Playing Dead! How Carrion Flower Tomfoolery Gets Them Pollinated

Join us at Walk-On's on Burbank!

Plants have evolved ingenious and highly specialized strategies to achieve pollination, the process by which pollen is transferred to a flower’s female reproductive organs. These methods often involved deep coevolution with specific pollinators, using rewards, mimicry, or even trickery to ensure successful reproduction. Join us for Science Café to learn about the bizarre world of carrion or corpse flowers, which use chemical trickery to achieve pollination by emitting the smell of death to attract insects.

About the Speaker

Dr. Rabi Musah is a Distinguished Professor of Chemistry at LSU and holder of the Patrick F. Taylor Chair in Environmental Chemistry. Her research and laboratory are focused on plant and animal chemical communication, environmental forensics, the environmental impact of terrestrial plant-derived and anthropogenic volatile chemical emissions, wildlife forensics to address illegal trafficking of endangered species, the development of new approaches to forensic entomology, the investigation of plant chemical defense mechanisms, and the development of disease diagnosis tools through analysis of non-traditional biological matrices. She has been featured on the PBS science documentary series NOVA, and her work, particularly on unusual plant behaviors and new analytical approaches to forensics, has been highlighted in Scientific American, The New Scientist (UK), Forensic Magazine, Chemical and Engineering News, Mental Floss, Science, numerous Times Union stories, and The Mirror (UK).

LSU Science Café is presented in partnership with Campus Federal Credit Union and WRKF.

Registration & Attendance Information

The event is open to the public, and advance registration through Eventbrite is recommended.

LSU Science Café is in-person only (i.e., no live feed) but it will be recorded, and posted on our YouTube channel.

Please print your registration ticket or have it readily available on your electronic device upon arrival.

Doors open at 5:00 PM. Event begins at 6:00 PM.

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Host or Publisher LSU Office of Research & Economic Development