Bowel Cancer

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Associate Professor Arend Merrie MB ChB, PhD, FRACS, MInstD Arend trained in General Surgery in New Zealand gaining his Fellowship and a PhD on colorectal cancer in 2001. Following this he completed a post fellowship training programme in Colorectal Surgery in Auckland and Oxford. He has particular interest and expertise in minimally invasive approaches to […]

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UP THE CREEK – UNRAVELLING THE SECRETS OF NEW ZEALAND’S STREAMS

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Speaker: Emeritus Professor Colin Townsend, University of Otago

You may not be surprised to learn that if New Zealand’s rivers were to be placed end to end they would total 9,471 km in length. But did you know that the streams that feed those rivers total more than 400,000 km! Did you know that the beds of such streams that have been reached by the introduced brown trout tend to be more slippery than those still occupied by native fish? Or that an ancient whitebait species became ‘landlocked’ into headwater streams of the South Island and evolved into 12 or more new non-migratory species? Or that streams whose beds are disturbed at an intermediate rate have a higher biodiversity than streams turned over by more frequent spates or not disturbed at all? Or which of the human-caused impairments (nitrogen, sediment, water abstraction, increased temperature) is most harmful to stream ecosystems? Well nor did I - until my research team started work three decades ago.

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From brobdingnagians to lilliputians: reconstructing prehistoric New Zealand.

Speaker: Dr Nic Rawlence, University of Otago. Aotearoa New Zealand has been described as the closest thing to studying life on another planet. Yet the animals that survived the arrival of humans are only a fraction of the wide and varied menagerie that originally called these lonely isles home. While we may think we know […]

Biological control: the risks, benefits and challenges

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Professor Barbara Barratt, AgResearch and University of Otago Biological control is a natural phenomenon, but pest management using natural enemies has been manipulated by man for over 3000 years, with Chinese farmers recognising they could reduce the impact of orchard pests by transferring predatory ant nests to their trees. In her talk, Barbara will describe […]

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Watch your mouth: ageing and dental health

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Professor Murray Thomson, University of Otago Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand in 2022, Professor Murray Thomson is a prolific researcher in dental epidemiology and health services. His work in the renowned Dunedin Study has enhanced understanding of oral health through life, providing important contributions to understanding the oral health of […]

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WILL KNOWING YOUR GENOME IMPROVE YOUR HEALTH?

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Genomics has promised to transform medicine and medical practice but for the average New Zealander the evidence for this might seem lacking. My talk will address the technologies that have enabled step changes in understanding the genetic architecture of disease. I will also highlight the areas of medicine that have benefited most from this technological revolution. […]

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Freshwater ecosystems under threat: conservation in a warming Aotearoa

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Professor Angus McIntosh, University of Canterbury In his talk, Angus will traverse the range of issues associated with climate change that confront our freshwater ecosystems. He'll talk about the challenges as well as some solutions. This will touch on native fish having to deal with drought and introduced trout, mudfish negotiating tornados, high alpine tarns […]

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The power of environmental DNA for enhancing conservation and biosecurity in Aotearoa New Zealand

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Dr Shaun Wilkinson, CEO Wilderlab High-throughput DNA sequencing technologies make it possible to survey entire biological communities with as little as a single cup of water. The commercialization of environmental DNA (eDNA) has vastly improved the accessibility and accuracy of this technology. In Aotearoa New Zealand, eDNA monitoring is being implemented by multiple organizations from […]

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Addressing Sustainability Challenges in Aotearoa

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Associate Professor Anna Garden and Dr Emilia Nowak, MacDiarmid Institute. The MacDiarmid Institute is a network of leading researchers from around the country united in a common goal: to create and explore innovative, sustainable materials that will improve the lives of people in Aotearoa New Zealand and around the globe. This talk will present an […]

Free

Remote sensing with NASA: The Rongowai Mission takes off

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Professor Delwyn Moller (University of Auckland) Imagine if domestic flights crossing our skies each day were not only taking people places but also gathering vast amounts of critical environmental data at the same time. Delwyn Moller will tell us about the ground breaking Rongowai Mission - a collaborative programme between NASA, NZ's Space Agency and […]

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Revolutions in the sky: black holes, the universe and everything

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

Professor David Wiltshire, University of Canterbury Sixty years ago New Zealander Roy Kerr helped revolutionize physics when he discovered the solution to Einstein's equations defining space around a rotating star or black hole. The Kerr solution became the basis for revolutions first in fundamental physics and later in astronomy and cosmology. More recent discoveries of […]

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STUDYING PHAGE-BACTERIUM INTERACTIONS IS A TREASURE TROVE FOR POSSIBLE APPLICATIONS

Presbyterian Community Centre 94 Tenby Street, Wanaka, New Zealand

All cellular organisms in the world are vulnerable to infection by viruses. We have seen this impact our lives in the past few years with the coronavirus pandemic. Bacteria are also infected by their own viruses, which are known as bacteriophages (phages) – Greek for “bacteria eaters”. These phages are the most abundant biological entities […]

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Royal Society Wanaka