Science Spotlights: Secret Conversations on the Seafloor & Born in a Crisis

Name: Science Spotlights: Secret Conversations on the Seafloor & Born in a Crisis
Start: 2026-04-04T14:00:00-04:00
End: 2026-04-04T15:30:00-04:00
Location: Harvard Museum of Natural History

Schedule

Sat Apr 04 2026 at 02:00 pm to 03:30 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Harvard Museum of Natural History | Cambridge, MA

Meet up-and-coming scientists and learn about questions at the forefront of research today in this series of short talks. Regular museum admission rates apply.
https://tinyurl.com/April26SciSpotlights
2:00–2:30 pm – Secret Conversations on the Seafloor
Speaker: Rebecka Sepela, Postdoctoral Fellow, Harvard Department of Cellular and Molecular Biology, Bellono Lab
Invisible microbes cover every surface on Earth, sending chemical messages that shape animal behavior, health, and disease. But which messages matter, and how do animals sense and respond to them? Through her research with octopuses, Harvard scientist Dr. Rebecka Sepela detects, deciphers, and listens in on the secret conversations of the seafloor, revealing how microbes influence octopus behavior. Join her to learn about a hidden language that connects life in surprising ways.
3:00–3:30 pm – Born in a Crisis
Speaker: Silvio Mirabal Torres, Graduate Student, Harvard Department of Human Evolutionary Biology, Kuzawa Lab
We know that the choices we make during our lifetime can affect our overall health and well being. But what if our story begins even earlier? What if experiences from before we were born—and even those of our parents and grandparents—can shape how our bodies grow and respond to the world? How can factors such as early-life stress and improper nutrition be passed down through generations and what roles do these factors play in our development? Join Harvard scientist, Silvio Mirabal Torres, as he explores big questions about how historical crises can impact health and resilience in people raised through them as well as those who have yet to be born.