11 December 2019 - 4 PM
Main Lecture Hall "Paolo Budinich", SISSA
Plants and animals represents two very different worlds, so much so that in many ways they are opposites. Plants are slow, animals fast; plants are static, animals move; plants produce matter, animals consume it. Life on planet earth oscillates between these two opposite poles. We know a lot about animals, nothing about plants. Yet, plants are the life on the planet, representing almost all the living mass, while animals, with their tiny percentage of biomass, seem completely irrelevant. Mechanisms, behaviours, defence, communication, expansion strategies, resistance, organization, evolution itself: everything in plants follows an original and “sustainable” way, which we can’t afford to ignore any longer.
The lecture will be accompanied by a reading by the actress Sara Alzetta from the book "The Periodic Table", by Primo Levi.
A toast will follow to celebrate together the upcoming holiday.