In defence of Otago University’s Loch Ness DNA project

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

Otago University’s hunt for the Loch Ness Monster was an embarrassment

Spoiler alert: They didn’t find it, writes Joel MacManus, editor of Otago University’s student magazine Critic.  Correction, 16 July: Following communications with the University of Otago, this story has been updated to reflect the actual costs of the Loch Ness DNZ project, and to include a response from Professor Neil Gemmell, the head of the … Read more

In search of the Loch Ness Monster’s DNA – and science people give a damn about

A conversation with the Dunedin scientist who stumbled on a way to talk to people about his work, in spite of sniffy colleagues who think his Nessie study is nonsense. Professor Neil Gemmell heads up the University of Otago’s Gemmell Lab at the University of Otago, where he juggles research into ecology, conservation, evolutionary biology … Read more