Science and Society

Featured image: The forgotten environmental crisis: how 20th century settler writers foreshadowed the Anthropocene

The forgotten environmental crisis: how 20th century settler writers foreshadowed the Anthropocene - Guest Work

Guest Author • Dec 04, 2020 •

Philip Steer, Massey University Just as writers and artists today are responding to the Anthropocene through climate fiction and eco art, earlier generations chronicled an environmental crisis that presaged humanity’s global impact. The Anthropocene is a proposed geological epoch that powerfully expresses the planetary scale of the environmental changes wrought by human activity. Yet almost a … Read More

Featured image: Māori and Pacific academics paid and promoted less

Māori and Pacific academics paid and promoted less - News

Caroline Lord • Dec 03, 2020 •

Glass ceilings are a reality for Māori and Pacific academics at New Zealand universities, according to new research. This group is already in the minority, making up just 5% and 2% respectively of the academic workforce, with less than 4% and 1% employed at professor level positions. These employment levels remained static between 2012 and 2017. The new study, … Read More

Climate emergency or not, New Zealand needs to start doing its fair share of climate action - Planetary Ecology

Robert McLachlan • Dec 02, 2020 •

Following this week’s climate emergency declaration, New Zealand will have to face up to the fact it has one of the worst climate records of industrialised nations. Of 43 industrialised countries — known as Annex 1 countries — 31 are experiencing a drop in emissions. But 12 have seen net emissions increase between 1990 and 2018, and New … Read More

Featured image: I Published a Fake Paper in a ‘Peer-Reviewed’ Journal

I Published a Fake Paper in a ‘Peer-Reviewed’ Journal - Guest Work

Guest Author • Dec 02, 2020 •

Bradley Allf Back in April, I received a strange email from a pair of academic journals inviting me to submit my research to one of their latest issues. The email was written in a jarring mix of fonts, and riddled with formatting mistakes and bungled idioms. The editor who sent it to me had, inexplicably, attached a … Read More

Featured image: By declaring a climate emergency Jacinda Ardern needs to inspire hope, not fear

By declaring a climate emergency Jacinda Ardern needs to inspire hope, not fear - The Changing Climate

Guest Author • Dec 01, 2020 •

David Hall, Auckland University of Technology; Raven Cretney, University of Waikato, and Sylvia Nissen There is no question that we must act, and act fast, on climate change. This week’s climate emergency declaration by the New Zealand government acknowledges the urgency of the climate crisis and the need to collectively confront it. But a declaration is not the same … Read More

Featured image: Scientists should welcome charges against agency over Whakaari/White Island — if it helps improve early warning systems

Scientists should welcome charges against agency over Whakaari/White Island — if it helps improve early warning systems - News

Guest Author • Dec 01, 2020 •

Shane Cronin The decision by Worksafe, a government agency focused on workplace safety, to bring criminal charges against 13 parties in relation to last December’s eruption of Whakaari/White Island heralds a new chapter for volcano scientists in New Zealand. On December 9, 2019, 22 people died and 25 suffered injuries when Whakaari erupted. They were not locals caught … Read More

Featured image: Devastated by disease in the past, Samoa is on high alert after recent coronavirus scares

Devastated by disease in the past, Samoa is on high alert after recent coronavirus scares - COVID-19

Guest Author • Nov 27, 2020 •

Tootoooleaava Dr. Fanaafi Aiono-Le Tagaloa, University of Waikato Within minutes of news that crew members of the cargo ship Fesco Askold had tested positive for COVID-19, a social media storm broke across Samoa. COVID-free until then, the island nation’s anxiety was understandable. More so when you consider its history. Memories of the deadly 2019 measles outbreak were still … Read More

Featured image: 5 reasons why banishing backpackers and targeting wealthy tourists would be a mistake for NZ

5 reasons why banishing backpackers and targeting wealthy tourists would be a mistake for NZ - Guest Work

Guest Author • Nov 26, 2020 •

James Higham, University of Otago and Hazel Tucker, University of Otago Raise your hand if you’ve ever travelled for weeks or months as a backpacker on a limited daily budget. Keep your hand up if you were made welcome in the places you visited on your OE, enjoyed chance encounters and experienced the generosity of strangers. And did those … Read More

Featured image: Why some people find it easier to stick to new habits they formed during lockdown

Why some people find it easier to stick to new habits they formed during lockdown - COVID-19

Guest Author • Nov 24, 2020 •

Matthew Jenkins, University of Otago and Elaine Hargreaves, University of Otago Periods of lockdown represent a massive disruption to people’s daily routines, but they also offer an opportunity to establish new habits. Our research focus is on what motivates people to change their behaviour, particularly when it comes to physical activity routines. We compared the levels of physical … Read More