The Annual Dinner was held at the Forum Restaurant, Darlington Centre, Sydney University on the 12th March 2004. Around 50 members and guest attended. Official guests included our Patron, Her Excellency, the Governor of New South Wales, Professor Marie Bashir, AC and her husband Sir Nicholas Shehadie and the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Prof. Gavin Brown and his partner Ms Diane Ranck as well as the 2004 Award recipients.

The address was delivered by the Governor of New South Wales, Prof. Marie Bashir AC who spoke about her area of expertise, childhood psychiatric disorders and the struggle to diagnose and treat young people as soon as possible.

The Awards for 2003 were announced at the Dinner and presented by the Governor. Citations for the Awards were read by Prof. Jak Kelly.

2003 Edgeworth David Medal: Dr Stuart Robert Batten, Monash University
2003 Clarke Medal (Zoology): Professor Lesley Joy Rogers, University of New England
2003 Royal Society of New South Wales Medal: Clive Francis Wilmot

Prof. Kathryn North heads the Neurogenetics Research Unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead. She is also professor of Paediatrics and Child Health in Sydney University's Faculty of Medicine. She will speak to us on what genes are needed to make a sports champion. The search is much broader than just the physical. And what are the chances of inserting the genes you don't naturally have without detection?

Dr Graham Trout, the Deputy Director of the Australian Sports Drug Testing Laboratory, has been intimately involved in the research of drug detection and the development of a strong internationally accepted sports drug testing facility. He will speak on some interesting current chemical and analytical aspects of performance enhancing drugs and doping in sport and demonstrate the successes and difficulties within this very important part of sport.

The 137th Annual General Meeting and the 1124th Ordinary General Meeting were held at Conference Room 1, Darlington Centre, Sydney University, 174 City Road, Darlington on Wednesday the 7th April.

Election of Council Members for 2004/2005 was held. The Annual Report of Council and the Annual Financial Report by the Auditors were presented and accepted by the Members.

The Presidential address was delivered by Karina Kelly entitled `2021 - Science Past and Future', the talk looked at the history of the Royal Society of New South Wales, since its foundation as the Philosophical Society of Australasia in 1821. The contributions made by Douglass, Clarke, Liversidge and Hargrave. It considered the philosophies of Sir Francis Bacon whose ideas were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society in England in 1662, covered some of the changes that have taken place in science in the last fifty years - from the space race until now. Then briefly looked at the future of the society as a generalist organisation contributing the intellectual life of Sydney and New South Wales. A society which will celebrate its bicentenary in 2021.

Four new members were elected to the Society: Hugh Grant Dickson, Matthew D. Hall, Kathryn North and Graham John Trout.

In June, the Society is joining the Sydney Observatory's events to commemorate James Cook's observation of the Transit of Venus in the lead up to the first such event in 122 years.

Antonia Macarthur, researcher, historian and author with the HM Bark Endeavour Foundation will discuss some little known aspects of the Endeavour voyage of 1769. Includes a special viewing of the Transit of Venus exhibition, including Cook's log of the 1769 transit.

In 2001, the Victorian Government decided to fund the construction of a 3 GeV synchrotron. For Australian researchers using synchrotrons this was very good news. They'd spent the last 10 years practicing 'suitcase' science travelling the world to access synchrotrons overseas. The Australian Synchrotron Research Program, which has operated beamlines at Synchrotrons in Japan and the US since 1993, is a victim of it's own success and these beamlines cannot meet the existing level of demand. Internationally, there are 43 established synchrotrons, with 12 under construction and 19 more in the planning stages. Most developed countries have one or more. A major attraction of any synchrotron is their ability to enable "small science" to be done. This talk will describe what it is that makes a synchrotron so important in many areas of research.

Metabolism is fundamental to life and the relative rate of this metabolism can vary more than 100-fold between different animal species. It's only recently that a mechanism has been proposed to explain it this variation. It's called the membrane pacemaker theory of metabolism, which proposes that the types of fats that make up cell membranes determines the metabolic rates of cells, tissues and consequently whole animals. Small species which have high metabolic rates have polyunsaturated membranes, while large species which have low metabolic rates have monounsaturated membranes.

Professor Hulbert will explain his theory which has important implications for some of the disease states that plague us such as depression, insulin-resistance and obesity.

The first stage of a 39 MW solar thermal electricity plant has been constructed and is being tested prior to expansion and connection to an existing coal-fired plant at Liddell in NSW. The plant will eventually consist of 135,000 m2 of reflector, and will be the largest solar plant built anywhere in the world since 1990, yielding three times the peak power of all the photovoltaic solar power installed in Australia.

Design efforts are beginning to move toward very large stand-alone solar plants incorporating storage. Calculations for a 240 MW plant are being developed for an Australian generating utility, and the first proposed site is being monitored for solar beam radiation. Preliminary costings suggest the technology has the potential to be competitive with coal generation in some areas.

Completion of the human genome sequence has changed forever concepts of pharmaceutical development and preventative medicine, providing rapidly growing insight into the nature - nurture debate. The parallel sequencing of bacterial and viral genomes is also providing powerful new tools in the ongoing war against ever changing infectious agents. Similarly, progress in stem cell biology is fuelling hopes of cell based therapies to reverse a range of degenerative conditions and improve our quality of life. Together these advances are leading to a future where the emphasis is on the "individualisation" of prevention and treatment, based on both genetic makeup and environmental circumstances.

While this exciting science will underpin and greatly accelerate future developments in virtually all areas of medicine, it is also leading to a sense that humanity is at the threshold of reworking its own biology, of controlling its own evolution - a concept that troubles many in the community.

Hear tales from the road of Australias best-loved and most experienced science broadcaster.

Come and hear one of Australia's Living National Treasures speak about his decades of reporting science in Australia and around the world. What were the highlights and low points? What has he learned along the way? What would he never do again? You'll have to come to find out.

Drinks and snacks will be available for purchase at the Forum Restaurant Bar from 6.00 pm prior to the lecture.
There is no charge for lectures and visitors are most welcome.