Why are Bees so Awesome?

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Tuesday 23 May 2017 at 6.00pm
Lecture Theatre 2, EIT, Gloucester Street, Taradale
Admission by gold coin donationProfessor Peter Dearden
Director of Genetics, Biochemistry Department, University of Otago

Honeybees are a vital part of our agricultural production, but also a remarkable example of the product of evolution. Bees have their own social system, symbolic language, produce different castes and build extravagant structures. Bees are also under threat from insecticides, pests and diseases.

In this talk Peter will discuss both his fundamental research into how the honeybee social system evolved, but also what we need to do to save the honeybees of the world.  He might even tell how honeybees might save us!

In 2014, Peter was the recipient of the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Callaghan medal for science communication.

Our thanks to the University of Otago for their support.

Science Technology Camp 15-18 May 2017

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Year 7 & 8 Science and Technology Camp, 15 to 18 May 2017, Hawke’s Bay

The Hawke’s Bay Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand has, once again, received funding from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Unlocking Curious Minds contestable fund, to run a Science and Technology Camp for Year 7 and 8 students and their teachers, during Primary Science Week in May 2017.

Over the four days, approximately 170 Year 7 and 8 students, accompanied by teachers and parents, from 11 schools in Napier, Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay, will attend one or two-day hands-on workshops on a variety of science and technology subjects, related to the world around them. They will return to school with a better understanding of maths, science and technology, and its relevance to their everyday lives.

The following three workshops will be on offer:

Geology workshop (2 days)

Venue: National Aquarium of New Zealand

Run by: Julian Thomson from GNS Science, assisted by Carol Larson from the Aquarium, and Kate Boersen from East Coast LAB.

Topic: The students will spend the first day at the Aquarium, investigating the geology of New Zealand and Hawke’s Bay, and its consequences. The students will use resources from all three organisations, to study sedimentary rocks and fossils, and volcanic rocks and faults / earthquakes. On the second day they will take a field trip to a local site with varied geology, and use their new knowledge in inquiry-style investigations.

Bridge Science workshop (1 day)

Run by: Murray Gosling, a teacher at Hastings Intermediate School, who was on the 2015 Science Teaching Leadership Programme, assisted by land surveyors and bridge engineers from local companies.

Topic: The students will learn about land surveying and how it is involved in bridge design, use a theodolite to survey a location for a hypothetical bridge, visit a bridge, investigate why bridges are not all the same design, and how their design and construction is based on maths and science. They will design, build and test their own bridges. Land surveyors and bridge engineers from local companies will be involved in the workshop.

Horticultural science workshop (1 day)

Venue: Plant & Food Research, Crosses Road, Havelock North

Run by: Scientists from Plant & Food Research, including Dr Jeff Reid, for many years Chief Judge of the Hawke’s Bay Science & Technology Fair, assisted by Sarah Hope, a teacher from Hastings Intermediate School, who worked at Plant & Food Research last year whilst on the 2016 Science Teaching Leadership Programme.

Topics: The workshop will comprise 3 activities, which will introduce students to some of the maths and science that underpins horticulture in Hawke’s Bay and New Zealand. The 3 groups will rotate around the 3 activities during the day. They will:

  • compare soil health in different locations in the orchard;
  • conduct physical, chemical and sensory analysis of a variety of apples which are involved in the pipfruit breeding programme;
  • identify pests and diseases which affect commercial crops in New Zealand.

We thank the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) for their support

http://www.curiousminds.nz/

Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger

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In March 2017, the Hawke’s Bay Branch hosted a visit by Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger, Director of the Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics at Massey University in Auckland. Peter made time to visit three secondary schools in the region, to talk to physics and chemistry students and their teachers about a diverse range of topics, including the newest elements in the periodic table, the composition of atoms, the fundamental forces and particles, the standard model, and the search for a unified theory. But all this was delivered with a sense of humour and infectious enthusiasm that captured his audience’s imagination and at a level that year 12 and 13 students could comprehend. As Albert Einstein said (and Peter quoted) “If you cannot explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough”.

Here are his presentation slides

 

Archaeology in Hawke’s Bay – five different perspectives

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Wednesday 5 April 7:00 pm – 9:00 pm

MTG, Herschell Street, Napier

Entrance by Gold Coin donation

Six local experts will talk about aspects of Archaeology in the context of Hawke’s Bay

  • From ‘The File’ to ‘ArchSite’

    Elizabeth Pishief

  • Provenance Matters

    Charles Ropitini

  • Working with our Ancestors

    Stella August and Wikitoria Moore

  • Archaeology … It’s more than just an Act

    Christine Barnett

  • Ahuriri ‘Re-discovered’: A tale of flood, fire & pestilence…

    Gaylynne Carter

 For more information on these topics and the speakers, please click here:

Archaeology Week programme

As part of New Zealand Archaeology week

Left or Right in Nature, or why is the Universe left-handed?

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Thursday 30 March 2017 at 7.00pm
Holt’s Planetarium, NBHS, Chambers Street, Napier
Admission by gold coin donation

Schwerdtfeger_P_seated_website

Distinguished Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger
Director of the Centre for Theoretical Chemistry and Physics
Massey University in Auckland

Single-handedness is present in everything, down to the tiniest molecule. This was startling to 20th Century scientists, who until then presumed the world was symmetrical. We now know right-handed sugars and left-handed amino acids completely dominate the biochemistry of living organisms.
But if our universe is left-handed, why are humans predominantly right-handed? Even though our hearts are on the left? What is responsible for this leaning toward one side or the other?
Professor Peter Schwerdtfeger and scientists from around the world have devoted years of research to proving or disproving over 50 hypotheses to explain it.
In this lecture he aims to fascinate and enlighten a general audience.

This is but one of many areas of Professor Schwerdtfeger’s wide ranging interests. He is a world-leading authority in quantum chemistry and physics, working on fundamental aspects of chemical and physical phenomena in atoms, molecules and condensed matter. His approach to science is truly interdisciplinary, ranging from chemistry to physics, computer science and mathematics.

He is Acting Head of Institute of the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study and has published more than 290 papers in international journals and books and in 2014 won the Royal Society of New Zealand’s most prestigious science award, the Rutherford Medal, which recognises the combination of eminent research and the advancement of public awareness and understanding of science.

Professor Schwerdtfeger’s visit to Hawke’s Bay is supported by

 

Lecture for Sea Week 2017

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“Healthy Seas: Drugs from the Sea, Biodiversity
and Conservation – a New Zealand Story”

Tuesday 28 February 2017, 7.30pm

National Aquarium of New Zealand, Marine Parade Napier

Admission by gold coin donation

Chris Battershill

 

Professor Chris Battershill, Chair Coastal Science
University of Waikato

The story of drug discovery from marine sources is not well known. The important and successful role of New Zealand science coupled with our marine biodiversity, is even less well understood. By far the most common source of biomedicinal leads comes from nature and until recently much of this has been from plants and terrestrial organisms. Aspirin from Willow being one of the most famous discoveries. In the anti-cancer drug space however, extracts from marine organisms, like sponges, produce two orders of magnitude more leads than terrestrial species.

This presentation will showcase a number of successful New Zealand drug and drug lead compounds derived from marine sources. It will explain why these leads work, and demonstrate the enormous and urgent importance of conserving our marine biodiversity for future generations.

Chris Battershill became the inaugural Professor and Chair of Coastal Science with the University of Waikato, in January 2011. Prior to that, he was Leader of the Marine Resources and Biodiversity Teams at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) for twelve years, focusing on conservation, new species aquaculture and biodiscovery.

He completed his PhD at Auckland University in 1986 then undertook a 3 year Research Fellowship funded through the National Cancer Institute (US) based at the University of Canterbury, where he led the biological program associated discovery of anti-cancer active chemicals from the sea. He did Post Doctoral work in Australia and then worked at DoC and NIWA for 11 years focusing on sustainability of marine resource use, again building capacity in research associated with drug discovery from marine sources

 

1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake Commemorative Lecture

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Geoffroy Lamarche

Dr Geoffroy Lamarche PhD ONM
Principal Scientist in marine geology and geophysics with NIWA in Wellington

Wednesday 15 February 2017 at 5.30pm

National Aquarium, Marine Parade, Napier

Admission by gold coin donation

Dr Lamarche will speak on the topic of marine sciences and their relevance to understanding natural hazards in Hawke’s Bay, in particular with regard to offshore earthquakes, tsunamis and submarine landslides.

Geoffroy obtained a PhD in geology and geophysics from the university of Grenoble in 1987. He has since focussed his research on the geological processes that affect the ocean floor around New Zealand and in the South West Pacific region, with the aim to improve the understanding of natural geological hazards and develop predictive geophysical methods to map submarine substrate and habitats. He has led many oceanographic voyages and international research projects with France, the UK, Australia and the USA.

Presented in conjunction with Hawke’s Bay French Association

“Too many immigrants?”

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Unpacking the contribution of international migration to population growth in New Zealand in the second decade of the 21st century

Tuesday 31 January 2017 at 7.30pm

Holt’s Planetarium, NBHS, Chambers Street, Napier

richard-bedford

Richard Bedford
Emeritus Professor, University of Waikato and
Auckland University of Technology
President, Royal Society of New Zealand 

Professor Bedford writes: On 19 October 2016, Statistics New Zealand released a new series of National Population Projections through to 2068.  These projections are the first ever produced by Statistics New Zealand that I can recall in 45 years of population research that include a “high” scenario of over 7 million people in the country by the late 2060s.  They are also the first for a long time to make reference to reaching a population of 5 million by the early 2020s.

In this presentation I will examine the recent net migration gains and their impact on estimated population growth.  I will also comment on the recent changes to New Zealand’s residence policy and some possible implications these might have for both net migration gains as well as the contribution that international migration makes to overall population growth.  In the final section of the presentation I will examine more closely projections for the population of the Hawke’s Bay and the impacts that international migration is having on the numbers of temporary as well as long-term residents.

Entrance: gold coin donation

HB Branch Royal Society’s End of Year Event

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Members’ Festive Gathering and talk

“Advances in Farming – the place of robotics”.

Wednesday 14 December 2016 from 6pm
Centre for Land and Water
21 Ruahapia Rd, Hastings

See a location Map here

dan-bloomerDan Bloomer will show us the Centre, explain its aims, and talk on Farm Robotics he has seen in Australia and Europe recently and his aspirations for robotics on farms here.

Please come and join us for some conviviality as well: 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.

Dan’s talk is open to the general public and will start about 7pm. Please RSVP to assist with catering.

For more information on the Centre and its work: http://www.claw.net.nzcentre-for-land-and-water