While I enjoyed Todd’s presentation on Tuesday, his response to the question about freeware was a little limited and the members might like to know about the volume of freeware available on the International Society of Biomechanics website (https://isbweb.org/resources/software-resources)
Best wishes,
Professor Bob Marshall, EIT
Genetic and environmental causes of obesity and metabolic disease
Date: Thursday 28 April 2016, at 6:00pm
Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, EIT, Taradale
Admission: Gold coin donation
A presentation by Dr Tony Merriman,
Professor of Biochemistry, University of Otago
One in three New Zealand adults are obese. But the belief that people are fat because they eat too much and exercise too little has become eroded by scientific understanding of other factors.
Tony Merriman is a Professor in the Biochemistry Department, School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago, and an associate investigator at the Maurice Wilkins Centre for Molecular Biodiversity. In 1993 he completed a PhD in bacterial genetics at Otago followed by Post-Doctoral training in the genetics of complex disease at the University of Oxford, UK. His research takes a genetic approach to understanding the biology of human disease, and currently gout in particular.
As there is currently a lot of debate in the media about sugar in the diet, particularly consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, and its effect on health, we have asked Tony to also comment on this topic.
To listen to Tony’s recent interview on Kim Hill, click here
This lecture is generously supported by the Maurice Wilkins Centre and jointly hosted with the NZ Institute of Food Science & Technology.
Pluto: Once a Point of Light, Now a World
Date: Sunday 22 May 2016, at 4pm
Venue: MTG, Tennyson Street, Napier
Admission: Free to members; $5 for non-members
A presentation by Dr Michele Bannister
(Postdoctoral fellow at Victoria University, British Columbia, Canada)
The images returning from the New Horizons spacecraft following its flyby of Pluto show a remarkable world: mountains soaring higher than the Southern Alps, smooth plains bubbling like a slow-boiling pot, glaciers of nitrogen ice, dark ancient terrain. Not to be outdone, its big moon Charon is rifted by chasms and canyons. What was predicted? What did we discover? Many new puzzles await. Come find out!
Dr Michele Bannister is an expert in searching for icy worlds in the outer Solar System and works on the Outer Solar System Origins Survey trying to understand the formation and evolution of the Solar System. Originally from Taranaki, Michele undertook her PhD searching for bright icy worlds in the southern sky at Mt Stromlo and currently lives in Canada.
Michele is in Napier to take part in the Royal Astronomical Society of NZ’s annual conference on May 21-22, and this meeting is jointly held with RASNZ and the Hawke’s Bay Astronomical Society
Birds New Zealand 2016 Conference
Birds New Zealand 2016 Conference
MTG building, Marine Parade Napier
4-6 June 2016 (Queen’s Birthday Weekend)
Join us for a weekend of interesting lectures and presentations focusing on the study of birds.
Take part in workshops and go out on field trips
Register before 31st March 2016 for early bird discount
Register at www.osnz.org.nz – go to latest news
Any enquiries contact Bernie Kelly, Conference Convener: birds.hawkesbay@osnz.org.nz
Ph 06 870 0837- 0274 461 538
Mysteries of Human Walking
Date: Tuesday 5 April 2016, at 7:30pm
Venue: Holt Planetarium, Napier
Admission: Gold coin donation
A presentation by Dr Todd Pataky,
Associate Professor in Bioengineering at Shinshu University (Japan)
The answer to the seemingly simple question “How do humans walk?” – in what way and by what means – is surprisingly complex and variable. Todd, a recognised expert in this field, and visiting from Japan, will explain some of the key mysteries of human walking, and how scientists are attempting to solve them.
Todd Pataky earned a Ph.D. in Kinesiology and Mechanical Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University in 2004 and pursued postdoctoral research positions in neuroimaging and biomechanics in Japan and the UK. He is currently an Associate Professor in Bioengineering at Shinshu University (Japan) where his research focuses on the biomechanical applications of continuum statistics. He was a William Evans Fellow at the University of Otago in 2014 and currently collaborates with the Auckland Bioengineering Institute on a Japan Strategic Partnership in Neuro-robotics awarded by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment
Te Matau a Maui Voyaging Trust
Seaweek Royal Society Lecture
Date: Tuesday 1 March 2016, 7:30pm
Venue: National Aquarium of New Zealand, Marine Parade Napier
Admission: Gold coin donation
Piripi Smith, Maori navigator and Chairman of the Te Matau a Māui Voyaging Trust
For thousands of years, Austronesian navigators (Tohunga) piloted primitive, double-hulled sailing ships called “waka” across vast stretches of the Pacific and Indian Ocean. These highly-trained sailors traveled across hundreds or thousands of kilometers discovering uninhabited islands, creating new colonies, and developing trade networks. What’s hard to believe is that these navigators traversed these great distances using no technology or maps, but instead relying on tuning into the stars, winds and Mother Nature.
Up until modern times, these traditional sailing methods had been preserved by Polynesian peoples. There has been a recent revival of this method of transport, and to prove to the skeptics that the accuracy of guiding “waka” does not rely on luck, a new generation of navigators continues to sail between distant islands with no maps, compasses or GPS systems.
One group in New Zealand that prioritizes the preservation of this tradition is Te Matau a Māui Voyaging Trust, which manages a program called Waka Experience. The organization is led by Chairman Piripi Smith, who is an experienced Maori navigator.
Come hear about the local waka, Te Matau a Maui, and traditional navigator Piripi Smith talk about their Pacific voyages.
Please direct any enquiries to HBBranchRSNZ@gmail.com
Christchurch Earthquake: Restoration of buildings and applicability in Napier
5.30pm on Wednesday 17 February 2016
National Aquarium of NZ, 546 Marine Parade, Napier
Entry: gold coin donation
The Hawke’s Bay Branch of the Royal Society of New Zealand, in partnership with the Hawke’s Bay Chapter of the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand, presents The 1931 Hawke’s Bay Earthquake Commemorative Lecture, with guest speakers Andrew Masterson and Guy Lethbridge.
Andrew Masterson is Business Development Manager of Mainmark Ground Engineering (NZ) Ltd in Christchurch. They were the lead contractor who worked with a consortium of international experts from New Zealand, Australia and Japan, to re-level the Christchurch Art Gallery following the February 2011 earthquake, using technology that was developed as a result of the Japanese earthquakes. Guy Lethbridge is a Director of Strata Group Consulting Engineers Ltd in Hastings, a structural engineering consultancy involved in strengthening buildings in Hawke’s Bay and Christchurch.
Their talk will describe re-levelling of the Christchurch Art Gallery and the potential application of levelling technology in Napier after an earthquake event. They will comment on the latest geological mapping underway in Hawke’s Bay and potential implications, and compare pre- and post-earthquake foundation designs, processes and outcomes.
![Art Gallery Composition HR JOG + JG A5[1]](http://hawkesbay.rsnzbranch.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Art-Gallery-Composition-HR-JOG-JG-A51.jpg)
The Christchurch Art Gallery, with a graphic of the Jet Grout Machines installing the cement stabilised columns, and the JOG Computer Controlled Grout Injection system lifting the building back to its original inclination.
Contribute to New Zealand research to discover life-saving medicines
Experts predict that within ten years we will have run out of antibiotics. As antibiotics are used to prevent infections in patients having surgery and cancer chemotherapy, as well as to treat infectious diseases, Director General of the World Health Organisation Margaret Chan has called this “…the end of modern medicine as we know it”. The world urgently needs new antibiotics, and the Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland needs our help to find them. Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles, who gave one of our lectures in Napier on 12 November, heads the Superbugs Lab.
Most antibiotics come from microbes living in the soil, beginning with the discovery of penicillin from the fungus Penicillium. New Zealand has a treasure trove of unique fungi that have never been searched for new antibiotics. The Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab is working with scientists from Landcare Research to find new antibiotics, by screening their collection of fungi for species that can kill antibiotic-resistant superbugs like MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) and E. coli. It costs approximately $250 to test each fungus, and they have over 9,000 fungi to test, so please support them and help discover more of these life-saving medicines.
You could do some fund-raising within your school (e.g. a mufti day) and donate the money you raise to this research. $250 will enable them to test one fungus, and the Lab will tell you how far the fungus you sponsored progressed through the tests. It does not have to be $250 – every dollar helps towards testing another fungus, and potentially finding a life-saving antibiotic.
To make a donation, go to: www.givingtoauckland.org.nz/fungi
Zealandia: Earth’s 8th continent
The Geoscience Society of New Zealand’s 2015 Hochstetter Lecture
Dr Nick Mortimer, GNS Science, Dunedin
Thursday 15 October 2015 at 7.30 pm
Hawke’s Bay Regional Council, corner Vautier and Dalton Streets, Napier
Entry: gold coin donation
Continents are the largest solid objects on the Earth’s surface. In this illustrated talk Nick will summarise the scientific case that there are not seven but eight continents: Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America and Zealandia. Although Zealandia is 4.9 million square kilometres in area, it has literally lain hidden because 94% of it is under the sea. In the talk Nick will also speak about how Zealandia became the world’s most submerged continent and why its continental identity is important to science and to society.
Nick Morti
mer is a geologist at the Dunedin office of the Crown Research Institute GNS Science. He first graduated in geology in 1980 and was awarded a Ph.D in geology in 1984. In his 26 year career he has carried out land- and ship-based field work throughout the length and breadth of New Zealand and Zealandia and has gained expertise in many aspects of geology, including structural geology, tectonic evolution, geochemistry, geochronology, mineralogy, petrology. He recently co-authored a Penguin book on Zealandia with his colleague Hamish Campbell. He is a senior editor for the NZ Journal of Geology and Geophysics.
Each year the Geoscience Society of New Zealand chooses as its Hochstetter Lecturer a New Zealand earth scientist who has recently completed a major study, and who has a reputation as a good, informative speaker. Emphasis shall be on the dissemination of new concepts and/or of important information which modifies existing interpretations. The lecture is given at major centres around the country and should be of interest to both professional and amateur audiences.
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Illuminating new medicines
Dr Siouxsie Wiles
Thursday 12 November 2015 at 6.00pm
Century Theatre, MTG Hawke’s Bay, 9 Herschell Street, Napier
Bioluminescence or ‘living light’, allows glow worms to lure food, fireflies to find a mate and nocturnal squid to camouflage themselves from predators. In this Ten by Ten talk, Dr Siouxsie Wiles will explain how bioluminescence is helping scientists discover new medicines to kill the antibiotic-resistant superbugs that experts predict will bring about the end of modern medicine within the next decade.
These talks are free and open to the general public. However, to ensure a seat, please register to obtain a ticket. Enquiries: 04 470 5781 or lectures@royalsociety.org.nz.
About Dr Siouxsie Wiles
Siouxsie is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland where she combines her twin passions for glowing creatures and nasty microbes to better understand superbugs and find new medicines to kill them.
Siouxsie is passionate about demystifying science for the general public, and raising awareness of the growing threat of antibiotic-resistant superbugs. She is a blogger (Infectious Thoughts) and podcaster, as well as being a regular science commentator for Radio New Zealand’s Nine to Noon programme. Siouxsie has also teamed up with Australian graphic artist Luke Harris, to make short animations describing nature’s amazing glowing creatures and the many uses of bioluminescence in science:
The Hawaiian Bobtail Squid
Meet the Lampyridae | Firefly
Meet the Lampyridae II – from Fireflies to Space Invaders
Dr Wiles was awarded the Prime Minister’s Science Media Communication Prize and the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Callaghan Medal for science communication in 2013 and the 2012 science communication prize from the New Zealand Association of Scientists. She is on the Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and seeks to be a role model for increasing the participation of women and girls in science.
With grateful thanks to Te Pūnanha Matatini and the Photon Factory and Dan Walls Centre for Pure and Applied Optics at the University of Auckland for their support of this talk.
