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Math Professor Fixes Projector Screen (April Fools Prank)

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Math Professor Pranks Business Conference in Jordan

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An online session that motivated me was on software requirements. We had studied the content beforehand, as the lecturer had already shared the materials. The online class was mainly for discussion and to clarify doubts. She explained some key points differently and brought in practical application examples.

What made the class interesting was that it wasn’t just someone reading slides—it was someone actively explaining concepts and opening up space for discussion. This interactive approach made the sessions engaging and insightful.

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Imagine you're a fairywren living in a patch of scrub behind a schoolyard in the suburbs. It's been pretty nice so far, but a recent increase in neighbourhood cats and the council's insect control tactics mean it's time to look for somewhere safer to live.

There's a problem, though. You're a small, bright blue bird that tends to make short flights from shrub to shrub, staying safe in the foliage. Beyond your little patch of habitat, there don't seem to be any places you can easily access. On one side are wide-open sportsfields; on the other, a busy six-lane road. Where do you go?

It's a bad situation for a fairywren, and for many other native species in cities. In ecology, we call this habitat fragmentation.

The map of suitable habitat for city-dwelling wildlife often looks like a scattering of islands in an inhospitable sea of other land uses. These species face threats or barriers such as roads, buildings, fences and feral predators. This poses several issues, such as barring access to feeding areas, increasing competition for nesting spaces within habitat patches and even reducing gene flow by making it hard to find mates.

Our newly published research shows how native species in our cities can benefit if we focus on creating strategically located green spaces to connect isolated patches of habitat.

Why we should care for urban species

Despite the myriad challenges facing plants, animals and insects in urban areas, cities are important places to take care of our native species. Urban areas still offer valuable nesting and feeding resources, especially for tree-dwelling mammals, canopy-feeding birds and water-adapted species.

In addition to their value for conservation, urban habitats are precious spaces for people to encounter nature in the places we live and work. Urban nature has been shown to be important in balancing out the stresses of city life, particularly in disadvantaged communities. It's also good for our physical health and social connectedness - it even improves cognitive development in children.

Unsurprisingly, studies have shown people want more nature in their cities.

But actively supporting native species hasn't generally been the norm in many cities. The practice of planning and design to deliberately bring nature back into urban areas is still developing. Our open-access research paper in Landscape and Urban Planning offers insights into how we can tackle one aspect of the problem: habitat fragmentation.

What did the study look at?

We examined how greening projects could best connect up habitat for New Holland honeyeaters ( Phylidonyris novaehollandiae), blue-banded bees ( Amegilla spp) and mole crickets ( Gryllotalpa spp) in Melbourne, Victoria. These are all species that occur locally but experience some degree of habitat fragmentation.

We have a lot of greening to do for climate adaptation and to create open space for new residents in our growing cities. What if we could also do this greening in a way that boosts habitat for non-human residents too?

We compared a scenario where a large number of small green spaces (formerly parking spaces) were created mainly for climate adaptation purposes, to a pair of scenarios where a smaller number of green spaces were created exclusively in areas that had been identified as key links between habitat fragments.

What were the findings?

In total, the benefit of each space in the targeted scenario was more than double that of the scenario where we placed green spaces for climate adaptation purposes, even with the same design of individual green spaces.

Here's an image of the kind of green spaces we modelled in this study.

We found significant benefits for two of our three species when green spaces were located in a way that specifically targeted habitat connections.

Blue-banded bees and mole crickets did especially well. It is trickier for these small creatures to navigate the space between habitat patches. When these small green spaces provided "stepping stones" between bigger patches, they greatly increased the area of habitat a bee or cricket could reach.

Linking up habitats when we create new green spaces is one way to give native species a chance in our cities. It also gives us (and our kids) a better chance of having everyday nature experiences.

Of course, adding this "ecosystem connectivity" lens to our green space planning isn't a biodiversity panacea. We'll still need to deliver a lot of new greenery.

And we'll have to design it carefully to support native animals while also providing cooling, reduced flood risk and recreational spaces. We also need to make sure we're picking the right species to model our maps on, and then design our spaces for.

Still, if we get this right, that fairywren might just one day have small, green "stepping stones" to find their way around the city to a happy new home.

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Stepping stones for wildlife: how linking up isolated habitats can help nature thrive in our cities

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Our cities are full of obstacles and hazards for native wildlife but also contain many valuable patches of habitat. Creating green spaces to connect these patches improves their lives and ours.

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What is a randomised trial? | Clinical Trials | Cancer Research UK

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The video caught my attention because it uses visual storytelling to make the research engaging. It combines images, animations, and on-site footage to clearly show the design of green corridors and how wildlife moves through them, making complex ideas easier to understand. Unlike academic papers, the video reaches a wider audience, including people without a scientific background. With sound, background music, and narration, it creates an emotional connection, making the research more impactful. The video quickly became popular on social media, increasing its reach and raising public awareness.

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It was an online series of lectures on linking research to production. The online lecture was given by SCIRO organization. That was my first lecture by non-medical and non-dental staff. the lecture content motivated me to learn more about the marketing and advertising strategies. This can be really helpful in application for research grants.

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Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, Australian Government

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As Australia's national science agency and innovation catalyst, we solve the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology.

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This (and a series of other) video that explains philosophical concepts in a visual and dynamic way did get me interested in philosophy in undergrad. I like how the drawings and the texts are spontaneous - helps avoid falling asleep!

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PHILOSOPHY - Epistemology: Analyzing Knowledge #4 (Tracking Theories) [HD]

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Teaching is not just for the students in the class, it also should be for the society and community to know more, especially as our researcher.

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Joy Wolfram: The Promise of Nanomedicine | TED Talk

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Nanotechnology—the study and application of extremely small things—has tremendous potential to revolutionize medicine, especially the treatment of cancers and other complex diseases that don’t respond well to conventional medications. Dr. Joy Wolfram and her team at the Mayo Clinic are at the forefront of this research, working to develop multi-functional nanoparticle-based cancer therapies. Joy likens these nanoparticles to tiny cars that can be loaded with several different drugs, navigated through the body, and then delivered directly to diseased tissues, thereby increasing therapeutic efficacy and reducing side effects. Joy’s vision is to develop innovative nanomedicines that bring the next generation of cancer treatments directly to the clinic.