Darwin College Lecture Series, University of Cambridge

Conny Aerts explains how stellar oscillations measured by space telescopes reveal otherwise inaccessible interiors. Asteroseismology probes physical conditions and chemical composition, allowing more precise estimates of stellar sizes, masses and ages. The lecture connects these measurements to rapidly rotating stars that may end in supernovae and produce gravitational waves. It also examines how stellar seismology supports reconstruction of the Milky Way’s history and the characterisation of exoplanets.

Hans Slabbekoorn examines animal acoustic communication, from birdsong to low-frequency whale calls. Songs and other signals support courtship and conflict, while the acoustic properties of habitats shape their evolution. Expanding human noise in terrestrial and aquatic environments is changing the conditions under which these signals function. The lecture considers this acoustic environmental change and the attention needed to preserve animal communication, alongside implications for human physical and mental health.

Shannon Vallor examines how code both conceals things of value and provides access to them, using that dual role to investigate what computing hides or reveals about humanity. The lecture challenges the values and purposes embedded in contemporary algorithmic automation. It asks how those aims could be reshaped to support humane futures, bringing philosophical analysis to the design and use of computational systems.

Keolu Fox connects Polynesian wayfinding, evolutionary thought and genomic research through Indigenous Futurism. Genomes of descendants of Pacific navigators can illuminate migration histories and contemporary health challenges, while genetic data can support land reclamation, public health and cultural preservation. The lecture examines community-led research, benefit sharing and Indigenous decision-making as alternatives to extractive genomic practices. Fox also considers mobile genomic technologies that could bring research to remote communities, with applications in conservation genetics and healthcare. The central question is how scientific and technological advances can strengthen Indigenous agency while linking knowledge of the past to future resilience.

Anne Ferguson-Smith examines the layer of epigenetic information that influences how the DNA sequence is used. Research on this layer has changed understanding of genome function, responses to the environment and possible inheritance beyond DNA sequence alone. The lecture considers how epigenetics affects genes and contributes to modern medicine, while asking which widely held claims are supported by evidence and which deserve renewed scrutiny.

Tom Crawford explores how mathematical models turn questions about the world into equations that can be investigated. Examples range from relativity and infectious-disease modelling to his research on the spread of pollution in the ocean. The lecture also applies modelling to video games, sport and partner selection, illustrating how the same mathematical tools can clarify problems across very different settings.

Nick Lane traces how a metabolic cycle that converts gases into organic molecules and back can connect major transitions in the history of life. The lecture links this chemistry to the origin of life, photosynthesis and the emergence of animals, and considers its connections with cancer and the emergence of consciousness.

Didier Queloz traces the transformation of planetary science following the 1995 discovery, with Michel Mayor, of a giant planet orbiting another star. Thousands of subsequent discoveries have revealed planets ranging from gas giants to smaller rocky bodies, stimulated new instruments and changed theories of planetary formation and evolution. The diversity of exoplanet systems challenges assumptions drawn from the Solar System and raises questions about how common systems like ours are. The lecture also considers the possibility of searching planetary atmospheres for evidence of life.

Matthew Cobb uses the history of heredity to question the idea that scientific revolutions are instantly recognisable. The lecture follows changing ideas about inheritance, Mendel’s experiments and their rediscovery, evidence for DNA’s genetic role, the double helix and genetic engineering. Even major discoveries did not immediately settle contemporary debates: protein-based accounts of inheritance persisted after 1953, and evidence for DNA’s role in multicellular organisms developed later. These examples show how retrospective accounts can compress gradual changes into apparently decisive moments.

Harry Bhadeshia examines how atomic arrangements in metals change under deformation, magnetic or electric fields, heating, cooling and extreme events. These transformations can damage a material or create useful properties. Understanding the mechanism is therefore central to designing metallic materials. The lecture contrasts coordinated atomic motion, which can visibly alter shape and strengthen or toughen a metal, with disordered motion and mixtures of both behaviours when atoms differ in size. It explains how researchers isolate and study these processes and use that knowledge to design materials with controlled properties.

Arik Kershenbaum examines what the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is actually seeking. Finding microbial life would be significant, but the desire for communication with another civilisation raises different questions. Human language already separates us from other intelligent animals on Earth, despite our ability to exchange some signals with them. The lecture compares those barriers with the challenge of recognising and understanding an alien civilisation, asking whether research on animal communication offers reasons for optimism about contact beyond Earth.

Philip Jones traces the development of optical tweezers from early ideas about light exerting force on matter. The lecture follows Kepler’s observations of comet tails, Maxwell’s account of radiation pressure and Ashkin’s trapping experiments. It then examines how a focused light field can isolate and manipulate individual microscopic particles. Applications extend beyond the biological work recognised by the 2018 Nobel Prize to chemical and physical research, where gentle manipulation and isolation from surrounding material provide distinctive experimental tools.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb examines distributions whose behaviour is dominated by extremes and tail events. He classifies these distributions and identifies circumstances in which familiar statistical tools become unreliable, including slow or problematic convergence of sample averages under the law of large numbers. The lecture questions the robustness of commonly used statistical procedures in fat-tailed settings, the reliability of frequency-based forecasting, and the use of past averages as guides to future outcomes. Taleb then develops implications for decision-making and the changes in method needed when extreme observations have disproportionate influence.