The Royal Society of Tasmania

The advancement of knowledge

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Winter Lecture Series June – July 2015 – Theme: Scientific Advances in Understanding The Evolution of Life on Earth over the Last 3.5 Billion Years

Venue: University of Tasmania, Stanley Burbury Theatre

1. Evolution and Generation of Life on the Early Earth

Wednesday June 24    7.30pm

  • The Theory of Evolution – What have we learnt since Charles Darwin? – Professor John Long, Flinders University.    More Information
  • The Early Earth and Generation of Life (the first billion years) – Professor Malcom Walter, Australian Centre for Astrobiology, University of NSW.   More Information

Listen to the lectures here

2. Middle Earth – the Slingshot of Life

Wednesday July 15th   7.30pm

  • The Boring Billion Years in Earth History and its Significance – Indrani Mukherjee, PhD student, University of Tasmania. More information
  •  The Cambrian Explosion of Life and Rise of Marine Species – Dr Diego Bellido-Garcia, University of Adelaide. More information

Listen to the lectures here

3. Life in the last 500 million years; Mass Extinctions, Volcanoes and Meteorites

Wednesday July 22nd 7.30pm

  •  The Five Great Mass Extinction Events – what was their cause, and when is the next? – Distinguished Professor Ross Large, University of Tasmania.  more information
  • Mega Volcanic Eruptions and the Greatest Mass Extinction of all Time – Dr Karin Orth, University of Tasmania. more information

 

Singapore: Global Pantry of the Future? – Dr Nicki Tarulevicz – Tuesday June 2 – 8.00 pm

Dr Nicki Tarulevicz will present “Singapore: Global Pantry of the Future?”

in The Royal Society Room, 19 Davey St (entry via Dunn St Car Park) at 8.00 om on Tuesday June 2 2015.

All welcome and entry is free.

 

Although importing the vast majority of your food seems like particularly twenty-first-century situation, it has been the reality of the Southeast Asian island-state of Singapore since settlement in 1819. Singapore relies on imported water; it does not have, and has never had, an agricultural hinterland and this created an early reliance on the global pantry with a consequent distance from producers and the need to negotiate long supply chains. Despite the dependence on imported food, Singapore is now internationally famous as a food destination, with food doing important nation-building work. This accomplishment, however, required intensive management and regulation—another characteristic for which the city-state is well known. In this sense, Singapore anticipated the contemporary complexity of the food system as it is now playing out globally, making Singapore a surprisingly relevant place to discuss food in a global food system.

 

Bio-note: Dr Nicole Tarulevicz is a Senior Lecturer in Asian Studies at the School of Humanities, University of Tasmania. She is a Historian and author ofEating Her Curries and Kway: A Cultural History of Food in Singapore (2013), she is currently working on a project with the working title Taste of Safety: A History of Food Quality. She was the recipient of the 2012 Association for the Study of Food Culture and Society Pedagogy Award and is a current Elected Member of the Board of the Association for the Study of Food, Culture and Society (2014-17).

From Spiny Ant-Eater to Promiscuous Spiky Baby Killer: An Incomplete Natural History of Echidnas – Associate Professor Stewart Nicol – 24 May 2015

From Spiny Ant-Eater to Promiscuous Spiky Baby Killer: An Incomplete Natural History of Echidnas presented by Associate Professor Stewart Nicol, in the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk, 2.00pm Sunday 24th May 2015
Admission: $6 General Public, $4 Friends of the Museum and Students
Free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania

To assist us with the organization of this event
RSVP by Thursday 21st May 2015:
Email [email protected] or telephone 6323 3798

Assoc. Prof. Nicol will discuss the controversies provoked by the arrival of the first specimens of echidnas and platypuses in Europe at the end of the 18th century, and some of the larger than life personalities involved. It wasn’t until 1884 that the debate about their mode of reproduction was fully settled, and surprisingly little work was done on the field biology of the echidna until recently, and it was not until 1986 that it was shown that the echidna is a “classical” hibernator. Studies of echidnas in the wild have shown surprising interrelationships between hibernation and reproduction, and explain why male echidnas have such large testes. Recent observations provide a possible explanation of why males mate with females that have not yet completed their hibernation, why females may re-enter hibernation when pregnant, and while they continue to mate when pregnant. Assoc Prof. Nicol will also provide new information on the unusual properties of echidna milk.

Stewart Nicol, was born in Launceston and attended Launceston High School and Launceston Matriculation College before studying zoology and geology at the University of Tasmania in Hobart, obtaining first class honours in Zoology in 1968. After a brief period as a teacher at Launceston College he returned to Hobart as Demonstrator in Physiology in the Medical School and completed a PhD on the  thermal physiology of the potoroo in 1978. He eventually became Head of Anatomy & Physiology and Deputy Dean of Health Science, but his research interests were mainly in the physiology of native mammals and in 2007 he transferred to the School of Zoology. Since 1990 his principal research interest has been the biology of the echidna and he has published over 50 papers on various aspects of their biology, ranging from haematology, respiration and hibernation to reproduction, maternal care, olfactory  communication and milk composition, as well as several book chapters. He retired in 2012 but continues with his research.

Come and join us for an evening on Maatsuyker Island with Marina Campbell and Gary Miller. Tuesday 5 May 2015 8.00pm

Maatsuyker Island is home to Australia’s most southerly lighthouse. Set high on the south end of the island, the lighthouse opened in 1891 and guided ships around Tasmania’s Southwest Cape for over one hundred years before an automatic light was installed in 1996. Maatsuyker is 10 kilometres offshore from the southwest corner of Tasmania making it one of the most remote lighthouses in Australia. The magnificent lighthouse and the three keeper’s residences still stand today on this lonely outpost. Today, in order to preserve the historical, cultural and natural values Maatsuyker Island is manned year-round by adventurous volunteers who accept the isolation and hard work of the island for 6 months at a time. Come join former caretakers, Marina Campbell and Gary Miller, for an evening about one of Australia’s most isolated lighthouses and the beautiful and surprisingly pristine island. Marina and Gary would like to share with you their experiences with the island, the work, the wildlife and most of all the lighthouse.

Variations of Nutrient Trace Elements in the Past Oceans Provides a New Explanation for Major Extinction Events – Professor Ross Large – 26 April 2015

The Royal Society of Tasmania – 2015 Launceston Lecture Series

Professor Ross Large
Distinguished Professor of Geology, UTAS

will present

Variations of Nutrient Trace Elements in the Past Oceans Provides a New Explanation for Major Extinction Events

in the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk
2.00 pm Sunday 26th April 2015
Admission: $6 General Public, $4 Friends of the Museum and Students
Free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania

To assist us with the organization of this event
RSVP by Thursday 23rd April 2015:
Email [email protected] or telephone 6323 3798

Availability of nutrients in the ocean is a major factor affecting marine life, burial of carbon and release of oxygen. However, the nutrient trace element (TE) composition of the paleo-ocean cannot be measured directly and is therefore poorly understood. In this talk I present a comprehensive global dataset on the TE content of marine sedimentary pyrite in black shales, dating back 700 million years. The data demonstrate that variations in continental uplift and erosion created a series of nutrient cycles that controlled evolution in the oceans and oxygen in the atmosphere. The cyclic patterns reveal periods of nutrient-rich oceans of 30 to 60 million years duration, followed by nutrient-poor oceans of 10 to 40 million years duration that account for several major mass extinction events.

Professor Ross Large is a Distinguished Professor of Geology at the University of Tasmania. He gained his BSc (Hons) from the University of Tasmania in 1969 and PhD from University of New England in
1973. For ten years Ross worked in mineral exploration in Northern Territory, Queensland and Tasmania. In 1984 he joined the University of Tasmania, and five years later established the Centre for Ore
Deposit and Exploration Science (CODES). Under his leadership CODES has grown to become recognized as one of the top industry collaborative ore deposit research centres in the world. Ross has over
100 publications in international journals and has gained a number of international awards for his research. His current research interests are sediment-hosted gold deposits and evolution of the chemistry
of the oceans.

The Portraits of Captain James Cook – Mr Paul Brunton OAM FAHA – 22 March 2015

Paul Brunton OAM, FAHA  Emeritus Curator, State Library of NSW, Honorary Associate of the School of Philosophy and Historical Inquiry,
University of Sydney  will present  The Portraits of Captain James Cook  in the Meeting Room, QVMAG at Inveresk 2.00pm Sunday 22nd March 2015

Admission: $6 General Public, $4 Friends of the Museum and Students
Free for members of The Royal Society of Tasmania

To assist us with the organization of this event
RSVP by Thursday 19th March 2015:
Email [email protected] or telephone 6323 3798

There are only six authentic extant portraits of Captain James Cook (1728-1779) in the world, of which three are by the same artist, John Webber (1751-1793). Webber was the official artist on Cook’s third and last voyage. Three of these six portraits were unknown until after 1960 including both the portraits in Australia which are the first and last portraits of Cook to be painted. The stories of these contemporary portraits and the images of the great explorer made after his death give an insight into the man and the making of his legend. They helped create the legend of a man who selflessly died so that others might live, a great British hero but one of science not of war.

Paul Brunton, OAM, FAHA, is Emeritus Curator of the State Library of New South Wales, and Honorary Associate of the School of Philosophical and Historical Inquiry, University of Sydney. He was Senior
Curator, Mitchell Library, from 2002 to 2012 and Curator of Manuscripts from 1986 to 2000. He has a special interest in the European discoveries in the Pacific and was responsible for the acquisition of
a number of significant manuscripts and printed books on this subject for the Mitchell Library. His publications include Matthew Flinders: personal letters from an extraordinary life (2002).

Congratulations Professor Emily Hilder!

Professor Emily Hilder, Vice President of The Royal Society of Tasmania, is one of only three Australian academics to be recognised in the Analytical Scientist magazine’s inaugural Top 40 Under 40 listing. The international compilation honours the next generation of up and coming scientists: those who are pioneering new research innovations across the sciences.

Professor Hilder is the head of Chemistry within the School of Physical Sciences and a Professor in ACROSS in the Faculty of Science, Engineering and Technology. She is also Director of ARC (Australian Research Council) Training Centre for Portable Analytical Separation Technologies.

Read more:
http://www.media.utas.edu.au/general-news/all-news/chemistry-researchers-receive-global-acclaim

 

“Global Hunger and Malnutrition: A practical Tasmanian ‘food plant’ solution.” – Dr John Thorne & Ian Geard – Wednesday April 8 2015 8.00 pm

Almost 900 million people today are chronically hungry. They will be just as hungry tomorrow. Most are women and children though many small scale farmers are also hungry. The current broad approaches to global hunger and malnutrition are clearly not working – the numbers are increasing daily. These same people are also chronically malnourished due to a lack of essential micronutrients, particularly iron, vitamin A, folate, zinc and iodine. Typical (well advertised) solutions currently being used tend to create dependence rather than self-reliance.

Front line agriculturalists are again focussing on the forgotten and local food plants of the world. These can deliver the benefits of healthy diets, resilient food systems, lower food prices and great availability of food, particularly to those in need. In other words there is a solution that is local and sustainable.

“Food Plant Solutions” is based on an enviable and huge data-base created by Tasmanian agricultural scientist, Bruce French and made freely available to the world-wide organisation of volunteers, Rotary International. The data-base contains comprehensive information on at least 27,000 edible plants for all countries of the world. Food plants that are well adapted and thrive in a particular region or country and contain the highest levels of key nutrients can be readily identified from the data-base. A global group of economists at the Copenhagen Consensus Centre supported the United Nations and others who maintain that the most cost-effective way to use the ‘development’ dollar is by reducing malnutrition.

Two former Vice-Presidents of the Royal Society of Tasmania, Ian Geard and Dr John Thorne, will illustrate how the ready union of knowledge from the Tasmanian data-base combined with a variety of global volunteers is making a difference in at least 28 countries where hunger and malnutrition is a challenge. “Food Plant Solutions” enhances the ability of local groups to make a difference.

Ian Geard was a senior agricultural scientist in Tasmania including his role as Chief Quarantine Officer. He has been engaged by the United Nations Development Program, the FAO/World Bank, the European Union and the Australian Assistance Bureau to visit and advise on a wide variety of food and plant programs, mainly in Asia. Dr John Thorne is the only Tasmanian to have served on the International Board for Rotary – a global volunteer service organisation with 1.2 million active members in about 200 regions or countries. He is the Foundation Chairman of the Rotarian Action Group – Food Plant Solutions. Ian and John recently visited China together to cement relations with a charitable Foundation giving access to the 100 million ethnic minorities there who are seriously challenged with malnutrition and often with hunger. The group also has clear access to help the hungry in the DPRK (North Korea).

Royal Society Room,
Customs House Building, TMAG,
19 Davey St. Hobart (entry from Dunn Place) 8.00 pm
• All interested people welcome
• Admission is free

3rd March Prof. Matt King – Continental loss: The quest to determine Antarctica’s contribution to sea-level change

The Royal Society of Tasmania invites you to attend a special lecture by Prof. Matt King
Continental loss:The quest to determine Antarctica’s contribution to sea-level change
Tuesday 3 March, 8.00 pm
Royal Society Room,
Customs House Building, TMAG,
19 Davey St. Hobart (entry from Dunn Place)
• All interested people welcome
• Admission is free
Prof. King is the 2015 recipient of the prestigious Kavli Medal awarded by The Royal Society of London for his work that contributed to the first reconciled estimate of Antarctica and Greenland’s contribution to sea-­‐level change.

Summary:
For over 50 years scientists have been working to understand Antarctica’s contribution to sea level. For much of this time there has been disagreement about if this massive ice sheet is even growing or shrinking. In 2012, advances in data analysis and computer modelling resulted in the first reconciled estimate of change being achieved. This showed that Antarctica is increasingly contributing to sea-level rise. During this lecture I will explain some of the major advances that led to this reconciled estimate and highlight some of the fascinating things we can learn about Earth from the vantage-point of Antarctica; these take us from hundreds of miles above Earth’s surface to hundreds of miles below, and from present-day ice sheet changes to those that happened 20,000 years ago.

Bio:
Matt King grew up in Burnie before moving with his family to Hobart in 1988. During 1992-1996 he undertook a Bachelor of Surveying at the University of Tasmania, a time that included a year working in mines on Tasmania’s West Coast. He then shifted focus to Antarctica, undertaking a PhD quantifying changes in the motion of a large floating Antarctic ice shelf using surveying data. In 2001 he moved to the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK, where he researched GPS positioning and its application to understanding glacier dynamics, Earth deformation and Antarctica’s contribution to recent sea-level change. He has travelled to both Antarctica and Greenland and published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles, including several in the leading journals Science and Nature. In late 2012 he returned to the University of Tasmania where he is based in the School of Land and Food as Professor of Polar Geodesy and ARC Future Fellow. In April he will travel to the Royal Society (London) to receive the 2015 Kavli Medal and Lecture which is awarded every two years for excellence in all fields of science and engineering relevant to the environment or energy, and particularly for his work that contributed to the first reconciled estimate of Antarctica and Greenland’s contribution to sea-level change.