Josie Adams 
Some border workers are now undergoing daily spit testing. Does this mean the end of nasal swabbing? We explain how the tests work and why the two tests co-exist. Voluntary saliva testing has been rolled out at Auckland Airport and the Jet Park quarantine facility for border workers, sparking hope for some that the sometimes … Read more
When it works, wifi feels like magic; when it doesn’t, it feels like the world has stalled. The Spinoff spoke to Vodafone wifi expert Mark Beaton about how its rapid evolution is changing the way we live and creating better connections. In the early years of the internet, it was all about plugging in. Surfing … Read more
Last week Reddit users, including plenty in Aotearoa, took on Wall Street hedge funds. Here’s how they’re feeling now. Aucklander Zoe* is 24, a student, and she refuses to sell her GameStop shares. Her hands are so strong from holding them that, in Reddit lingo, they are made of diamonds. But she’s not holding them … Read more
What’s the difference between a human and a tree? A tree will never leave you. Take our quiz to find your dream native. Valentines come and go, but a tree lasts forever – or at least several decades. If you’re tired of barking up the wrong tree when it comes to romance, it might be … Read more
From 2000 to 2007, the party drug BZP was legal to buy and available from your local dairy. What happened? ‘This is what movies say drugs are like,” says Jim*, remembering how he felt when he took six party pills in one night. He was a musician, student, and regular drug taker – he’d munted … Read more
Interactions between parents and healthcare providers could have a big impact on the wellbeing of our children, according to new research. The way parents and healthcare providers interact has lasting implications for children’s health, new research has found – and that includes immunisation uptake. Released today, the report is based on research by AUT’s NZ … Read more
For a long time, weighted blankets were considered a specialist device. Now they’re popular with even the most normal sleepers. Growing up, Temple Grandin spent time on her aunt’s cattle ranch in America, watching cow after stressed cow enter a squeeze chute and come out calm as the dead sea. She wondered if the same … Read more
Joel Little with Lorde, Dera Meelan with Church & AP, Josh Fountain with Maala and Randa and Benee – producers make good songs great. Now a new fund from NZ on Air is putting the focus on them. Six months ago it looked like the music industry was on the brink of collapse. Independent venues … Read more
Summer reissue: The price of gold hit record highs in August, and New Zealanders are lusting for it. Josie Adams investigates the age-old attraction of this precious metal – and where we’re getting it from. First published September 10, 2020. Gold is real money. You can’t print it from a machine or birth it from … Read more
Summer reissue: a review of Rat King Landlord, the new novel by activist and satirist Murdoch Stephens, by Josie Adams, who lives with a rat. First published 16 August 2020. Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its members – click here to learn more … Read more
The Ones to Watch programme has landed in New Zealand, providing up and coming musicians with a platform for their work and an opportunity to showcase their music to a wide range of audiences. The Spinoff talks to emerging artists RIIKI and Park Rd about where they’ve come from, and where 2020 has taken them. … Read more
Learning to read is taught at school, but learning to sit properly isn’t. Here’s how to keep an oily spine. If you’re reading this, you probably know how to read. But do you know how to sit? Summer is coming, which means one of our family members is about to gift us a book and … Read more
The Spinoff launched a plan to bury a time capsule containing the epitome of this hell year before working out where we were going to plant the thing. Josie Adams was tasked with finding somewhere suitable. So, you want to bury a time capsule. First, stop. Does the future need this? Historians in a century … Read more
The gathering at the Grey Lynn Library Hall promises to take on a ‘corrupted election’, 5G, Covid-19 and ‘Satanic ritual abuse’. A new online group has formed to combat conspiracy and disinformation, and their first project is challenging an event scheduled for a council-run venue in the Auckland suburb of Grey Lynn tomorrow. Hosted by … Read more
Renting in Wellington can seem like a nightmare, but you just need to look a little harder. We’ve found some of the best-value flats in town. It’s been a long week for Wellingtonians, who’ve had their city shat on multiple times, a burden they didn’t need on top of the literal shit flowing through the … Read more
Six60: Till the Lights Go Out tracks the wildly successful Dunedin band’s evolution from three guitars at UniCol to selling out Western Springs. I was at 660 Castle St some time around the turn of the last decade when I first saw Matiu Walters. Someone pointed him out to me: solemn-looking, standing on a box … Read more
Every year high school biology teachers gather to learn the latest in science. This year there’s a lot to catch up on, Maurice Wilkins Centre organisers Rachel Heeney and Dave Grattan tell The Spinoff. Last year, terms like “elimination strategy”, “flatten the curve” and “sustained transmission” were foreign to the majority of New Zealanders. Next … Read more
Australian sketch comedy group Aunty Donna finally got a Netflix series. Have they sold out to Big American Comedy? No, says Josie Adams. I shook Mark Bonanno’s hand while he was flyering in Edinburgh. I stood next to Zachary Ruane in line for the movies in Melbourne. I ricoheted off Broden “Manbeast” Kelly when I … Read more
For extreme auctioneers, selling houses isn’t a nightmare – it’s a craft. Josie Adams talks to National Real Estate Auctioneering champ Ned Allison about discovering his talent, and what it takes to be a two-time winner. Every year real estate agents from around the country are locked in a room. Their phones are taken, and … Read more
Auckland Council is warning its citizens to keep an eye on children and dogs at the beach this summer as washed-up toxic grey side-gilled sea slugs pose a grave threat. What’s this sea slug I’m hearing about? The grey side-gilled sea slug (Pleurobranchaea maculata) may be native to our beautiful country, but it could be … Read more
Selling houses is an art. There are the signs, the walk-through videos, and – hardest of all – the copy. What do you write to make someone buy a house? Here are some ideas. There are currently more than 25,000 houses for sale in New Zealand. There are only nine synonyms for “rustic”, and even … Read more
One of the world’s foremost experts on mass psychogenic illness teaches high school in Auckland. Josie Adams spent an afternoon learning what a psychogenic illness is. Robert E. Bartholomew lives in an old hotel in Flat Bush in south-east Auckland. He has a swimming pool used principally by frogs, and a shelf full of UFO … Read more
The Green Party last night represented a new era: the kids aren’t just all right, they’re in charge. Josie Adams and Sherry Zhang were there. A very small child met us at the doors to GridAKL. “Are you here for the Green party?” she asked. Her name was Melanie and she followed protocol to a … Read more
After almost 15 years together, Cut Off Your Hands are officially disbanding. Frontman Nick Johnston spoke to The Spinoff about where he’s been and where he’s going. Three years into their decade-and-a-half-long career, Cut Off Your Hands needed a break. The Auckland band were high-energy, sweaty, and perpetual; frontman and singer Nick Johnston reckons they … Read more
On Monday night four of our six beloved Youth Wingers went head-to-head once again, this time at a Baby Back Benches event at the University of Auckland. Josie Adams was there. Why does someone join a youth wing? This was the central thesis of the Spinoff’s Youth Wings series. We never got a universal answer. … Read more
Pop star Benee has launched her own record label, Olive and her first signed artist is a young Raglan lad called Muroki. The Spinoff spoke to them both about their next moves. Young Benee’s having a big week. Her latest music video, for the wavy post-lockdown song ‘Snail’, was released this morning. She’s just been … Read more
Facebook has announced a ban on the conspiracy network QAnon from its platforms. What is Q, and why does Mark Zuckerberg want him gone? We explain. What is QAnon? QAnon is a far-right conspiracy theorist group focused around the idea that Satanic cabal is torturing children and attempting to create a new world order. People … Read more
Voting is under way in the New Zealand general election. Explore the main parties’ pledges at Policy.nz, but here’s a whistle-stop tour of what’s on offer in the world of health. Read more two-minute policy wraps here Over 2020, the New Zealand public has learned what “PPE” means; the director general of health became a revered … Read more
A new study published in the journal BMJ Global Health says that men make up more than 85% of Covid-19 decision-making and advisory boards. Authors of an observational study into the gender gap on Covid-19 advisory boards have called the male dominance they found the result of a “disturbingly accepted pattern”. Men make up 85% … Read more