Past Events & Lectures

Autumn 2013

Evolution of Human Languages

Professor Mark Pagel

The beginning of the human story

6pm, Tues 12 March
Events Centre

Tickets are $15 or $10 for RSNZ and AMI Members and students with ID. Availbale at www.royalsociety.org.nz
Tickets may be purchased on the night but you are advised to book.

Human beings speak approximately 7,000 mutually unintelligible languages around the world, giving our species the curious distinction that most of us cannot understand what most other people are saying.

In these public lectures, Mark Pagel, Professor of Evolutionary Biology at Reading University, UK, will explore the origins of our unique language capability and highlight its remarkable features that allow languages to evolve and adapt much like genes do, meaning we can trace its evolution back thousands of years into our past.

Download the flyer here

In Association with:

 

Languages of Aotearoa
Paper Launch

4pm, Tues 5 March
Auditorium
Free - Registrations essential availbale at here

The Royal Society of New Zealand invites you to attend the launch of its new information paper Languages in Aotearoa New Zealand.

New Zealand is superdiverse, having seen unprecedented increases in the ethnic, cultural, social and linguistic diversity of the New Zealand population embedded in a rapidly developing bicultural legislative system. There are now 160 different languages spoken in New Zealand, and Auckland is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world. Is it time for New Zealand to have a more unified approach to languages?

Join us from 4.00pm for an introduction to the paper, followed by a panel discussion with Joris de Bres (Human Rights Commission), Dr Sharon Harvey (AUT University), Professor Stephen May (The University of Auckland), Ms Fezeela Raza (Office of Ethnic Affairs), and other guests.

Summer 2012

1981 Nobel Prize for Chemistry

6pm, Wed 13 February
Events Centre

Tickets are $15 or $10 for RSNZ and AMI Members and students with ID. Availbale at www.royalsociety.org.nz
Tickets may be purchased on the night but you are advised to book.

In this generously illustrated lecture, several views of chemistry will be presented, stressing its psychological dimension and its tie to the arts. Chemistry is, as it has always been, the art, craft, and business of substances and their transformations. It is now also the science of microscopic molecules, both simple and complex. And then there are people’s perceptions of chemistry - alternating between seeing the healing and the hurting aspects of this truly anthropic science. The underlying psychological tensions will be explored, as will the strong element of creation or synthesis in chemistry, which brings chemistry close to the arts.

Roald Hoffmann is a theoretical chemist and writer at Cornell University in the USA. Born in Poland, he survived the Holocaust thanks to the bravery of his parents and the kindness of a Ukrainian teacher and his family who hid him and his mother in a schoolroom attic. Roald Hoffmann has taught generations of chemists how to think with orbitals. He has also published acclaimed poetry, plays and nonfiction, and built his own land twixt poetry, philosophy, and chemistry.

Download the flyer here

 In Association with:

Spring 2012

Imperial science: the invention of New Zealand's plants

Jim Endersby

7pm, Tues 27 November
Auditorium

FREE for Member of Auckland Museum Institute
$10 for Guests (door sales only)

Check out Jim Endersby on Kim Hill's Saturday show

Check out Rebecca Priestley article "Splitters vs Lumpers" in this month's Listner

Joseph Dalton Hooker was one of nineteenth-century Britain's most powerful naturalists; internationally acknowledged as an explorer and botanist, he was also a close friend of Charles Darwin's and director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. However, he built his reputation with the help of a network of enthusiastic collectors in New Zealand, who were unpaid (and sometimes unacknowledged). Jim Endersby will be looking at who these collectors were, asking how and why they worked so hard to help their distant correspondent with his work. The relationship between the New Zealanders and Hooker was characterised by complex and often delicate negotiations over who knew most about New Zealand's flora. These negotiations reveal how Hooker gradually asserted his authority over the local experts, and in the process defined what plants did -- and did not -- grow in New Zealand.

Jim is a specialist in the history of science, with particular interest in the impact of empire on nineteenth-century Britain, science and literature, and in the reception and influence of Darwinism.
During 2010, he was a Distinguished International Scholar and visiting professor in the Department of History and Sociology of Science at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA.
His first book, A Guinea Pig's History of Biology (2007), won the Royal Society of Literature's Jerwood Prize and was long listed for the Guardian First Book Award. His other books include; Imperial Nature: Joseph Hooker and the practices of Victorian Science (2008). He edited a new edition of Darwin's On the Origin of Species and is currently writing a history of imperial science and classification for Atlantic Books (UK) tentatively called A Place for Everything: how science and empire ordered the world, it will explore the connections between science and empire during Coleridge's "Second Scientific Revolution", by looking at the ways new sciences were shaped by new classifications.

Behind the Scenes - Architectural Heritage Tour of Auckland War Memorial Museum

5.30 - 6.30pm, Thurs 15 November

MEMBERS ONLY - LIMITED NUMBERS

Often referred to as the largest item in Auckland War Memorial Museum’s collection, the building has its own stories to tell. With its majestic columns and symmetrical design it is considered one of New Zealand’s best neoclassical buildings.

This behind the scenes tour will take you through the building from the classic grand foyer entrance to the modern interior of the atrium designed around the museum’s heritage features. What do those neoclassical features mean and how does the museum maintain this incredible piece of history?

Royal Society of New Zealand 2012 Distinguished Speaker
Sir Richard Friend
Cavendish Professor of Physics
University of Cambridge

Paper 2.0 – Making smart paper from plastic molecules

How unexpected discoveries lead to new technologies

6pm, Thurs 11 October
Events Centre

Imagine watching videos on a paper-thin screen which can be rolled up and put in your pocket or projecting documents from a smart phone onto a flexible screen for easy reading.  What if you could cover a whole wall in your lounge with a ‘wallpaper’ screen, powered by the light coming through the window?  These revolutionary technologies may not be the product of our imaginations for much longer.  Sir Richard Friend, the 2012 Royal Society of New Zealand Distinguished Speaker, has pioneered the study that allows organic polymers, normally fashioned into plastic, to take on the electronic properties utilised in digital displays and solar cells.

In his talk, Richard Friend tells the story of the unplanned discoveries and breakthroughs that have led to the development of this extraordinary technology.  His talk will take us from the basic research on plastic semiconductors and the realm of quantum mechanics through to his experiences of the commercialisation of his team’s ideas as part of the high-technology cluster which has built up around Cambridge University.

Sir Richard Friend has pioneered the study of organic polymers and the electronic properties of molecular semiconductors.  His work has led to the development of LEDs and photovoltaic cells and used to develop flat panel displays and screens.  He is a founder of Cambridge Display Technology Ltd, the leading developer of commercial display technology based on polymer light emitting diodes.  He is also co-founder of the spin-off company, Plastic Logic which is developing flexible electronic displays on plastic sheets.  More recently, he co-founded a company to develop low cost flexible solar cells, Eight19.

Sir Richard Friend is the Cavendish Professor of Physics at Cambridge University, a position originally occupied by Ernest Lord Rutherford.  He was knighted for services to physics in 2003.

Climate Change and its effects on Antarctica
Dr Katja Riedel

7pm, Thurs 20 September
Auditorium

FREE for Member of Auckland Museum Institute
$10 for Guests (door sales only)

Climate change is happening and it is real. In this presentation Dr Katja Riedel (NIWA) draws on her experience of more than 10 years as an atmospheric scientist. She will explain the scientific basis of greenhouse gases and their effect on climate. One place that is very sensitive to these changes is Antarctica. Ice is lost more rapidly than ever and glaciers are speeding up.  More examples will show how climate change is affecting one of the most fascinating places on earth.

Katja Riedel grew up in Germany where she studied and completed a Phd in Atmospheric Chemistry. For her research she overwintered 1997 at the German Antarctic Base Neumayer where she was responsible for the Atmospheric Observatory. Eleven years ago the great outdoors drew her to New Zealand where she now works as a scientist for the National Institute for Water and Atmospheric Research in Wellington. She has been on several scientific expeditions to Antarctica, for example measuring ozone at Scott Base and drilling ice cores at Law Dome.

Please register your interest with Andrea Webley ph 302 6249 or Greta Bachmann-Fuller 306 7923 or email friends.events@aucklandmuseum.com

B2 Basement Tours of Auckland Museum
***Members Only***

1 - 2pm, Monday 10th September, or
1 - 2pm, Thursday 13th September, FULL or
6 - 7pm, Thursday 13th September FULL

Ever wondered where the museum keeps the rest of its vast collections? For years this area has been closed off to the public but this behind-the-scenes tour will bring you into the museum’s basement and face-to-face with its hidden treasures.

Our very own collections team, will reveal how objects are stored, how we look after our priceless collections and how decisions are made about which items can be loaned out. This is a rare opportunity to see some of the incredible objects that aren’t on display in our galleries and exhibitions. Don’t miss out – limited spaces available.

Please register your interest with Andrea Webley ph 302 6249 or Greta Bachmann-Fuller 306 7923 or email friends.events@aucklandmuseum.com

2012 Lucy Cranwell Lecture
Dr Philip Simpson

“Heartwood: totara in New Zealand’s natural and cultural history.”

7pm, Wdnesday 5th September
Free for Members of Auckland Museum Institute Auckland Botanical Society
$10 for Guests

Dr Philip Simpson will give an overview of the world’s conifers, with particular reference to the Podocarp family, especially in New Zealand. He will describe the totara group of species with a focus on lowland totara, in particular its ecology, associated biodiversity and the way it is adapted to the environment. It is the top tree for Maori and was fundamental in the evolution of the culture, and continues to be with regard to carving. The virtues of the timber were immediately recognized by Pakeha New Zealanders and totara led the way in developing the infrastructure of the country. But it was squandered, and became the flagship that ultimately stopped the logging of native forests and saw the start of a new phase of environmental administration. Its ecological prowess means that new forests are growing and a sustainable future is ensured.

Philip Simpson, from Golden Bay, is the author of important books on the New Zealand cabbage tree and its allies, and on rata and pohutukawa. Tonight’s lecture will be a forerunner of his latest book in progress.

Please register your interest with Andrea Webley ph 302 6249 or Greta Bachmann-Fuller 306 7923 or email friends.events@aucklandmuseum.com

Winter 2012

 'The Owl that fell from the Sky' - Book Reading

Author Brian Gill, Museum Curator
Book Reading by Elizabeth McRae

10.30am, Wed 8 Aug
Members' Lounge
$5 (payable on the day)

Join Elizabeth McRae, Actress and fellow Member, as she reads an excerpt from Brian Gill’s latest book. Then enjoy morning tea as we discuss, with the author Brian, insights beyond the stories he tells in this truly amazing book.

‘The owl that fell from the sky’ offers a rare and fascinating look behind the scenes at a major museum. It includes intriguing true stories about items in museum collections – from the strange life of a preserved zoo elephant to a moa’s egg that crisscrossed the globe and the puzzle of a newly discovered kiwi.

This is definitely a book you must own! You can get your copy from the Museum shop and receive 10% discount when you show your members card. Normal price is $35, Member price $31.50. Remember to bring your copy along to the Reading for Brian to sign.

2012 Rutherford Lecture: Life with Oxygen – a Battle against Free Radicals

Professor Christine Winterbourne

7pm, Wed 25 July
Auditorium

Life depends on oxygen. We use it to “burn” food and extract the energy required to keep our body functioning. Most of the oxygen is reduced to water, but by-products of this process are harmful free radicals. The only reason we survive in oxygen is that the body has antioxidant defences that protect against radical damage. These antioxidants are in part derived from diet, but most important are cellular enzymes that promote the breakdown of free radicals or repair the damage that they cause.

Professor Christine Winterbourn’s work on free radicals began when it was just becoming apparent that they are produced as part of normal metabolism, when her team showed that radicals are generated from oxygen in red blood cells as it is transported around the body.

In her lecture, she will discuss the development of knowledge since that time on the sources and consequences of free radical production and on health problems that can arise when antioxidant defence is inadequate.

2012 Hochstetter Lecture: How wet did it get and who cares anyway? Did New Zealand drown?

Mike Isaac

7.30pm, Tues 17 July
Auditorium

As the Tasman Sea opened, so our land mass drifted away from Australia and Antarctica and, by about 55 million years ago, it was isolated. We slowly sank beneath the waves and by about 25 million years ago our land area was at a minimum.

Was New Zealand completely drowned by the sea or has there always been some land in our part of the world?

This isn't important to geologists but it matters to biologists and botanists. If part of New Zealand has always been land then some plants and animals are "Ghosts of Gondwana" (after George Gibbs) but if New Zealand drowned 25 million years ago then the slate was wiped clean and our plants and animals are recent immigrants.

Dallas Mildenhall and Nick Mortimer won a Marsden Fund grant to investigate this and their team studied
• the plant communities before and after the supposed drowning
• the composition of rocks deposited at that time
• the rates at which things change in different tectonic settings
• the absolute and fossil ages of rock sequences in key areas
• the Dansey's Pass Hotel.

Diversity in plants gives good information but what we learned about pollen zones made us question their usefulness and there are problems with marine microfossil dating too. Paleogeography maps based on the fossil record file may not be soundly based. The present is not always the key to the past and Oligocene rates of change were so slow there may not have been time to "drown" the land before the Early Miocene uplift. Strontium dating of fossil shells could pin down the time of advance and retreat of the sea but so far we have only a few ages.

I don't believe geology can prove whether New Zealand was drowned in the Oligocene or not - geologists can really only point out the probabilities. If a hypothesis cannot be tested is it only speculation?

Ancient Astronomies - Ancient Worlds

Professor Clive Ruggles

7pm, Tues 19 Jun
Auditorium

We know a good deal about ancient astronomical knowledge and practices in places such as ancient China and Babylonia from the evidence contained in their recorded history, but people all over the world strived to make sense of what they saw in the sky long before the written record existed. What can we ever know of this?

In partnership with

Auckland Astonomical Society

Autumn 2012

Rod Morris
Royal NZ Forest & Bird
7pm, Wednesday 4 April 2012
Auditorium

Rich in history and now in controversy the Denniston Plateau in northern Westland evokes many emotions. A home to coal mining for many decades this unique landscape has so much more to offer. The plants and animals on the Denniston Plateau, many of them poorly known or yet to be described scientifically are slowly being found and brought to our attention through the work of the Royal Forest & Bird Protection Society. Forest &  Bird are putting a scientific spotlight on the Denniston Plateau through a BioBlitz that has discovered new animal and plant and species. Come along to hear Rod Morris give a first-hand account of what they found and what it means for future plans of the Denniston Reserve.

Rod’s career has been in film-making and wildlife photography, as well as writing and lecturing about our wildlife.  Following an early start with the Auckland Zoo, Rod joined the New Zealand Forest Service, to focus on kakapo searches in Fiordland and recovery programmes for the takahe and black robin.  Later, Rod joined NZTV’s Natural History Unit, to direct (and often produce) award-winning films, such as the “The Seven Black Robins”, Kakapo: Night Parrot’ ‘The Black Stilt’ and “Kea: The Mountain Parrot’. These films received gongs and international acclaim (International Wildlife Film Festival, Missoula, USA; New York's International Film & TV Festival; and specialist wildlife film festivals, France).

Proudly brought to you by Auckland Museum Institute in partnership with Royal New Zealand Forest and Bird.  

Mind Reading? The science of imaging the brain

7.00pm, Wednesday 14 March
Events Centre

Mind reading is the ultimate superhero skill - beyond the realms of human possibility. Yet new technology is bringing this futuristic scenario within our grasp.

Will MRI technology make mind reading possible?

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging allows scientists to see brain areas ‘light up’ as we think. Movements, emotions, memories and intentions have all been visualised, enabling scientists to see inside a person’s mind, and possibly predict the future. Yet how much is science, and how much is fiction?

In this exciting event we explore the inner workings of the brain, delving into the origins of memories and imagination to learn more about our identity as human beings. Featuring live analysis of a brain scan, ‘Mind Reading?’ is a first for New Zealand. Top scientists Associate Professor Brett Cowan and Dr Donna Rose Addis from The University of Auckland will showcase the incredible technology of MRI and provide a behind the scenes glimpse of cutting-edge brain research.

Proudly brought to you by Auckland Museum Institute in partnership with the Centre for Brain Research and The Royal Society of New Zealand.


  

Leonard Cockayne Memorial Lecture  

Ever green but seeing red?
Deciphering the palette of New Zealand’s flora

Professor Kevin Gould
School of Biological Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington

Thursday 8 March

New Zealand’s forests are not renowned for exuberant displays of vermilion. Cockayne himself commented that the ‘beautiful coloration of leaves exhibited by many trees of the Northern Hemisphere cannot be expected in a vegetation whose trees are nearly all evergreen.’  Nevertheless, the same pigments that adorn the dying leaves of deciduous trees are abundant in shoots and roots throughout our flora, and these have begun to yield intriguing scientific stories.   Far from being an extravagance without a purpose, the crimsons, carmines, purples and pinks have been implicated in a variety of vital functions, and are currently attracting keen attention from scientists worldwide. 

Professor Kevin Gould will use interactive digital technologies and involve audience participation to unravel these unique New Zealand stories.

Summer 2011/12

 Origins of our Species

Professor Chris Stringer, Palaeontologist and Research Leader in Human Origins at the Natural History Museum, London 

Thursday 22 February

About 2 million years ago the first humans appeared in Africa. Through their larger brains, human body shape, tool-making and meat-eating, they were different from their more ancient African ancestors, and there are various ideas about what drove their evolution and led to a spread of humans from their evolutionary homeland to Asia and, eventually, Europe.
About 600,000 years ago we find the first evidence of a new species in Europe and Africa, Homo heidelbergensis, and this species appears to have evolved into at least three descendant forms: the Neanderthals in western Eurasia, the Denisovans in eastern Eurasia, and our own species Homo sapiens in Africa. The Neanderthals are often depicted as bestial ape-men, but in reality they walked upright as well as we do, and their brains were as large as ours.
Professor Stringer will examine how much like us they were, and their eventual fate, utilising the latest genomic information.  Modern humans are characterised by large brains and creativity, but it is still uncertain how our species arose and spread across the world, and exactly how we interacted with other human forms, including the Neanderthals and the Denisovans. However, genomic data indicate that there was at least sporadic contact and interbreeding.
The growing body of fossil, archaeological and genetic data will be reviewed to assess the current status of the different theories about modern human origins, including Recent African Origin (“Out of Africa”), Assimilation, and Multiregional Evolution.

2011 Talking Heads Series
Inside Out: the chemistry of food, sex and ageing

6.00pm - 8.00pm. Thursday 8 December

Kim Hill discusses with scientists how chemistry underpins our everyday lives

The role that chemistry plays in our everyday lives is enormous, but generally goes unnoticed. From the medicines we take, the foods we eat, to the cars that we drive, our lives are heavily dependent on chemistry.  At the close of 2011 and the International Year of Chemistry, we look at how chemistry underpins our lives.

Join us to hear Kim Hill in conversation with chemists as she examines some of life’s complex questions.  What exactly are free radicals?  How does UV light affect our skin?  Is there a chemical differences between males and females?  And is the saying “you are what you eat” correct?

The 2011 Talking Heads series is produced by the Royal Society of New Zealand in association with Radio New Zealand.

An introduction to the biology and biogeography of terrestrial isopods (Crustacea, Isopoda, Oniscidea)

Dr Stefano Taiti

2.00pm - 3.30pm
Tuesday 6 December

The terrestrial isopods (slaters) constitute the suborder Oniscidea within the order Isopoda. They contain the only fully terrestrial members of Crustacea, and they represent a good example for a group of animals demonstrating the transition from water to land.

Dr Stefano Taiti is a world recognised specialist on isopod crustaceans (woodlice, slaters). His research interests include systematic, phylogeny, biogeography, functional morphology and ecology of terrestrial isopods. He has contributed to over 120 publications, including descriptions of many new genera and species. Stefano Taiti is currently Senior Researcher of the Italian National Council of Research and Professor at the University of Florence, Faculty of Natural Sciences.

Spring 2011

RSNZ Marie Curie Lecture Series 2011
The wonderful world of enzymes
Insights into drug design, catalysis and molecular evolution

Ass. Prof. Emily Parker

6.30pm - 8.00pm, Wednesday 9 November

Enzymes are nature’s catalysts – they are responsible for making the reactions that support life.  Enzymes are proteins, which are complex, large macromolecules, and it has taken recent developments in technology and techniques to begin to unlock the secrets of how they operate

This lecture will examine how these remarkable biological molecules work.  This knowledge can be used to design new enzymes and to find new strategies to selectively target pathogenic micro organisms.

Behind the Scenes – Architectural Heritage Tour of Auckland War Memorial Museum

6.00pm - 7.00pm, Tuesday  25 October

Often referred to as the largest item in Auckland War Memorial Museum’s collection, the building has its own stories to tell. With its majestic columns and symmetrical design it is considered one of New Zealand’s best neoclassical buildings. This behind the scenes tour will take you through the building from the classic grand foyer entrance to the modern interior of the atrium designed around the museum’s heritage features. What do those neoclassical features mean and how does the museum maintain this incredible piece of history?

2011 Lucy Cranwell Lecture
The South Island high country tussock lands: ecology, conservation values and sustainable
Alan F. Mark, Department of Botany, University of Otago, Dunedin

7.00pm, Wednesday 5 October

The extensive tussocklands and unique landscapes of the South Island high country were subjected to pastoral farming following European settlement. Serious degradation soon followed, associated with uncontrolled burning combined with high-density sheep grazing, and created concern among ecologists from the 1860s onward, despite government’s various attempts to address it. A committee of senior government ecologists in 1954 concluded from observations that the upland snow tussocklands were relic but later detailed studies revealed aggressive management was the main factor which is now being addressed with tenure review. This optional exercise allows free-holding of the more productive lands while less productive, usually the less modified higher areas, revert to full Crown control and conservation management. These issues will be outlined plus the many conservation values and ecosystem services, particularly water yield, as well as current threats, associated with the remaining indigenous cover.

 ***MEMBERS EXCLUSIVE***

UNDERGROUND TOURS

1 - 2pm, Monday 5 & 12 September
6 - 7pm, Thursday 15 September

Ever wondered where the museum keeps the rest of its vast collections? For years this area has been closed off to the public but this behind-the-scenes tour will bring you into the museum’s basement and face-to-face with its hidden treasures.

Laura Vodanovich, who heads the collections team, will reveal how objects are stored, how we look after our priceless collections and how decisions are made about which items can be loaned out. This is a rare opportunity to see some of the incredible objects that aren’t on display in our galleries and exhibitions. Don’t miss out – limited spaces available.

Henry Fox Talbot – A History of Early Photography
by Larry J. Schaff

6.00pm, Tuesday 13 September

William Henry Fox Talbot  (1800-1877), scientist, mathematician, author and artist, is credited with being the inventor of photography. Though Talbot was not the first to produce photographs he made a major contribution to photography by inventing the calotype process , whereby  a positive print is made from a paper negative- the precursor to most photographic processes of the 19^th and 20^th centuries.

Larry J. Schaaf, world authority on Henry Fox Talbot and specialist on early British photographic history and author of many books will view Auckland Museum’s Talbot collection which is the only significant collection in New Zealand.  Dr Schaaf’s lecture will incorporate discussion of Talbot’s, achievements and his role in the early history of photography, as well as offering insights into the Museum’s own photographic collection.

Rainforest Express Field Trip

10.00am - 1.00pm

Get a close up view of Auckland’s water and how we store it. Journey on the Rainforest Express through the Waitakere Ranges and hear about the hardy men who built the Nihotupu Dam in the early 20th century. Learn about the journey Waitakere water takes from the dams through the region before it returns to nature. Local experts will join us onboard the Express to discuss the heritage of the dams and waterways we pass along the way. Numbers are limited – book now so you don’t miss out! Please note this event is only open to members.

Winter 2011

Auckland's Water Supply: An Engineering Heritage

7.00pm, Thursday 25 August 2011

Auckland is blessed with a world class water supply, thanks to the forsight of a succession of visionary engineers. the presentation will follow the development of the city's water systems starting with the Domain springs and then the pump stations at Western Springs and Lake Pupuke in the later 1800s.

As the city grew through the 20th century, the series of large dams and reservoirs in the Waitakere Ranges was complemented by even larger dams in the Hunaua ranges with associated treatment plants. the final development in response to the 1900s water shortage was to bring in Waikato river water with state of the art treatment.

The presentation will be made by senior engineers closely associated with water supply over the past 40 years.

Hochstetter Lecture 2011
Russ Van Dissen, GNS Science (on behalf of the It’s Our Fault team)

It’s Our Fault – Better Defining Earthquake Risk in Wellington

7.00pm, Tuesday 16 August

The dire and far reaching impacts that earthquakes can have on our nation has never been more clearly demonstrated, and the importance of resilience never more apparent.

It’s Our Fault has been running for six years, and is jointly funded by New Zealand’s Earthquake Commission, Accident Compensation Corporation, Wellington City Council, Wellington Region Emergency Management Group, Greater Wellington Regional Council, and Natural Hazards Research Platform. It’s Our Fault investigations, to date, have been the result of collaborative efforts of scientists and engineers from GNS Science, Massey University, NIWA, University of Canterbury, and Victoria University of Wellington.

 2011 New Zealand Aronui Lecture Series
The Mysterious Maya - An ancient American civilisation

Professor Norman Hammond
6.00pm; Thursday 11th August

The Maya created one of the New World's most surprising and accomplished civilizations in the tropical forest of Central America and Yucatan. Over a period of 2500 years, ending with the Spanish Conquest in the 16th century, they moved from simple villages of maize farmers to great cities with impressive temples and palaces, adorned with sculptures and paintings praising their divine kings. Inscriptions in Maya hieroglyphics recorded history and the passage of time, precise to the day; the Great Cycle of the Maya calendar will end on December 23rd, 2012. Most of the cities were abandoned, afflicted by overpopulation, warfare and drought, by AD 900, but Maya culture, and the Maya people, have survived into the 21st century.

Norman Hammond is Professor Emeritus of Archaeology at Boston University, Associate in Maya Archaeology at the Peabody Museum, Harvard University and a Senior Fellow at Cambridge University.  He was Irvine Chair of Anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences (1984-85) and has been a Visiting Professor at Jilin University (China), the Sorbonne in Paris, and the University of Bonn in Germany, as well as a Fellow at Dumbarton Oaks and a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford University.

Professor Hammond’s fieldwork in the Maya has been mainly in Belize, at the sites of Lubaantun, Nohmul, Cuello and La Milpa.  He has also done fieldwork in Afghanistan, North Africa, and Ecuador.

 **EXCLUSIVE MEMBER EVENT**
Field Trip to MOTAT Pumphouse

11.30am - 2.30pm; Thursday 11 August 2011

Bring your lunch along to the Duck Pond in Auckland Domain and enjoy a short talk with our Historian curator Rose Young who will discuss the surprising places Aucklanders once got their water from.

After the talk on the history of Auckland's water supply we will make our own way to MOTAT for an exclusive tour of the Pumphouse and Beam Engine. In its day, the Pumphouse was considered one of the most advanced public water supply systems in the world.

Return from the Kermadecs
- Tom Trnski and Peter J. de Lange

7.00pm, Thursday 4th August, 2011

In May 2011 a team headed by Tom Trnski, Head of Research at Auckland Museum journeyed to The Kermadec Islands to discover what this last remaining unfished area in New Zealand was hiding above and below sea level. The team consisted of several members from many agencies including Auckland Museum, Te Papa, Department of Conservation, NIWA and Australian Museum.

Come along to hear Tom Trnski and Peter J. de Lange, Plant Specialist from the Department of Conservation talk about how successful they were and relay stories about a trip of a lifetime!

2011 New Zealand Rutherford Lecture
Professor Warren Tate  

How to Make Life from the Primordial Soup
Why RNA is the key ingredient to human life 

7.00pm, Thursday 28 July 2011

One of the biggest questions in life is how did we get here? How did a lump of rock and steam become our world, full of life and diversity?

The science community thought they had the answer with the achievement of the Human Genome Project in 2011 however ten years on it seems it is not DNA which is the star but its sibling RNA.

In this lecture, 2010 Rutherford Medallist Professor Warren Tate, of the University of Otago, will explain RNA's role 3-4 billion years ago in the origin of protein synthesis and the genetic code, and how understanding the history of this fascinating molecule can lead us into the future with the development of therapies for Alzheimers's Disease, HIV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

 **EXCLUSIVE MEMBER EVENT**
Tech Talk - Behind the Scenes of AQUA

5.45pm, Monday 4th July 2011

One of the world’s most sophisticated interactive video systems is at the heart of the AQUA experience and in the driving seat of this technology are some of the same people that have brought the Cirque du Soleil shows to life.

AQUA technical director Martin Fassier, who has worked with Cirque du Soleil since 2008, is in New Zealand to install AQUA and has agreed to take a select group of people through the exhibition talking about the behind the scenes workings some of which include:

• The scale of it – the systems makes use of just under 7km in cabling and fills three 40ft containers.
  The central pump and the water curtain have been studied and designed to use the minimum possible amount of water, in a closed-circuit way. The water remains in the system for weeks before needing to be replaced.
• The entire system is monitored and controlled from wherever the AQUA team is in the world – in other words the team can see, hear and speak with anyone in the room, and their level of control over the network is almost as if they were standing in front of the equipment.

On this behind the scenes tour you will first experience the incredible effects, including a water wall and a huge 360-degree projection which responds to your movements.  With a wave of a hand, you can create a stormy sea! Then the lights will go on and you will see how they make this all happen! Come along and truly experience the magic of AQUA.

 Show and Tell with Tom Trnski

2.00pm, Sunday 26 June 2011

In May 2011 a team headed by Tom Trnski, Head of Research at Auckland Museum journeyed to The Kermadec Islands to discover what this last remaining unfished area in New Zealand was hiding above and below sea level. Come along and hear Tom talk about what they found and what the significance of these finds are for New Zealand and the rest of the world.

Tom will bring along with him some of the more interesting things we have under our sea for you to look at and if we are lucky he may even bring some “new discoveries’ to show and tell.

This will be a great opportunity for the budding science enthusiast in your family to get up close and personal with a real scientist who is at the cutting edge of his field.

 Autumn 2011

  2011 Charles Fleming Lecture  

Mountain tops to ocean depths: involvement with a range of ecological/environmental issues, mainly in the south. 

7.00pm, Wednesday 17 May 2011

The Charles Fleming Lecturer for 2011 is Professor Alan Mark FRSNZ from the Department of Botany, University of Otao, Dunedin.

I describe a lifetime involvement with pure and applied ecological studies of the indigenous upland snow tussock grasslands (mostly with the Hellaby Indigenous Grasslands Research Trust). This has been aimed at understanding the grassland ecology, its sustainable management and ecosystem services, particularly the impacts of burning and mammalian grazing, and the unpredictably high water yields. This research has been interspersed with shorter-term opportunistic indulgences in ecopolitics, ranging from the conservation of indigenous grasslands and associated mountain lands (from the mid 60s to the current tenure review and government purchases of high country Crown pastoral leasehold lands), sustainable lake management (Lakes Manapouri, Monowai and Te Anau), conservation organisations (Forest & Bird Protection Society : notably the SWNZ World Heritage Area successful campaign), national park ecological surveys and long-term monitoring (notably Mt Aspiring National Park, Secretary Island in Fiordland National Park and the Waitutu Marine Terraces now in Fiordland N.P.). Several appointed roles (Fiordland Lake Guardians, Conservation Board, National Parks & Reserves Authority, Conservation Authority, Land Settlement Board, most recently Fiordland Marine Guardians), and a position as Deputy Director of the Temperate Grasslands Conservation Initiative of the IUCN, have allowed me to indulge quite widelym as I will briefly discuss.

2011 Royal Society of New Zealand Distinguished Speaker
Professor Robin Clark FRS Hon FRSNZ

"Science meets Art: Investigating Pigments in Art and Archaeology"

Wednesday 23 March 2011

The procedure of Raman microscopy, along with modern analytical techniques, has added much to the conservation, restoration and chronological dating of historically valuable art, artefacts and relics, inclusive of verifying an item’s authenticity or fraudulence. The technique, today, enables careful measurements of patterns of laser light scattered at different wavelengths from surfaces of dyes or pigments, in non-destructive and highly sensitive ways to create distinctive “fingerprints’ typical of particular artwork or artefact. Artists’ palettes reflecting different civilisations and epochs can be established by Raman microscopy, and thereby greatly assist in accurately determining and identifying a work’s provenance. Rarely has an optical technique made such an impact on seemingly unrelated disciplines.

Professor Ian Kirk, PhD

"Being Human: the Science of Memory, Personality and Consciousness"

Wednesday 16 March 2011

It is generally accepted that the workings of the human mind are different from those of even our closest relatives, the great apes. There remains some debate however, about what is critically different about the human brain that makes this so. Ian will discuss some of the major theories regarding anatomical and functional features of the human brain that make us unique. He will also consider the extent to which human brains (and therefore minds) might be different from each other.
Come along to find out whether the Westie mind really is different from the rest of us!

Professor Ian Kirk obtained his PhD in Psychology and Neuroscience from University of Otago. Subsequent to his PhD he held post-doctoral fellowships at the Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Calgary in Canada, and at the Centre for Complex Systems and Brain Sciences at Florida Atlantic in the USA.