The inventor of the Vortex Fluid Device tells Charles Anderson how the machine that famously converted a boiled egg back into its original state could have huge implications. Professor Raston is a panelist at this week’s AMN8 conference in Queenstown. The boiled egg has both blessed and haunted Professor Colin Raston. For the past two … Read more
US-based glaciologist Eric Rignot is in New Zealand this week to talk about polar ice sheets and their potential to add to predicted sea level rise. He tells Veronika Meduna that it’s more important than ever to discuss climate science and what it’s like to be a climate scientist during the Trump presidency. Eric Rignot … Read more
Dr Carla Meledandri promises that the photograph of decaying teeth is the only ‘gross’ one that she will show this morning, reports Charles Anderson in his second blog post from AMN8, the advanced materials and nanotechnology conference hosted by The MacDiarmid Institute, in Queenstown. The first day of AMN8 kicked off with scientists from around … Read more
Charles Anderson is in Queenstown for AMN8 – the advanced materials and nanotechnology conference hosted by The MacDiarmid Institute. In his first blog from the event, he enjoys a heaven-sent introduction to the field from Ben Mallett on the flight south. The flight from Christchurch to Queenstown is full, says the cabin attendant. But as … Read more
By embracing the thermoelectric potential of polymers, Rachel Segalman is pursuing a new frontier in the use of power to heat or cool. A speaker at the AMN8 conference in Queenstown, she talks to Charles Anderson Across the world, a huge amount of energy is expended heating and cooling spaces which people do not use. … Read more
The unique properties of Perovskite provide hope for a wholly sustainable future, ‘propelling the next stage of human advancement’, says Henry Snaith, a guest at next week’s AMN8 conference in Queenstown. Professor Henry Snaith has a vision of the future. Ever growing cities are powered cleanly and efficiently. Third world countries have easy access to … Read more
Do we have our priorities right when it comes to the emphasis on economic ‘usefulness’ of education? In a companion piece to her article Why scientists need to go to the barricades against Trump – and for the humanities, Nicola Gaston asks if NZ is in danger of plunging into a culture war of its … Read more
First discovered in atomic bomb testing, nanodiamonds could prove crucial to a range of technologies that change, if not save, lives. Charles Anderson talks to nanoscientist Amanda Barnard, a guest at the AMN8 conference in Queenstown The Soviet scientists were blowing things up. It was 1963, at the height of the Cold War, and nuclear … Read more
Looking to ‘cleanse’ your body, balance your hormones and improve your sex life? Gwyneth Paltrow has just the thing for you: jade ‘eggs’ for your hoo-ha, available for the low, low price of NZ$90 through her website Goop. The eggs are just the latest in a long tradition of celebrity quackery, says scientist Dr Jess … Read more
Nicola Gaston on the anti-science agenda of the Trump presidency, and why scientists should embrace the arts. First they came for the scientists, but I was not a scientist, so I did not speak out. Scientists are often not comfortable with politics, with the idea of marching for a cause, with the idea of protest. … Read more
For Italian scientist Silvia Giordani, the battle against cancer cells takes place at a scale 50,000 times thinner than a human hair. A guest at February’s AMN8 conference in Queenstown, she talks to Charles Anderson Onions and tubes. It was almost a decade ago that Silvia Giordani started thinking seriously about the difference between them. … Read more
Smaller than a pinhead, the machines in Professor David A Leigh’s lab are created by chemistry that manipulates the properties of tiny elements to create motion. Leigh, who is coming to NZ for February’s AMN8 conference, talks to Charles Anderson Think of David Leigh as a caveman chief at the beginnings of civilisation. Think of … Read more
A new film depicting the extraordinary contribution of African-American women at Nasa during the space race offers a powerful and timely reminder of the contributions to science of people whose stories are too often hidden from view, writes Kate Hannah Last weekend, Hidden Figures knocked the Star Wars universe film Rogue One off top place … Read more
As New Zealand’s Scott Base celebrates 60 years of science on ice, Veronika Meduna looks at one of Antarctica’s most puzzling features – the wayward behaviour of sea ice around the continent. Every southern winter, Antarctica doubles in size. As the sun sets on the continent, the surface of the ocean around it freezes, kicking … Read more
From confirmation that 2016 was New Zealand’s warmest year on record to the imminent inauguration of a big-emissions US president, it’s easy to understand desperation in the face of climate change. But we need to channel all our energies into urgent action, writes James Renwick. Climate change and global warming have been in the news … Read more
There’s one thing we know for sure about climate in 2016: it was the hottest year on record – both globally, and here in New Zealand. But what else was big news in climate change? Carys Goodwin takes stock. In November last year, I had the happy privilege of attending the 2016 climate conference in … Read more
The Kaikoura earthquake wreaked destruction, tragedy and misery, but it also generated much scientific fascination. Including: what was going on in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone and those mysterious slow-slip events? Originally published November 23, 2016 A slow slip event off the east coast of the North Island, with an estimated equivalent impact of a M6.9 … Read more
Facts and ‘cloistered’ expertise were well and truly been put in their place by the Seven Sharp host this year. Siouxsie Wiles on a unique brand of smug bullshit Originally published on June 1, 2016 “Thank God the scientists aren’t running things!” So concluded Seven Sharp host Mike Hosking’s assessment on Monday night of calls … Read more
To launch our new science section this year we asked a dozen scientists and entrepreneurs how positive we can be that we’re progressing towards Sir Paul Callaghan’s dream of a transformed New Zealand through the use of science and technology. Originally published November 16, 2016 The Spinoff is thrilled to be launching today a new … Read more
Ahead of February’s AMN8 conference, Charles Anderson talks to some of the scientists at the vanguard of nanomaterial innovation and entrepreneurship in New Zealand. Look closely at the letters on this screen. Zero in on this full stop, right here. It’s small – to the human eye, at least. But that full stop still has … Read more
Chris Kelly, the Chancellor of Massey University, has been quoted saying that women are less valuable veterinarians because they tend to leave the profession once they get married and have a family. That’s precisely the sort of outdated thinking that is hampering women in STEM subjects of all kinds, says Kate Hannah. Back in June, … Read more
In the face of everything from anecdote posing as evidence to bias peddlers to outright quackery, the best riposte is to champion good science. But how? Dr Jessica Berentson-Shaw offers seven tips. Science and evidence gets a pretty bad rap these days. Some of this bad rap is the science community’s responsibility to fix – … Read more
Following the Kaikoura experience, Japan and Indonesia’s mechanisms may offer examples – and there is clearly need to tackle confusion over self-evacuation, writes geologist Jane Cunneen Following the magnitude 7.8 earthquake and tsunami on November 14, conversation is turning to whether New Zealand should have a 24/7 earthquake monitoring and tsunami warning system. The prime … Read more
New Zealand’s rates of sexually transmitted infections like chlamydia are some of the highest in the Western world. That’s the bad news, says Siouxsie Wiles – the good news is that we can begin fixing the problem just by being more frank about our genitalia and what it does. Lady parts. Bits. Flower. Front bottom. … Read more
A slow slip event off the east coast of the North Island, with an estimated equivalent impact of a M6.9 quake, was detected this week. GNS Science geophysicist Laura Wallace explains this important new area of seismic research, and what’s up with the Hikurangi subduction zone Among the most fascinating discoveries in the days following … Read more
View the impact of seismic activity on sea level following last Monday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake in this visualisation by Richard Clark, with commentary from geophysicist William Power. Comparing the quake drum and tidal gauge nearest to the Kaikoura quake, web developer Richard Clark has created an animated reconstruction of what happened following the violent magnitude 7.8 … Read more
Gerry Brownlee’s intemperate response to the GeoNet director’s calls for a 24/7 response centre can only damage further scientists’ willingness to share their expertise with the public, writes Richard Easther. On November 17 my alarm went off simultaneously with a call from Radio New Zealand asking me to do an on-air interview about the end … Read more
With antibiotics’ power on the wane, infectious diseases are increasingly hard to combat. And it is much more than just a third world problem, writes Siouxsie Wiles Every week they gather. In church halls and bowling clubs, community centres and rest homes. U3A. Probus. Lions. Rotary. Zonta. Groups of people, often retired, meeting to hear … Read more
Tsunami scientists have returned from Canterbury, where they found at least one spot of severe damage from the tsunami that followed the Kaikoura earthquake, and it’s a powerful reminder that you shouldn’t wait for a formal evacuation, explains Caroline Little of GNS In the days since the earthquake, much of the focus at GNS Science … Read more