Expedition+Antartica+on+March+2,+2018

At the Daily Planet Cafe, I was first introduced to the speaker through a game of Extinction Bingo. Alex Dornburg revealed his wide knowledge of science: from certain proteins that allow fish to withstand extreme temperatures, the small amount of genes in zebrafish as well as their rapid reproduction that allow the presence of scientific experiments, and importance of specific species being in the right place at the right time. Mr. Dornburg randomly shouted out facts about the various terms on the bingo sheet that left many speechless, including myself. After the game, Dornburg described what he did for a living. Alex Dornburg studies the dead; he studies the causes and the specific way/reason species died to promote the management of biodiversity within our planet. He sees the death as this: our failure of understanding species and their importance on Earth. Throughout the rest of the session, the speaker just described some of his experiences as well as what a normal day would look like for him. Dornburg spends a lot of his time doin genomic work, entailing the use DNA and biotechnology within labs, observing coral reefs in response to their declining presence, etc. Dornburg shared his recent studying on the development of rainforests on the island of Madagascar and his freezing adventure in Antarctica, determining if one could open fisheries near this continenet. Alex Dornburg was passionate about his occupation and it was quite lovely to see this. This whole event relates to our APES class because Dornburg embodies conversation of our species. Enviromental science teaches one to use our resources efficiently and protect our planet as well as its living organisms, no matter how small or large they are.