Series of public events to highlight local innovations

Palmerston North City Council, the City Library, Forest and Bird, the Massey University School of Engineering and The Royal Society Manawatū branch have collaborated to present a series of enlightening science talks and presentation celebrating local Innovations in Science.

In the first presentation, PNCC invites you to meet some of the Nature Calls project team. They’ll explain the process Council is taking to explore some of the future wastewater options for the city. The project team can respond to queries at the end of the presentation. Forest and Bird presents an evening with Whanganui bird photographer and author Paul Gibson. In his illustrated talk, Paul will discuss his attempt to photograph every bird in New Zealand, resulting in his recently released book Birds NZ. His photographic excursions have taken him the length of the country and to the sub-antarctic Islands. His books not only document our native birds, they also recounts behavioral and habitat observations. Café Sci-entifique is an evening of discussions presented by The Royal Society Te Aparangi. The format is relaxed with a variety of presenters giving short presentations followed by discussion. The presenters are all contributors to the latest edition of Plains Science Vol. 3: including Vince Neall - the geological origin of the Manawatū Gorge; Hugh Blair - The Perendale sheep story; Robert Norris – spreadable butter; Kathryn Stowell – malignant hyperthermia and Jill Rapson – Two endemic plants of the Manawatū dunes. Finally, Massey University School of Engineering students present innovations from their year’s work. The school has staff, researchers and students who work year round on new initiatives and have recently worked to address such issues as: how to make food production more efficient; how to ensure disaster relief is more effectively managed; and how to wirelessly connect remote areas. It will also round out the year of monthly science talks by Forest and Bird and The Royal Society. All talks are free and everyone is welcome.