Hutt News, March 10, 2015 Holding a piece of ice from Antarctica was one of the highlights for budding scientists at GNS Science’s Gracefield campus last Friday. GNS hosted its fourth annual science day for Hutt Valley secondary schools. Its popularity has meant schools have been restricted to eight students each to ensure laboratories can handle the numbers. The students heard from a palaeontologist, nanoscientist, petroleum geologist, Antarctic technician, environmental scientist, seismologist, climate scientist, hydrologist and an environmental technician. A GNS manager described what GNS Science looks for when it recruits. Dr Nancy Bertler told the group global warming is a reality and its impact on areas such as Petone and Eastbourne will be huge. She works in the National Isotope Centre studying ice cores samples from Antarctica. Evidence suggests a catastrophic collapse of part of the Antarctic ice shelf is possible. It has happened before and led to sea level rising 20m. Part of Bertler’s research is trying to work out how quickly the sea level rise will be if it happens again. She told the students if they were not interested in the science of global warming, there would be plenty of opportunities in engineering. Finding ways to stop areas like Petone flooding is going to require highly skilled engineers. One student definitely interested in a science career is Emma Thompson 17, from Sacred heart College. Emma enjoys biology and said it is working out the complexities of organisms that appeals to her. On the sometimes controversial issue of global warming she believes the scientists. “There is evidence that it is happening.”