atlantic region. The UKESM showed a positive trend between 1850 and 1970 (increasing SW reflection) and a negative trend between 1970 and 2014. We found that the 1850–1970 positive trend is mainly driven by an increase in cloud droplet number concentration due to increases in aerosol, while the 1970–2014 trend was mainly driven by a decrease in cloud fraction, which we attributed mainly to cloud feedbacks caused by greenhouse gas-induced warming.

In the high resolution modelling work we use an eruption of sulphur dioxide from the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii as a natural laboratory to evaluate aerosol-cloud interaction processes against satellite observations. The model produces an increase in aerosol optical depth due to the volcano that is too large compared to observations, but the increase in cloud droplet number concentration compares well. The cloud liquid water path (a measure of cloud thickness) and cloud fraction responses are in the opposite direction what is observed, although with a large observational uncertainty. This suggests some issues with the model, but also underscores the difficulty in observing aerosol-cloud interactions.

I’m now working in the UKESM development team at the Met Office. Therefore I will also look forwards towards the next iterations of the UKESM model with respect to aerosols and clouds, where we hope to bring together the things learnt from the research across various time and spatial scales that has been performed by scientists across the UK.

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• Speaker: Daniel Grosvenor, Institute for Climate and Atmospheric Science (ICAS), University of Leeds,
• Tuesday 04 June 2024, 11:30-12:30
• Venue: Chemistry Dept, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Zoom.
• Series: Centre for Atmospheric Science seminars, Chemistry Dept.; organiser: Vichawan (Print) Sakulsupich.

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The ecosystem of cryptocurrencies has grown and changed significantly since Bitcoin’s inception in 2008. This expansion, however, has opened opportunities for cybercriminals, leading to an increase in cryptocurrency-related scams. Although extensive research has been carried out in relation to this type of scam, there is limited research that analyses the textual content from online forums and social media to identify cryptocurrency investment scams at scale in an automated manner. This talk presents applications of machine learning models to detect cryptocurrency investment scams through the analysis of textual conversations, offering insights into the evolution of scam luring tactics and the monetary impact these fraudulent schemes have in society.

• Speaker: Jose Gilberto Atondo Siu (University of Cambridge)
• Tuesday 07 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: Zoom webinar - link to follow.
• Series: Computer Laboratory Security Seminar; organiser: Hridoy Sankar Dutta.

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Why do we grow the wrong trees in the wrong places? This paper investigates this through the REDD + initiatives under the UNFCCC that advocated for planting trees in developing countries to cool down our global temperature. The intuition behind this initiative, that growing trees in the tropics are good for fighting climate change, was naturalized by mainstream climate science in the Global North. Yet, as biologists point out, trees especially in the tropics emit gases known as BVO Cs that can further exacerbate global warming. In other words, planting an enormous number of inappropriate species of trees in the tropics can even hurt rather than help the earth. This is surprising: why, given the espoused scientific commitment to pluralism as well as the interdisciplinary and global nature of climate change, are some scientific perspectives, especially biologists from the Global South, not well integrated into mainstream climate science? I show that rendering the climate as a singular legible entity from a god’s eye view also erects structural barriers to more heterogenous scientific studies of local ecologies from being integrated. Moreover, because models of the climate are based on environmental assumptions and tools of the Global North, they struggle to incorporate knowledge where these assumptions do not hold – especially in the Global South, where trees are more likely to emit gases that can exacerbate climate change – leading to international policies that ironically harms, rather than helps, the planet. I illustrate these challenges to integrating knowledge on BVO Cs into mainstream climate models based on 48 interviews with climate scientists in both the Global North and Global South, as well as fieldwork based in climate science labs in the U.S. and Thailand.

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Topic: CAS Seminar: Jittip Mongkolnchaiarunya Time: May 21, 2024 03:00 PM London

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88161587298?pwd=U0I2ejRHTXROQmhiNHo2OTF6NE1kZz09

Meeting ID: 881 6158 7298 Passcode: 174484

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• Speaker: Jittip Mongkolnchaiarunya, The George Washington University
• Tuesday 21 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: Chemistry Dept, Unilever Lecture Theatre and Zoom.
• Series: Centre for Atmospheric Science seminars, Chemistry Dept.; organiser: Vichawan (Print) Sakulsupich.

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Electronic components that bridge the biotic-abiotic interface will have vast implications for both studying and harnessing the activity of living cells. While much ongoing research focuses on applying traditional rigid electronics to biology, an alternative is to discover bioelectronic solutions that life itself evolved to interact with the abiotic world. Towards realizing this vision, recent studies at the interface of microbiology, electrochemistry, and physics have uncovered metalloprotein electron conduits and nanowires that electronically link bacteria to extracellular surfaces ranging from environmental minerals to solid-state electrodes. Since this extracellular electron transport naturally evolved to interact with external surfaces, a fundamental understanding has special implications for new bioelectrochemical technologies and living electronics that harness the advantages of microbes in detecting external signals or hosting synthetic genetic circuits.

We will describe our recent progress in understanding extracellular and intercellular electron transport at multiple length scales, from the biophysics of individual multiheme cytochromes to the electrophysiology of whole bacteria and multicellular communities ranging from biofilms to cable bacteria. Using electrochemistry, single molecule tracking, stochastic simulations of cell surface multiheme cytochromes, and lithographic patterning of electrode attached biofilms, we describe how the interplay of cytochrome dynamics and electron hopping can give rise to long-distance electron conduction along bacterial membrane surfaces. In addition, we describe strategies to characterize and harness the electrochemical activity, spin filtering, and conduction properties of bacterial electron conduits in both synthetic structures and living biofilms.

This talk will be highly interdisciplinary and aimed at a broad audience (chemistry, biochemistry, biophysics, and microbiology).

There are limited slots available for meeting & chatting with the presenter, there is also the opportunity to meet over lunch or dinner. Please email ASAP j.zhang.group.admin@ch.cam.ac.uk (Alexandra Campbell) with your contact details and preferred option if you would like to take up this opportunity. Postgraduates, PDR As and PIs are all welcome to take up this offer.

• Speaker: Professor Moh El-Naggar, Departments of Physics, Biological Sciences, and Chemistry, University of Southern California, USA
• Monday 13 May 2024, 14:30-15:30
• Venue: Dept. of Chemistry, Pfizer Lecture Theater.
• Series: Materials Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Sharon Connor.

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Deep learning has resulted in remarkable breakthroughs in fields such as speech recognition, computer vision, natural language processing, and protein structure prediction. Robotics has proved to be much more challenging as there are no pre-existing repositories of behavior to draw upon; rather the robot has to learn from its own trial and error in its own specific body, and it has to generalize and adapt. I believe that the most promising approach for this is to train robot skills in simulation and then transfer them to the real world. I will show multiple examples of skills – legged locomotion (quadruped and humanoid), navigation, and dexterous manipulation such as in-hand rotation and twisting caps off bottles – acquired in this paradigm. Along the way, we developed “Rapid Motor Adaptation”, a method for adaptive control in the framework of deep reinforcement learning. Looking to the future, I believe that there are multiple insights from the development of motor skills in children that are relevant to robotics; I will sketch some examples and partial results. While we are many years away from having robots with the skills of a five year old, progress in the last few years has been remarkable and substantial.

• Speaker: Professor Jitendra Malik, Berkeley
• Tuesday 07 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: Department of Engineering - LR4.
• Series: Information Engineering Distinguished Lecture Series; organiser: Kimberly Cole.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Dvija Mehta, Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence
• Tuesday 07 May 2024, 13:10-14:00
• Venue: 1 Newnham Terrace, Darwin College.
• Series: Darwin College Humanities and Social Sciences Seminars; organiser: Janet Gibson.

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The machine learning tool box has revolutionized our ability to design novel molecular entities (e.g. proteins) well beyond what the natural repertoire has explored. Despite the incredible advances, the de novo generation of functional molecules in biological concepts remains an incredible challenge.

In this talk I will present some of the efforts in our group in designing both proteins and small molecules. Particularly emphasizing different modalities of molecular representation and the interplay with generative ML to facilitate the exploration of unimaginably large spaces of possibilities. Importantly, many ML-based approaches for molecular design fall short in terms of generalization and sampling off the learned distribution, I will present some ideas on how representation can help to overcome some of these limitations.

Finally, I will present some of the approaches developed in our group to embed function into the designer proteins and how we are suing these components in cellular systems to control the output of these complex biological devices.

Link to join virtually: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/81322468305

This talk is being recorded.

• Speaker: Professor Bruno Correia - Laboratory of Protein Design and Immunoengineering, EPFL Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne.
• Wednesday 01 May 2024, 15:05-15:55
• Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, Computer Laboratory, William Gates Building.
• Series: Wednesday Seminars - Department of Computer Science and Technology ; organiser: Ben Karniely.

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Using in vitro models to study human brain evolution and disease. The human brain is amazingly complex, and it’s this complexity that enables our remarkable cognitive power but also makes us susceptible to a range of neurological and mental health conditions. How this complexity arises specifically in humans is one of the most important questions in biology. Because it is a question that can’t be answered in standard animal models, we need a human model. We are exploring this by using stem cell derived models called organoids, small tissues that self-organise and build themselves in a petri dish. By making organoids that mimic the early stages of brain development, we can compare these tissues made from human cells with those made from our closest living relatives, the other great apes, to discover what sets us apart. We have discovered that the cells that produce neurons develop more slowly in human, and that this delay enables them to expand more before making neurons, and thus enables greater neuron number production in the end, hence a larger more complex brain. We are now exploring how this happens, and what goes wrong in disorders like autism and schizophrenia. By using a human model, we are finally revealing the key processes that set us apart as a species.

Open to all. More details, and a link for booking, here

• Speaker: Dr. Madeline Lancaster, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
• Monday 13 May 2024, 19:30-21:00
• Venue: Location: Wolfson Lecture Theatre, Churchill College, and Zoom.
• Series: Cambridge Society for the Application of Research (CSAR); organiser: John Cook.

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For a long time, olfaction – the sense of smell – has been overlooked in research, mainly due to the difficulties of analysing odours… a volatile and changing set of molecules whose perception is often subjective. However, with growing interest in this sense over the last 50 years (and even more so after the covid crisis) we now have some understanding of the biological processes involved in olfaction. Today, the discovery of one biological phenomenon in particular is driving the olfactory community: regeneration. Unlike other parts of the brain, the olfactory system sees continuous generation of new neurons throughout life. The role of these neurons is still not fully understood and is the subject of research in our laboratory.

• Speaker: Chloe Guillaume
• Thursday 09 May 2024, 13:10-14:00
• Venue: Richard King room, Darwin College.
• Series: Darwin College Science Seminars; organiser: Dr Tamsin Samuels.

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This talk will give an overview of how and why risk perception and communication are important by sharing collaborative work, discussing some of the UK systems and Behavioural and Social Science policy advice.

• Speaker: Brooke Rogers (King's College London)
• Wednesday 01 May 2024, 15:00-16:00
• Venue: Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Department of Psychology, Downing Site, Cambridge.
• Series: Social Psychology Seminar Series (SPSS); organiser: Yara Kyrychenko.

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This Cambridge Immunology and Medicine Seminar will take place on Friday 10 May 2024, starting at 1:00 pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)

Speaker: Professor Simon Davis, MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Oxford

Host: Clare Bryant, Professor of Innate Immunity, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge.

For anyone who can’t attend in person, please join the Cambridge Immunology and Medicine Seminar on Zoom:

Join Zoom Meeting: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/89741634903?pwd=dzcxbU45NjAwQXo1dmlNMjR3V0lUUT09

Meeting ID: 897 4163 4903 Passcode: 539740

Refreshments will be available following the Seminar.

• Speaker: Professor Simon Davis, MRC Translational Immune Discovery Unit, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Oxford
• Friday 10 May 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre, Cambridge Biomedical Campus.
• Series: Immunology and Medicine Seminars; organiser: Ruth Paton.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Dr Thomas Swinburne, Centre Interdisciplinaire de Nanoscience de Marseille, CNRS
• Wednesday 23 October 2024, 14:30-15:30
• Venue: Unilever Lecture Theatre, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry.
• Series: Theory - Chemistry Research Interest Group; organiser: Lisa Masters.

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The development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the most important public health challenges and has highlighted the critical role that clinical microbiology laboratories play in driving antimicrobial stewardship. Despite the recognition of its importance, there are several areas of improvement which need to be addressed in this field, starting with the need for standardized training of clinical microbiologists and harmonization of diagnostic procedures across veterinary microbiology diagnostic laboratories. Bacterial culture, identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (C&ID and AST ) are key tools for antimicrobial therapy guidance and the lack of specific guidelines for processing companion animal clinical specimens for microbiology testing is a serious challenge to the veterinary profession. Similarly, the lack of guidelines or programmes for AMR surveillance in companion animals and the use of multiple standards is a major limitation when comparing susceptibility data between laboratories or countries. Both aspects have multiple implications for the diagnosis and management of infections, and impact overall on antimicrobial stewardship. Furthermore, surveillance in veterinary hospitals of healthcare associated infections (HCAIs) associated with multidrug resistant (MDR) bacteria is less well-established than in human hospitals and needs further development. Our infection control studies at the University of Liverpool should generate sufficient veterinary-specific data to enable the development of evidence-based infection control policies to help prevent veterinary HCA Is. In addition, teaching veterinary students about infection control and how to interpret microbiology results, are key steps towards safeguarding antibiotics for the future. In this talk, I will cover the developments which we implemented at Liverpool to address these challenges. In addition, I will include findings from two European-wide projects addressing these issues and how we now plan to take real steps towards developing a united approach in supporting both diagnosticians and clinicians.

Dorina is Professor of Veterinary Clinical Microbiology at the University of Liverpool and has a long-standing career in this field. Originally from Romania, where she took her DVM and PhD at Iasi Veterinary School, Dorina moved to the UK in 2004 and since 2009, has been leading the Veterinary Microbiology Diagnostic Laboratory at Liverpool School of Veterinary Science and chair of the Biosecurity and Infection Control Committee at the Liverpool School of Veterinary Science. Dorina is RCVS Specialist in Veterinary Microbiology and Diplomat of the European College of Veterinary Microbiology (ECVM); she established the first ECVM Residency training programme at Liverpool and is currently the ECVM vice-president. Dorina is involved in several initiatives focusing on the development of veterinary clinical microbiology and raising the profile of the diagnostic laboratory role in antimicrobial stewardship. She participates in various clinical microbiology training events and is developing harmonised laboratory methodologies for surveillance of AMR in companion animals. Dorina`s research focuses on characterisation of antimicrobial resistance mechanisms in companion and farm animals, as well as the genomic epidemiology of interspecies transmission of multidrug resistant bacteria between humans, animals and the environment. She also has a particular research interest in the epidemiology of healthcare associated infections in human and veterinary hospitals.

Chaired by Cassia Hare

• Speaker: Dorina Timofte, University of Liverpool
• Wednesday 05 June 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: LT2.
• Series: Departmental Seminar Programme, Department of Veterinary Medicine; organiser: Fiona Roby.

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Shi-Wei Jian

Theo Lewy

Balazs Nemeth

John Severn

Anand Srinivasan

Jago Strong-Wright

Marco Vona

Airat Kamaletdinov

• Speaker: Speakers listed in abstract
• Friday 17 May 2024, 14:00-17:00
• Venue: MR2.
• Series: Fluid Mechanics (DAMTP); organiser: Professor Grae Worster.

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Abstract not available

• Speaker: Rachael Elward (London South Bank University)
• Thursday 09 May 2024, 14:00-15:00
• Venue: MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge - Lecture Theatre.
• Series: Chaucer Club; organiser: Vicky Collins.

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Assuming a Killing horizon background, we generalise the linear null Raychaudhuri equation to higher curvature gravity with spin s ≥ 2 bosonic fields, and we attempt to extract the black hole entropy from the Raychaudhuri equation at the linear order of dynamical perturbation. Unlike pure gravity, scalar fields, and vector fields, we show that an additional “integrability condition” must be satisfied by the higher spin theory/field in order to extract a “sensible” entropy formula. We test this condition in several examples and speculate about its role for higher spin theories.

• Speaker: Zihan Yan, DAMTP, University of Cambridge
• Friday 03 May 2024, 13:00-14:00
• Venue: Potter room/Zoom.
• Series: DAMTP Friday GR Seminar; organiser: Xi Tong.

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Mean Field Theory is an approximation technique from statistical physics that has recently been applied to understanding the phenomenological behaviour of neural networks. This talk will cover some background of mean field theory and two areas where it has been applied to understand and improve neural networks.

Zoom link available upon request (it is sent out on our mailing list, eng-mlg-rcc [at] lists.cam.ac.uk). Sign up to our mailing list for easier reminders via lists.cam.ac.uk

• Speaker: Adrian Goldwaser, University of Cambridge
• Wednesday 01 May 2024, 11:00-12:30
• Venue: Cambridge University Engineering Department, CBL Seminar room BE4-38..
• Series: Machine Learning Reading Group @ CUED; organiser: .

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