November was the peak month of the 1918 pandemic that killed 9,000 New Zealanders. A century, will we be able to deal with another outbreak? Philippa Tolley reports for RNZ’s Insight The memories captured from the days and weeks the pandemic took hold in 1918 are tragic. Decades later, in a 1967 interview, a Wellington shop … Read more
Human excrement is not just a bunch of dead cells. Most of it is alive, teeming with billions of microbes, explains Vincent Ho of Western Sydney University. What makes up poo? Here’s what studies in healthy adults tell us. Water Our faeces is largely (75%) made up of water, although this differs from person … Read more
Today’s 6.2 earthquake was centred near Taumarunui and transmitted via a rigid subducting slab on the east of the North Island A magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck at 3.13pm today, centred 25 kilometres south-west of Taumarunui. Fire and Emergency said there were no immediate reports of damage. Classified as large and deep by GNS, it led … Read more
Dogs think harder when their owners speak gibberish words, a study has found, and one New Zealand dog behaviourist suggests it could be because they’re trying to read humans’ thoughts. This story was first published on Newshub.co.nz. They’re trusty workers on farms across the country, loved companions and considered part of the family for many … Read more
If the future is going to be powered by renewable energy, the world needs to get a lot better at dealing with one very precious element, the Materialise conference on sustainability in Wellington has heard. The argument goes something like this: To fight climate change, the world needs to convert to technology that runs on … Read more
It’s natural to assume that the IT revolution will continue forward at a cracking pace, but what if there are limits on how much energy humanity can actually put towards it? That’s the focus of Professor Michael Fuhrer’s research, who is speaking at the Materialise conference this week in Wellington. The theory is called Moore’s … Read more
Bronwyn Hayward, Jim Salinger, James Renwick and other experts respond to a critical report from the International Panel on Climate Change The IPCC’s latest special report, Global Warming of 1.5C, has been released at a press conference in Incheon, South Korea. Its publication follows a week-long session in Incheon. It highlights a number of climate change … Read more
Monday sees the release of a new IPCC report that will tell us whether keeping warming under 1.5deg is possible. The next question will be: do we have the will, writes Adelia Hallett One of the most important scientific papers ever produced will be released on Monday, and the ramifications for New Zealand could be … Read more
Last week Wikipedia hit the headlines after it was reported that Nobel Prize-winning physicist Donna Strickland didn’t have her own page until after her win. Authors and organisers Anna and Kelly Pendergrast delve into Wikipedia’s gender troubles, and tell us what we can do about it. Wikipedia is one of those websites that has woven … Read more
The decision to remove the antivax signage in south Auckland is welcome, but it all points to a substantially bigger problem: trust in official advice, writes Dr Nikki Turner, director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre at the University of Auckland There has been an outpouring of frustration around the country, generated by the installation of … Read more
Ignorance of the facts of genetic modification poses an economic risk to New Zealand, writes a professor of plant biology. There is a new agricultural-based green revolution beginning around the world, and it’s a technique you’ve probably heard of before: gene editing. New types of rice, wheat, tomato, maize, soybean and other crops created through the … Read more
Together with a team of crack UK investigators, Hayden Donnell investigates the origin story of one of New Zealand’s most successful viral videos. It was the perfect viral moment. Kyle Mulinder was innocently paddling his kayak in the deep blue water off the coast of Kaikoura. The water was calm. Tranquil. Suddenly a seal erupted … Read more
Data visualisations created by Ed Hawkins have offered a less traditional approach to popularising climate science, and now New Zealand has a ‘warming stripe’ of its own, writes Veronika Meduna Courtesy of serendipity, social media and datavis genius, Aotearoa now has its very own warming stripes. The latest data visualisation to come out of the … Read more
Jaws has a lot to answer for. Rather than being terrified of sharks, we should embrace shark tourism to make people realise that they need to be protected, writes Michelle Barnes and Sarah Ruth Sutcliffe. Shark ecotourism can change people’s attitudes about sharks and make them more likely to support conservation projects – even after … Read more
Could the Dunning-Kruger effect – when individuals’ ignorance about a particular subject makes them believe they’re more expert than they are – be the reason for intractably anti-vax views? Three scientists tested the hypothesis. One of the most contentious areas of health policy over the past two decades has been the safety of vaccination. Vaccines … Read more
DiscoveryCamp is inspiring young Māori and Pasifika students to persist with science. Simon Day talks to three graduates about the opportunities the programme has provided. From studying chemistry in the classroom, suddenly Cha’nel Kaa-Luke (Ngāruahine, Ngāti Ruanui, Ngāti Porou) was in a real lab, learning about quantum computing, the science of social media, and how to … Read more
The shark in The Meg isn’t big, it’s huge. Prehistoric, millions of years ago huge. But how strong would its bite be? And how fast could it move? Michael Milford and Peter Stratton break down the science. The Meg is the blockbuster shark monster movie we didn’t realise we needed in our lives. With a cast led … Read more
Now that single-use plastic bags are on their way out, what are we going to line our rubbish bins with? Compostable bags? Not so fast, warns AUT emeritus professor Thomas Neitzert. As companies move to get rid of single-use plastic bags and bans on microbeads are coming into force, new biodegradable or compostable plastic products … Read more
Which carries more bacteria, your toilet seat or your desk? If you guessed the former, you’d be very wrong. Microbiologist Michael Loughlin explains why your workspace is a breeding ground for germs. If you work in an office, the chances are there are some colleagues you would rather sit next to than others. But we’re … Read more
There is simply no way to present this material without misrepresenting the science and undermining the principles and values you are supposedly imparting to your students writes cosmologist and academic Richard Easther Given how often astrophysics shows up in the news, you might think it was one of the biggest branches of science. And yet, … Read more
In the south especially, New Zealanders will get the chance to witness a rare celestial event: a selenelion, writes Dr Duncan Steel. What is a selenelion (or selenehelion)? It’s when the eclipsed Moon can be seen on one horizon, while the rising Sun can also be observed near the opposite horizon. One might think this … Read more
Would a journal publish a pseudo-study about arse-wiping? Gary Lewis, senior lecturer in psychology at Royal Holloway decided to find out I had what seemed like rather a good idea a few weeks back. Building on some prominent findings in social psychology, I hypothesised that politicians on the right would wipe their bum with their left hand; and … Read more
The editor of Dunedin’s student magazine may not like it, but the University of Otago’s hunt for Nessie was science communication at its finest, argues Ellen Rykers. In a recent column, Critic Te Arohi editor Joel MacManus lambasted the Loch Ness “monster hunt”, calling the scientific project and the University of Otago’s promotion of it … Read more
Whether you’re mining bitcoin or Googling yourself, you’re creating a lot of heat somewhere. A group of New Zealand scientists have found a way to take the heat off data centres. Each time you Google something, a data centre responds. This data centre – a repository for masses of information – is one of many … Read more
A new strain of ryegrass developed in NZ promises to reduce water demands and curb emissions. But it’s genetically modified, and no matter how settled the science, the politics may be unpalatable, writes Bob Edlin of the Point of Order blog, where this post first appeared. Environmentalists should be encouraging New Zealand’s development of ryegrass with … Read more
Misleading remarks in the media erode public confidence in a pest-control tool we urgently need to save species, writes Nicola Toki, the threatened species ambassador for the Department of Conservation. Last Thursday night, Newshub led the 6pm news with a report about 75 kilograms of 1080 pellets being dumped and buried by a contractor to … Read more
Teens have smoked weed from the side of a can for decades, and probably always will. But doesn’t that give you Alzheimer’s? Don Rowe called a real life scientist to find out. There is nothing on earth quite like smoking weed off a can. Bending, crimping, poking a rush hole just so – it’s the closest … Read more
To combat climate change, we essentially need a new industrial revolution, and at last attitudes across the business sector appear to be seriously changing, writes climate scientist James Renwick To make an effective response to climate change, what is required is leadership from both the public and private sectors. So the announcement of a new … Read more
A NIWA scientist explains what they’ve discovered about the whale in Wellington harbour so far. We’re used to traffic jams in Wellington, but when they come with people lining the harbour foreshore all pointing out to sea, it’s clear you can’t just blame them on the usual city congestion. For the past week, a southern … Read more