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Otago Daily Times
20 hours ago
- Science
- Otago Daily Times
Tekapo couple honoured for planetary defence contributions
By Katie Todd of RNZ For 50 years Pam Kilmartin and Alan Gilmore have quietly worked to track asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. The couple, now in their 70s, had contributed detailed observations to international planetary defence programmes, using their vantage point in Tekapo and teamwork to swiftly gather unique data. Their work saw them jointly awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, although Kilmartin said she was "terrified" at the thought of receiving the honour. "I don't really know how we came to get something like this. We have just been doing what we like for the last 50 years," she said. "We kind of feel a bit guilty about being honoured for what is fun for us." Kilmartin and Gilmore had discovered 41 asteroids, a comet and a nova - the latter two being "accidental" discoveries, Gilmore said. The couple established a programme tracking near-Earth asteroids, initially from Wellington's Carter Observatory and later from the University of Canterbury's Mt John Observatory in 1980. In the 1980s, evidence was mounting that an asteroid impact had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and astronomers around the world were becoming increasingly aware of the potential threat posed by near-earth objects. Observatories around the world began tracking asteroids larger wider that 140m, within 20 times the moon's distance to Earth - that is, close enough to pose a collision risk. Kilmartin and Gilmore saw a gap in global search efforts: "the absence of any such work in the Southern Hemisphere," Gilmore said. Most of the discoveries were made by search programmes in Arizona and Hawaii, he explained. "Because we're in the Southern Hemisphere, there is a there is a parallax effect, that is, we're looking at the asteroid from a slightly different direction. That enables them to triangulate, to get a distance measurement estimate for the asteroid, and that improves the orbit calculation very quickly. So our location in New Zealand is very helpful for this work," he said. "The idea is to find these objects before they find us ... to come up with technology that could divert it a little bit." Such technology was put to the test in 2022 during NASA's DART mission, which successfully knocked a stadium-sized asteroid off-course. Stargazers in the making Kilmartin said her "vague" interest in astronomy was kindled in the small country town where she grew up, where "the stars were part of the scenery". Later, she deepened that interest at the Auckland Astronomical Society, joining a group of women learning the art of photoelectric photometry - a process to measure the brightness of stars. For Gilmore, the catalyst was seeing a shooting star while walking with his father one night in the 1950s. He was further inspired by a "neat little book on practical astronomy" that he found at the Hutt Intermediate School library that taught him how to make a telescope. By secondary school he was so adept at handling telescopes that he was invited to help test out possible sites for the University of Pennsylvania to set up a southern observation station in New Zealand. The pair met at an astronomical conference in Christchurch and married in Wellington in 1974 while working at the Carter Observatory - Kilmartin as an information officer and Gilmore as a researcher. It was then that they began working as a team, producing precise measurements that would put them on the international radar. "What really got us on the international scene was Michael Clark at Mt John Observatory discovered a small comet. He sent photographic plates of the comet to the Carter Observatory and Pam and I got more photos of it, and we measured up those plates and we produced the first precise positions of that comet globally," Gilmore said. Working in tandem The pair see their teamwork as a secret weapon, which allows them to report observations potentially faster than any other astronomy group in the world, Gilmore said. "We sort of share our skills back and forth," Kilmartin said. "Like they say, the sum is greater than its can be reporting observations internationally, literally within minutes of making them, because there's two of us operating," Gilmore said. "I'm controlling the telescope, selecting the next target and then operating the cameras that we have on the telescopes, that take many, many pictures. Pam drags those across to her laptop and runs a piece of software called Astrometrica which stacks the images so that we can find a particular asteroid. And then Astrometrica is able to measure the position of the asteroid and it produces the data in a format that we can then just simply paste into a website for the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts." Astronomy will 'enhance your life' Gilmore twice served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand and edited its newsletter for 22 years, while Kilmartin was secretary for 18 years. From 1996 until their retirement in 2014, Gilmore was also Mt John Observatory's resident superintendent, managing its day-to-day operation. Gilmore had to learn to drive a tractor, while Kilmartin did "an awful lot of work shovelling snow off the paths and tracks", as well as hosting thousands of school children and visitors for tours. Now living in Tekapo with a large telescope at home, Gilmore said the couple continued to host groups. "We've tried to get involved with keeping our community involved and informed in astronomy," he said. "We send out, for instance, sets of sky charts every month, e-mailing them out to about 400 addresses. Some of them are schools and so on that circulate them to pupils." They said they were heartened by local growth in astro-tourism. Astronomy will "enhance your life," Kilmartin said, whether as a hobby or a career. More than a decade after their retirement, the pair continued making observations and sending data to the Minor Planet Centre. Gilmore said the University of Canterbury still supported them as "sort of honorary research associates", allowing them to access telescope time. "We just, for instance, worked until 1am this morning before clouds came in on one of the Mt John telescopes," he said. "Our work continues to be useful. It's not in any way cutting edge work, but it's a very handy contribution to international astronomy." Decades of plant protection honoured Closer to Earth, champion of the country's plant science sector Alison Stewart has been recognised as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. The current Foundation for Arable Research chief executive said the honour was a "very pleasant surprise" and exciting recognition for her field. "Plant science doesn't normally get profiled in this way," she said. Stewart has dedicated a 40-year career to sustainable plant protection, soil biology and plant bio-technology. Her work is credited for the commercialisation of biocontrol products used by New Zealand and overseas growers. She has also pioneered sustainable farming practices to improve crop yields and quality while minimising environmental impacts. Stewart said it had been gratifying work. "When the commercial companies that I've worked with have got products out in the marketplace that are being used by growers in New Zealand to support their sustainable production practices - and those products came from research that my research team has done over the 40 years... gosh, that's really nice to see," she said. Stewart was chief science officer at Marrone Bio Innovations in the US from 2013 to 2015, and general manager Forestry Science at Scion from 2015 to 2018. She describes her career as "a collection of all the things that I love doing, wrapped up into the most amazing jobs." Stewart said the recognition was not just about her. "I see it very much as a shout out for all those plant scientists in the country who do an amazing job to look after our native flora and support the development of our plant food producers," she said. "I think of the number of postgraduate students that I have supervised over the years. Seeing all of them go out to work in New Zealand companies - and they are now becoming leaders in their own right - I get a huge amount of satisfaction knowing that I contributed a little bit."
Otago Daily Times
2 days ago
- Science
- Otago Daily Times
Guardians of the galaxy: Tekapo couple honoured
By Katie Todd of RNZ For 50 years Pam Kilmartin and Alan Gilmore have quietly worked to track asteroids that could pose a threat to Earth. The couple, now in their 70s, had contributed detailed observations to international planetary defence programmes, using their vantage point in Tekapo and teamwork to swiftly gather unique data. Their work saw them jointly awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit, although Kilmartin said she was "terrified" at the thought of receiving the honour. "I don't really know how we came to get something like this. We have just been doing what we like for the last 50 years," she said. "We kind of feel a bit guilty about being honoured for what is fun for us." Kilmartin and Gilmore had discovered 41 asteroids, a comet and a nova - the latter two being "accidental" discoveries, Gilmore said. The couple established a programme tracking near-Earth asteroids, initially from Wellington's Carter Observatory and later from the University of Canterbury's Mt John Observatory in 1980. In the 1980s, evidence was mounting that an asteroid impact had caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and astronomers around the world were becoming increasingly aware of the potential threat posed by near-earth objects. Observatories around the world began tracking asteroids larger wider that 140m, within 20 times the moon's distance to Earth - that is, close enough to pose a collision risk. Kilmartin and Gilmore saw a gap in global search efforts: "the absence of any such work in the Southern Hemisphere," Gilmore said. Most of the discoveries were made by search programmes in Arizona and Hawaii, he explained. "Because we're in the Southern Hemisphere, there is a there is a parallax effect, that is, we're looking at the asteroid from a slightly different direction. That enables them to triangulate, to get a distance measurement estimate for the asteroid, and that improves the orbit calculation very quickly. So our location in New Zealand is very helpful for this work," he said. "The idea is to find these objects before they find us ... to come up with technology that could divert it a little bit." Such technology was put to the test in 2022 during NASA's DART mission, which successfully knocked a stadium-sized asteroid off-course. Stargazers in the making Kilmartin said her "vague" interest in astronomy was kindled in the small country town where she grew up, where "the stars were part of the scenery". Later, she deepened that interest at the Auckland Astronomical Society, joining a group of women learning the art of photoelectric photometry - a process to measure the brightness of stars. For Gilmore, the catalyst was seeing a shooting star while walking with his father one night in the 1950s. He was further inspired by a "neat little book on practical astronomy" that he found at the Hutt Intermediate School library that taught him how to make a telescope. By secondary school he was so adept at handling telescopes that he was invited to help test out possible sites for the University of Pennsylvania to set up a southern observation station in New Zealand. The pair met at an astronomical conference in Christchurch and married in Wellington in 1974 while working at the Carter Observatory - Kilmartin as an information officer and Gilmore as a researcher. It was then that they began working as a team, producing precise measurements that would put them on the international radar. "What really got us on the international scene was Michael Clark at Mt John Observatory discovered a small comet. He sent photographic plates of the comet to the Carter Observatory and Pam and I got more photos of it, and we measured up those plates and we produced the first precise positions of that comet globally," Gilmore said. Working in tandem The pair see their teamwork as a secret weapon, which allows them to report observations potentially faster than any other astronomy group in the world, Gilmore said. "We sort of share our skills back and forth," Kilmartin said. "Like they say, the sum is greater than its can be reporting observations internationally, literally within minutes of making them, because there's two of us operating," Gilmore said. "I'm controlling the telescope, selecting the next target and then operating the cameras that we have on the telescopes, that take many, many pictures. Pam drags those across to her laptop and runs a piece of software called Astrometrica which stacks the images so that we can find a particular asteroid. And then Astrometrica is able to measure the position of the asteroid and it produces the data in a format that we can then just simply paste into a website for the Minor Planet Centre in Cambridge, Massachusetts." Astronomy will 'enhance your life' Gilmore twice served as president of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand and edited its newsletter for 22 years, while Kilmartin was secretary for 18 years. From 1996 until their retirement in 2014, Gilmore was also Mt John Observatory's resident superintendent, managing its day-to-day operation. Gilmore had to learn to drive a tractor, while Kilmartin did "an awful lot of work shovelling snow off the paths and tracks", as well as hosting thousands of school children and visitors for tours. Now living in Tekapo with a large telescope at home, Gilmore said the couple continued to host groups. "We've tried to get involved with keeping our community involved and informed in astronomy," he said. "We send out, for instance, sets of sky charts every month, e-mailing them out to about 400 addresses. Some of them are schools and so on that circulate them to pupils." They said they were heartened by local growth in astro-tourism. Astronomy will "enhance your life," Kilmartin said, whether as a hobby or a career. More than a decade after their retirement, the pair continued making observations and sending data to the Minor Planet Centre. Gilmore said the University of Canterbury still supported them as "sort of honorary research associates", allowing them to access telescope time. "We just, for instance, worked until 1am this morning before clouds came in on one of the Mt John telescopes," he said. "Our work continues to be useful. It's not in any way cutting edge work, but it's a very handy contribution to international astronomy." Decades of plant protection honoured Closer to Earth, champion of the country's plant science sector Alison Stewart has been recognised as a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit. The current Foundation for Arable Research chief executive said the honour was a "very pleasant surprise" and exciting recognition for her field. "Plant science doesn't normally get profiled in this way," she said. Stewart has dedicated a 40-year career to sustainable plant protection, soil biology and plant bio-technology. Her work is credited for the commercialisation of biocontrol products used by New Zealand and overseas growers. She has also pioneered sustainable farming practices to improve crop yields and quality while minimising environmental impacts. Stewart said it had been gratifying work. "When the commercial companies that I've worked with have got products out in the marketplace that are being used by growers in New Zealand to support their sustainable production practices - and those products came from research that my research team has done over the 40 years... gosh, that's really nice to see," she said. Stewart was chief science officer at Marrone Bio Innovations in the US from 2013 to 2015, and general manager Forestry Science at Scion from 2015 to 2018. She describes her career as "a collection of all the things that I love doing, wrapped up into the most amazing jobs." Stewart said the recognition was not just about her. "I see it very much as a shout out for all those plant scientists in the country who do an amazing job to look after our native flora and support the development of our plant food producers," she said. "I think of the number of postgraduate students that I have supervised over the years. Seeing all of them go out to work in New Zealand companies - and they are now becoming leaders in their own right - I get a huge amount of satisfaction knowing that I contributed a little bit."
RNZ News
2 days ago
- General
- RNZ News
World-First NZ study could help stamp out superbugs by mapping antimicrobial resistance hot spots
An illustration of the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which causes whooping cough. Photo: 123RF A world-first study, led by the University of Canterbury, could help reduce the risk of antimicrobial resistance, considered one of the greatest health threats facing humanity. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) occurs when pathogens like bacteria and fungi evolve to withstand antibiotics. The project, which is currently a grant proposal, is being led by Professor Jack Heinemann of Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, University of Canterbury's School of Biological Sciences. He said the research will map reservoirs of AMR across New Zealand to pinpoint areas of resistance, making it the first country in the world to know where its hot spots are located. It's hoped the university's research could be adopted and used by governments, private businesses, and communities internationally. "The reason it's a world first is because there aren't any countries yet on the scale that we are proposing to do this that have mapped their antimicrobial resistance so that they can apply a One Health approach to control the flow of antimicrobial resistance between the environment, agriculture and humans," he said. "We have an advantage in New Zealand because we're an island and it's possible for us to limit the number of variables that could complicate a study like this." "But at the same time, we're pretty big for such a study of this nature and that combined makes this a world first potential to tell us where resistance tends to accumulate, how to keep it there or eliminate it once we find it and work towards a world that doesn't just manage antimicrobial resistance but actually stamps it out." The University of Canterbury professor said that in the last century, antibiotic-resistant microorganisms have spread across the land, air and water in far greater numbers as the world's population, antibiotic use, and industrial pollution have grown. "The bacteria are now found everywhere, including places far removed from human activity like Antarctica and the bottom of the ocean," he said. "So much of our existence is dependent on antibiotics because they're used to control infectious diseases as they arise and to grow crops and livestock to the levels we need to produce food for so many people. It's reached a point where it is now an existential threat to our way of life and even to our species." "Even a small growth in the proportion of bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics can cost the global healthcare system tens to hundreds of billions of dollars." He said AMR was quickly becoming a massive challenge for the New Zealand health system and was being exacerbated by global events. "In New Zealand, AMR is growing. We've had times where hospital wards have been closed because of superbugs, which are resistant to antimicrobials. We're also frequently getting resistance in our agricultural areas. "Being an island, we control more variables than lots of other countries could control, and then the point of our study is to understand how we can track these sources of resistance. "The problem with antimicrobial resistance is that it is growing to the point where it can no longer be ignored, and it is in magnitude and cost and in threat to your health well in excess of other kinds of threats that we do talk about quite a lot. "Climate change, war, all these kinds of different pressures that we are under are further exacerbated by antimicrobial resistance as the weather changes. "It changes the kinds of organisms that carry these pathogens into our communities and into agriculture, it changes their survival characteristics, flooding, for example, distributes them sometimes directly into our homes," he said. A team of about six full-time staff, including two Māori researchers, three postdoctoral students and a graduate, will work alongside a network of volunteers and other organisations across the country that trap and kill pest animals to collect samples for testing. Bioinformaticians will develop algorithms, assisted by machine learning, to see potential concerns emerge in real-time. If successfully funded, the five-year project would cost less than $10 million, with research starting before the end of 2025. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
Otago Daily Times
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Otago Daily Times
Piecing together the puzzle of motorsport from afar
Elite Race Engineering founder Tim White helps high-end motor-racing teams from around the world improve their performance, all from his office in Cromwell. PHOTO: ELLA JENKINS In the the high-stakes world of endurance motorsport, where every millisecond counts, Tim White is breaking new ground from an unlikely location. Based in the quiet town of Cromwell, Mr White has become a pivotal figure in Ferrari's GT programmes, harnessing advanced remote engineering to deliver world-class performance on the global stage. As founder of Elite Race Engineering, the mechanical expert offers cutting-edge advice to racing teams and car and tyre manufacturers alike about how to get the best performance out of their cars or tyres, proving that innovation and precision know no geographic limits. A love of pulling things apart and seeing how they work as well as a mechanical apprenticeship got Mr White interested in mechanical engineering. In 2013, he graduated from the University of Canterbury with his undergraduate, and in 2016 achieved his master's. Mr White founded Elite Race Engineering at the Highlands Motorsport Park in 2022, having developed a desire to stay in Central Otago after working in Queenstown. With the opening of the workshop in Cromwell, Mr White has also diversified his work into performance consulting, the maintenance, preparation and race support. Mr White's consulting work involves solving problems regarding performance with often incomplete data. "We have literal objective logged data, squiggly lines, dots and data points, which is relatively speaking clean, but pulling that out has a certain perspective, a certain amount of information it can give you — but that's only part of the picture." The data available only painted part of the picture, Mr White said. The other pieces of the puzzle were driver feedback, on-board video and team dynamics. "You are always working with incomplete information, so like the real skill of the job is it's not just a purely technical endeavour. "I mean it is very technical, but it's like being good with people and being able to pull all kinds of synthesised, lots of really different types of information to get the result, which is high performance or winning races or whatever it is at the end of it." He was proud to be representing New Zealand at a high level in motorsport. "I'm proud to like be a Kiwi doing really high-end engineering and honestly some of the coolest racing championships in the world."
RNZ News
6 days ago
- Health
- RNZ News
Our Changing World: Wildfire science heats up
Follow Our Changing World on Apple , Spotify , iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts As flames engulf the bush, a wave of heat washes over the onlookers and glowing ash showers the lab. High above, where the flames flicker at the ceiling, a giant rangehood sucks up all the smoke and funnels it into instruments that analyse gases. This bonfire isn't just for fun. It's for science. The fire engineering lab at the University of Canterbury is a special facility where scientists can set things on fire and study how they burn. The high-tech instruments collect data on the gases emitted, the amount of energy released, and the temperature of the flames. Five or six couches are burned here every year, part of an assignment for fire engineering students, says Dr Andres Valencia. This is because couches are a common household item with fabric and foam that can make them especially dangerous in a fire. They have also recreated smoke explosions and fire tornadoes in the lab. The latter are whirlwinds of hot air , flames and ash that are generated in big wildfires. On the burner today is a large clump of gorse, a prickly plant that has invaded large swathes of New Zealand's landscape. It's also quite prone to burning. PhD researcher and fire-fighter Kate Melnick collected this gorse from just outside Christchurch. She's investigating how all the different characteristics of the plant affect its flammability - for example, how much moisture it contains, and how fine its leaves and twigs are. Dr Andres Valencia, Kate Melnick and Fearghal Gill are investigating the science of wildfires at the University of Canterbury. Photo: Ellen Rykers / RNZ So far, she's discovered that dead gorse and live gorse burn very differently, even if they have the same moisture levels. "The live material actually burned more vigourously and at a higher intensity. But it took longer to ignite," she explains. "So if a fire were to spark, the dead material will probably ignite first. However, once the flame passes over to the live material, then you get even higher intensity." The ultimate aim is to enhance our ability to predict and prepare for wildfires. Kate's work contributes to a programme of fire research led by Andres that is investigating fire from all angles: from gorse to grass, to the effects of wind, to impacts on people and infrastructure. PhD researcher Kate Melnick at the University of Canterbury fire engineering lab, a purpose-built facility for setting things on fire and studying how they burn. Photo: Ellen Rykers / RNZ New Zealand experiences around 4500 wildfires every year - a number that has grown over the past two decades. In some places, the wildfire risk is increasing , as climate change leads to higher temperatures, stronger winds and lower rainfall. As urban areas expand, more people are shifting into wildfire-prone areas too. "If you compare the risk of wildfires in New Zealand with Australia or California or Canada, I will say it is low," says Andres. "However, what I think is happening right now is that we are seeing an increase of wildfires happening close to the cities. "So, our approach is more: we see the future and we think that we can prepare for it, rather than let's try to find solutions as it happens." Listen to the episode to learn more about the fire research underway and hear about Kate's experiences as a wildland fire-fighter in Canada. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
