Raising the Bar is back for a second round. The University of Auckland is proud to once again host this unique event in which a range of academics give free public lectures in pubs and bars.

The event will feature 20 talks by leading University of Auckland academics at 10 inner-city Auckland bars.

Raising the Bar is a worldwide initiative to bring knowledge to a city’s nightlife. The concept originated in New York and is spreading worldwide as more cities embrace the opportunity to hear fascinating topics from professors over a beer.

Last year’s event was a sell out with more than 1,500 spaces quickly snapped up. Registrations open on July 24 and the public are urged to get in early to secure a bar stool at one or more of the venues.

Below are some that might be of interest:

Cather Simpson: Lasers, milk and sperm

Cather’s endlessly-fascinating lasers at the Photon Lab were once thought to be rather useless, possibly indulgent pieces of academic kit. A few years on those lasers (and clever researchers) have given rise to two award-winning companies: Engender Technologies (a sex-sorting business to accelerate genetic gain and cost efficiencies in large animal reproduction) and Orbis Diagnostics (providing revolutionary in-line milking measurement for the dairy industry, using microfluidics technology for protein, fat, somatic cell and progesterone).

John Morgan: Does education propel you to greatness?

‘Sorry the lifestyle you ordered is currently out of stock.’ This apology, care of Banksy, is imprinted in the shadows of Canary Wharf. It’s a message to students of the post financial crisis, students who have been fed a mantra of ‘work hard, borrow from the Bank of Mum and Dad, keep calm and go to university’.

But the economic value of education is more and more doubtful. New Zealand students,often leave with great personal debt and enter an economy in which real wages have stagnated for decades and property prices are out of reach for all but the entitled.

Universities reassure students that a degree comes with a hefty financial reward, but is that the case? John Morgan poses the question ‘why bother with education?’ and offers some surprising answers.

Suranga Nanayakkara: Humanity and the machine: Is technology going to make our lives better?

Does dealing with multiple smart devices leave you feeling discombobulated? Suranga says we either we spend time figuring out smart technologies, otherwise the way we use them will disconnect us from the actual physical world around us.

So, how can we create devices which extend what we do and how we do it in a way that feels natural? The need for intuitive technology that adapts to us is increasingly apparent.

In this conversation Suranga will highlight human-machine interfaces which break down the barriers between humans and technology, creating seamless human-computer integration blurring where humans input ends and technology begins.

Eva Hakansson: Saving the planet - at 400km/h!

Eva Hakansson will take you on a high-speed adventure at the famous Bonneville Salt Flats. She readily admits that her 400+ km/h, red, sexy, bullet-shaped electric motorcycle “KillaJoule” is really just “eco-activism in disguise”. Did we mention that she built it in her backyard shed, in her spare time? With the same dedication as a Greenpeace activist, she uses the unusual channel of high speed racing to open people’s eyes and minds for sustainable technology. Meet a modern version of famous kiwi racer Burt Munro.

Cathy Stinear: Secrets from a neuroscientist

If you want to rock the next pub quiz, this is the talk for you. After all, neuroscientist Cathy Stinear declares her head is “basically full of cocktail party chatter about the brain”. She will whittle myth from reality and leave you doubting everything you thought you knew but knowing just a little bit more.

Discover everything from how to keep your marbles as you age (spoiler alert—it’s not Sudoku!) to why your teenager is such a disaster sometimes (there’s a reason they can’t hire a car until they reach 25, yet we let them drink and vote!) Find out whether our digital addictions are rotting our brains, whether you absolutely need 10,000 hours of practice to hit a golf ball like Tiger Woods, and much more.

Dan Hikuroa: Voice of the river

What is water if you cannot swim, fish or drink? Many rivers are no longer safe for our simplest needs. Other waterways have been subjected to the humiliation of having been buried alive in pipes, or flow sporadically, if at all, redirected for irrigation.

Voices articulating the decline of our water quality, of lost wetlands, of exhausted or polluted aquifers and intensive catchment land modification have been continuously ignored. More recently communities, industry, politicians and philanthropists have joined the chorus of concern. A critical strand of this effort is to understand the issue from the perspective of the river – what would the river say? What is it saying?

The articles, Te mana o te awa and Kaitiakitanga and mana whakahaere look at the importance of the Waikato River to Waikato-Tainui

Andrew Chen: I’m looking at you buddy! Yes, big brother is everywhere

We are comfortable with police, traffic and public safety CCTV cameras, right? Now surveillance systems run for commercial interests collect data about our everyday lives: from tracking pedestrian traffic, biometric scanning at ATMs, and facial recognition software in supermarkets and sports events, and much more.

Technological advancements in computer vision are pushing the boundaries of how machines understand videos and images. This talk focuses on privacy implications of modern and advancing surveillance systems, our perceptions of privacy and ways to protect those being observed. That’s you. I’m looking at you. Now.

Tony Fernando: From sleep sex to insomnia: Myths and revelations about sleep

Warning! Tony Fernando’s talk promises to be lively and entertaining — but might just put you to sleep!

At least 20% of the population doesn't sleep well. Tony’s interactive session will enlighten you on the myths and current findings about the science of sleep, sleep disorders and treatment approaches. His discussion will cover sleep disorders including insomnia, shifted body clocks, sleep apnoea, sleep walking, sleep sex and nightmares. Bring your questions and settle in for what happens when you close your eyes.

Read about research into how the outdoors can reset one’s biological clock and impact on sleep.

Amber Milan: When the food we love doesn’t love us back

Most people with food intolerance figure out what to eat the hard and fairly unpleasant way. It is an issue for nearly every second person. Then again, it’s hard to be certain because we don’t know the cause of many digestive complaints, let alone how to diagnose or treat them.

In this talk Amber will share her research looking at what we know about food intolerances and why they are so hard to pin down.

Using milk intolerance as an example, Amber will explore how to deal with dairy, how our overall diet can change how we tolerate trigger foods, what our genes and gut microbiome have to do with all this and how we can change the way our bodies respond. Most importantly, Amber will discuss how scientists can help find better ways to diagnose and manage intolerances.

Simon Holdaway and Ben Davies: A detective story - Apples, ancestors and rock hard evidence

In this talk, a double team of internationally-acclaimed archaeologist Simon Holdaway and digital prehistorian Ben Davies will use apples to explain how to measure the hunter gatherer movement based on archaeological finds of stone artefacts from Egypt to Australia. No power point – just apple slices and cores. These experts say forget Maccu Picchu and the Pyramids! It’s the humdrum commonplace scatterings of stones that gets an archaeologist going and tells us who’s been doing what and where!

Rochelle Constantine: Auckland’s big blue backyard and the big things that live there

The Hauraki Gulf, Tīkapa Moana–Te Moananui-ā-toi, is New Zealand’s only marine national park. It’s our Spaghetti Junction of the sea — a 4,000 km² hot-spot for cetaceans, seabirds, sharks and people, a region abundant with biodiversity, large and small.

What draws these large marine organisms to this dynamic place? What stories could they tell us? Is it tough out there for whales, dolphins and seabirds to co-exist with humans who also love to swim, fish, sail and move through the waters? Join Associate Professor Rochelle Constantine as she weaves the story of the Hauraki Gulf and its importance to all megafauna.

Richard Easther: Big bangs and black holes

Primary school children and scientists often ponder the same questions about space. Was there more than one Big Bang? What happens when you fall into a black hole? Will the universe expand forever?

In this talk Richard outlines the ways that Einstein changed our ideas about space and time and how this leads to deep ideas about the expanding universe and black holes. Now tested with observations and experiments, Richard will share the answers we are finding to some of those questions — and which questions we’re still trying to crack.

More on the Big Bang.

For more information and to register for each talk, go to: www.rtbevent.com/auckland