Laurie Winkless on the campaign to place Angela Saini’s Inferior, a book that disproves many dangerous, incorrect, gender-based stereotypes, into New Zealand secondary schools. Last year, I was tagged in a Twitter post by Dr Jess Wade. She was celebrating the success of a fundraising campaign that had raised more than $46,000 to get a … Read more
Lauire Winkless speaks to the New Zealand scientists working to clean up the final frontier and how to make steel in a zero-carbon future. In today’s urbanised world, steel is everywhere. It’s used in everything from critical infrastructure like roads and railways, through to earthquake-resilient buildings, wind turbines and electric vehicles. But making steel comes … Read more
There’s a lot of confusion around the symptoms and effects of dementia. Now, neuroscientists are partnering with playwrights to give a voice to the research. In labs and clinics across New Zealand, researchers are working towards an ambitious goal: to understand the biological mechanisms behind Alzheimer’s, Huntington’s and Parkinson’s diseases, as well as stroke and … Read more
New Zealand researchers are developing alternative batteries from common material to go beyond lithium, skipping the solar cell and downsizing monster redox-flows. In today’s tech-hungry world, lithium batteries are ubiquitous. Everything from your mobile phone to the neighbour’s electric car rely on the metal, and it’s easy to see why. Lithium-ion batteries pack a serious … Read more
Today the government announced a $13.75 million funding boost for research to combat the spread of kauri dieback and myrtle rust. Could microfluidics be the solutions we are looking for? Here in New Zealand, our native trees are currently under threat from two pathogens – an oomycete (water mould) called Phytophthora agathidicida, which causes Kauri … Read more