
Diane Purcell on how algae grows on you
Published: February 13, 2026
Duration: 25:45
From the rolling hills of country Ireland to rolling waves beneath her boat docked in Hobart, Dr Diane Purcell has explored the most extreme places algae survive.
She's also explored the prospect of its survival away from Earth when she worked at NASA studying extremophiles.
Some of Diane's earliest research was looking at algae behaviour when it's kind of sleep deprived, and algae that will eat so much it will literally explode!
She's also dealt with the ebb and flow of research work by moving to Darwin and working as a high school...