Attending the Annual  Honours Dinner of the Royal Society of New Zealand in Wellington, at Te Papa, with lamb and a play about Einstein (it’s 2005, after all), what impressed me most was the range of the awards. Unlike the Nobels, which are constrained by whatever Alfred Nobel or his executors who set up the awards thought was important, RSNZ can apparently make up whatever awards they like or someone is willigg to fund. In a refreshing lack of stodginess, the awards thus spread from pure mathematics to forestry. Award winners include someone who invented a method of transmitting power over at least short distances without need for wires or microwaves, a social scientist who has long studied internal migrations of Maoris in New Zealand, such as from country to city, and one who discovered that human brain cells can regenerate, despite the former common wisdom.