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Nelson Weekly
News
WEDNESDAY 15 May 2019
Locally Owned and Operated
Budding biologists seeking breakthrough Jonty Dine Reporter
jonty@nelsonweekly.co.nz
Are we harming our ocean’s inhabitants with the pharmaceuticals we pour into their home? A team of Nelson secondary school scientists wants to find out. The budding biologists have been running a series of experiments on mussels at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park to figure out what effects the likes of antidepressants and birth control have on spats. Richard de Hamel of the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre at the University of Otago says the answers to such questions may have multimillion-dollar consequences. Richard is part of a team of educators who have teamed up with Cawthron NMIT and SpatNZ to deliver ‘real world’
laboratory workshops. More than 100 Year 13 biology students from secondary schools in Nelson and Marlborough have been finding out about the science that lies behind our successful aquaculture industry. The workshops are designed to give students access to stateof-the-art laboratory facilities to carry out experiments with mussels. Alice McCullough, who took part in the very first workshops eight years ago, says they were a major influence on what she is doing now. “The workshops were the first time I really got to think for myself in a real-world laboratory environment.” Alice says she had to use her knowledge and apply it to a real problem. Since leaving school, Alice has completed a Bachelor of Science and a Graduate Diploma in
Marine Science and will shortly start her master’s degree, where she will study sponges. Alice was also one of Cawthron’s summer scholars and spent ten weeks looking at the use of algae as feed in the aquaculture industry. She says students lead their own experiments and for many it’s the first time that they are faced with the challenge of overcoming science challenges. Jess Alloway and Roz Walker from Nelson College for Girls were looking at the effect of different concentrations of adrenalin on mussel heart rate. “We can’t access this in a school environment, so it’s been fantastic to be able to come here and talk to scientists and work in a laboratory,” says Jess. She says it’s ‘real science’, and it’s exciting to think about how new research might be framed because of something they discover.
Nayland College student Eva Ang analysing mussel spurs at the Cawthron Aquaculture Park last week. Photo: Jonty Dine.
Council welcomes climate change policy
EXCELLENCE IN DERMATOLOGY
NELSON & TASMAN SUNDAY 9 JUNE
REGISTER NOW!
Register by going online to the Tasman District or Nelson City Council’s websites (search phrase = Second Hand Sunday). You can also call the Councils’ Customer Service Centres, Ph. Tasman 03 543 8400, Ph. Nelson 03 546 0200. Instructions for the day are also online.
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You can find out about other reuse options on either Council’s website, tasman.govt.nz or nelson.govt.nz
GENERATIONS OF NELSON
GENERATIONS
Registrations must be in by 10.00 am, Friday 7 June so each Council can publish the list of addresses of people taking part on the website.
to net zero by 2050. Nelson Mayor Rachel Reese says that the council supports bill. “Nelsonians are all too aware of the impacts that climate change could have on our city and our country. We have made climate change a major focus as part of our current annual plan and will continue to focus on what we can do now and into the future. “Setting a legislative limit on global warming over the next 30 years will help us, and the rest of local government throughout New Zealand, make sure that action will occur on a national scale.”
GENERATIONS OF
Here’s your opportunity to re-home household goods! On Second Hand Sunday, people can take away the stuff you don’t want for free!
How does it work?
The Nelson City Council is pleased the Government has introduced a bill to try and curb the effects of climate change. Last week the Government introduced the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Bill which sets out a climate change plan for the next 30 years. This includes a legally-binding objective of limiting climate change to no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius within this time period. The Government has also set a new emissions reduction target for all greenhouse gases, except methane,
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designed and crafted by JE (Jackie) MacDonald and building Richard (Artist), Assistant (Dick) Jones. Donated Craftsman Francis by the Day Family, H Day. Framing, Marsden House Trust. installing Dedicated on 25th August 2007.
installing Francis H Day. Framing, (Artist), Assistant Craftsman August 2007. by JE (Jackie) MacDonald Dedicated on 25th designed and crafted Marsden House Trust. This window was by the Day Family, (Dick) Jones. Donated and building Richard
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