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CORVALLIS, Ore. -- The Corvallis Science Pub will offer two science topics -- microbes in the human gut and gravitational waves -- in two separate meetings on Monday, April 11, and on Tuesday, April 12.

The Science Pub is free and open to the public. It begins both days at 6 p.m. at the Old World Deli, 341 S.W. Second St. in Corvallis.

On April 11, Tom Sharpton will discuss the human microbiome and its influence on health. An assistant professor in the College of Science at Oregon State University, Sharpton uses genetic data to determine what organisms are present and how they function.

Changes in the microbiome have been linked to acute and chronic diseases and can even affect behavior.

On April 12, Shane Larson will discuss the recent announcement that scientists had detected gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes. A member of the team that made the discovery, Larson is an Oregon State alumnus and an astrophysicist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.

Larson will discuss this momentous discovery -- how it emerged, what it shows about the universe and what the future holds.

Sponsors of Science Pub include Terra magazine at OSU, the Downtown Corvallis Association and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry