JUBILANT JELLYFISH
Professor Mike Bruton, imagineer
Tuesday 19 January < 1.00 pm < COURSE FEES R115; Staff and students R58
Jellyfish are the ultimate survivors – ancient, otherworldly and full of surprises. In this lecture we explore creatures that have been drifting through Earth’s oceans for over 500 million years – pre-dating dinosaurs by more than 250 million years and existing long before plants evolved on land.
What makes them so remarkable? Despite having no brain or central nervous system, jellyfish have outlived multiple mass extinctions with a body design that has barely changed. Some can even regenerate themselves – earning one species the nickname ‘the immortal jellyfish’ – while others function as floating colonies, each playing a different role, working together to feed, move, breed, attack and defend.
From their origins as some of the ocean’s earliest predators to their uncanny ability to persist in changing environments, jellyfish challenge everything we think we know about survival.
This lecture invites participants to rethink intelligence itself: is it the key to survival – or could simplicity sometimes be the real secret? Prepare to see these gelatinous drifters in a whole new light.
Recommended reading
Mann-Lang, J. 2022. Curious Notions: Reflections of an Imagineer. Transactions of the Royal Society of South Africa, 77(2), p.169.
TO BOOK: https://www.webtickets.co.za/v2/performance.aspx?itemid=1602817652
Mike Bruton originally practised as an ichthyologist and aquatic ecologist before branching out into museum and science centre development. He has had a lifetime interest in the history of the bicycle and has mounted two travelling exhibitions on the topic. He is also the curator of the recently-established Trail’s End Bicycle Museum in Grabouw. In retirement he has focussed on public understanding of science and technology and has published numerous books on South African and African scientists and inventors.