Biology on Tap May

Name: Biology on Tap May
Start: 2026-05-04T20:30:00+02:00
Location: Culture Café Leidse Lente

Schedule

Mon, 04 May, 2026 at 08:30 pm

UTC+02:00

Location

Culture Café Leidse Lente | Leiden, ZH

This time we’re starting 30 minutes later than usual, at 8:30 p.m., with two fascinating talks:
Lisette Mekkes – Tiny but mighty: Small planktonic snails in a rapidly changing ocean
The ocean is absorbing an increasing amount of the CO₂ we release into the atmosphere. As it does, its chemistry is changing. This “other CO₂ problem,” known as ocean acidification, can make it harder for marine organisms to build their calcium carbonate shells. One of those organisms is a mesmerizing, tiny planktonic snail: a shelled pteropod, also known as a “sea butterfly”. They may be small, but they are essential in marine food webs and play a key role in the ocean’s carbon cycle. And yet, we still don’t fully understand how their fragile shells form- or how they respond to ocean acidification. In this talk, I will take you along on my scientific journey to explore exactly that: How pteropods build their shells across natural ocean gradients and in controlled experiments, and what this reveals about how they may respond to future ocean conditions.
Yuri Robbers – Wheel Running in the Wild
We've placed running wheels in a garden adjoining a park, as well as in a nature reserve away from human interference (other than ours). The results made headlines worldwide, probably because the resulting film footage is rather adorable. But what were the results? Why is this experiment even important, and what fundamental questions does it answer?