World Plastic Pollution Experts speak on Plastic Pollution and Solutions in the South Pacific
Marcus Eriksen and Anna Cummins from 5 Gyres Institute and guest speakers will explore the issue of plastic pollution with you. Through the science and real life experiences within the sub-tropical gyres they will bring you up to date on the current state of the issue, as well as sharing the latest global and local approaches towards solutions.
For more detail see PURE Speaking Tour and this website
The 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake was associated with a complex array of surface ruptures that caused damage to engineered structures, particularly the transportation network. The fault rupture mechanism was a complex system that involved at least 21 faults along an approx. 180 km zone. Many were already mapped as active or geological faults prior to the earthquake, although some specific surface traces were previously unknown. The earthquake ruptured the entire mapped lengths of some faults, and the partial lengths of others. This talk is about geological and seismological characteristics of the complex multi-fault rupture.
Russ van Dissen was born, raised and educated in the western USA. He moved to New Zealand about 25 years ago to take up a position with the then Earth Deformation Section of the New Zealand Geological Survey. His research specialties include earthquake geology and seismic hazard assessment and he has had significant involvement in the development of the Ministry for the Environment’s “Active Fault Guidelines”; characterisation of the surface fault rupture along the Greendale Fault during the September 2010 Darfield earthquake; and the “It’s Our Fault” project that aimed to better define earthquake risk in the Wellington Region. He is currently working on the Kaikōura earthquake response.
EIT works closely with a range of industries and institutions in Hawke’s Bay, providing research and evaluation support. This talk will outline some of those projects as well as others.
Professor Bob Marshall is EIT’s Research Director with responsibility for the overall direction of EIT’s research, and for organising appropriate research infrastructure and support.
Under the chairmanship of team leader Stephen Swabey, three scientists from HBRC’s Coastal Team will present talks of 20 minutes each:
Anna Madarasz-Smith The rise and fall of the Ahuriri Estuary
Shane Gilmer Jump in! Recreational water quality in Hawke’s Bay
Oliver Wade Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Using new technologies in Science
Please then stay for some conviviality: we will lay on the nibbles, cake and a glass of something to celebrate the end of a very busy and successful year for the HB Branch of the Royal Society!
A group of 30 members were hosted by Scott Styles and Nick Elliott to a visit to the impressive- looking building on the grounds of Hawke’s Bay Airport. The interior is even more impressive. Over 130 people are employed there and the company’s products, automatic voltage controllers and power supply stabilisers are exported globally.
Scott gave us a “101” on electrical power supply stabilisation and later sent us the following links:
Why is my laptop on https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/03/why-is-my-laptop-on.html
Energy for dummies is linked inside the aforementioned document.
https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/03/energy-dummies.html
ABB Videos from the presentation.
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQEsr8f1opU&t=137s
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXutErdUoso&t=17s
Scott briefly touched on arc-flash with the tour group. This is quite a scary subject.
This is why you might see the local linesman getting completely kitted up in a ‘bomb-suit’ before operating switchgear https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P35HRYHFz7c
(people continuing to search or watch video’s on youtube autoplay should be warned that there are some gruesome injuries as a result of arc-flash.)
Scott thinks that we have a problem in society with poor energy literacy combined with extreme energy dependence.
This might be part of addressing this
http://www.theperfectcurrency.org/main-energy-currency/energy-currency
And last of all here is the sole remaining video (transferred from VHS) of the model solar car that Scott built with some friends in 7thform in 1993. Had he not entered this competition Scott doubts he would have become an electrical engineer.
https://www.facebook.com/scott.styles/videos/10151698169052831/
ABB is a pioneering technology leader that is writing the future of industrial digitalization. For more than four decades, they have been at the forefront, innovating digitally connected and enabled industrial equipment and systems. Every day, they drive efficiency, safety and productivity in utilities, industry, transport and infrastructure globally. With a heritage spanning more than 130 years, ABB operates in more than 100 countries and employs around 132,000 people.
The ABB site in Napier designs and manufactures power conditioning products, which are used by customers worldwide, who need a reliable power supply 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Their customers include:
We will be hosted by Nick Elliott, R&D Manager and Scott Styles, Principal Engineer, for a presentation on the business, including latest developments, and a factory tour.
Please note dress code:
ABB will provide safety glasses and hearing protection.
http://new.abb.com/about
Speleology is one of Stephen Swabey’s many passions, and in this talk he will share with us his enthusiasm with an illustrated talk about limestone cave systems in Australia, where Stephen lived and worked for five years before coming to New Zealand.
Stephen graduated from Oxford University with an MA in Geography, and the Open University with a PhD in Paleoclimate change, geochemistry and caves.
At HBRC he manages a team of 32 scientists, with 5 team leaders coordinating work across surface water and groundwater hydrology, coastal science, freshwater ecology, air quality, climate and climate change, land science and environmental monitoring.
(Entry by gold coin donation)
People have been improving plants and animals for many centuries. Most of the foods we eat and drink have been changed (domesticated) by humans. For many centuries this was done by selecting naturally occurring changes (or mutations) and using them to breed improved plants or animals – a very slow process. More recently we have been able to use biotechnology to make the same sort of changes in a much faster and more predictable way.
This talk will describe these Genetic Modification technologies, including the recent developments in gene editing (CRISPR-cas9). Examples of improved products will be highlighted, and the potential of gene editing to revolutionise food production will be discussed.
Dr Elspeth MacRae is the General Manager Manufacturing & Bioproducts at Scion in Rotorua. She is a member of the management group for the 2014 New Zealand National Science Challenge in Science and Technology for Industry, and leads the design, materials and manufacturing portfolio.
Scion is a Crown Research Institute that specialises in research, science and technology development for the forestry, wood product, wood-derived materials, and other biomaterial sectors.
