Guest Author • Oct 11, 2019 •
Hassan Vally, La Trobe University Who doesn’t want to know if drinking that second or third cup of coffee a day will improve your memory, or if sleeping too much increases your risk of a heart attack? We’re invested in staying healthy and many of us are interested in reading about new research findings to help us make sense of … Read More
Duncan Steel • Oct 10, 2019 •
New Zealand has prided itself for decades with regard to its lack of pollution, and all will be aware that the ‘100% Pure New Zealand‘ meme is under threat through land, water and air pollution of various causes. There is another type of contamination that the country also faces: light pollution. Astronomers are concerned that the dark skies of … Read More
Guest Author • Oct 10, 2019 •
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz Why do people still think climate change isn’t real? David Hall, Auckland University of Technology At its heart, … Read More
Michael Corballis • Oct 07, 2019 •
What is language? We generally assume that it a facility unique to humans, allowing us to share what’s in and on our minds. We can tell of our plans, our past exploits, our knowledge. It also allows us to lie. And yet there are vast numbers of people we can’t talk to, because they speak a different language. Speech is … Read More
Duncan Steel • Oct 02, 2019
The Google Doodle today (at least in New Zealand and Australia) commemorates the birth in 1938 of Bill Robinson, the kiwi scientist who invented the rubber ‘shock absorbers’ that provide some seismic insulation for large buildings, notably under Te Papa in Wellington. Sometimes a Google Doodle (the cartoon seen when one opens the Google search page) leaves one … Read More
Guest Author • Oct 02, 2019 •
Climate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, please send it to climate.change@stuff.co.nz As an individual, what is the single, most important thing I can do in the face of climate … Read More
Duncan Steel • Oct 01, 2019 •
Currently there are nine astronauts in orbit, passing a bit more than 400 km above our heads several times a day. If you would like to watch the Space Station in New Zealand’s skies, there are several opportunities this next week, so long as you don’t mind getting up reasonably early, before sunrise. Just at the moment it’s fairly crowded … Read More
Michael Corballis • Oct 01, 2019
The following is a summary notice of a talk given to an academic audience in my university (the author and location shall be nameless): In this paper I seek to uncover law’s ontological force as it reveals itself in the rape trial. It is common for survivors of sexual violence to refer to their interaction with the criminal justice system … Read More
- Wayne Linklater • Sep 30, 2019 •
What happens when environmental science becomes politically partisan? We lose the publics’ trust. This appears to have happened in the USA. How do we regain it? I have some suggestions that are equally relevant to resolving environmental conflicts in NZ. The following article is re-posted from The Sacramento Bee or its … Read More
Duncan Steel • Sep 28, 2019 •
The All Blacks are currently resting up in the Japanese spa town of Beppu, awaiting their next game. Like Rotorua and several other spa towns spread around the globe, Beppu has an impact crater on asteroid (951) Gaspra named for it. Perusing the intellectual pages (i.e. the sports section) in The Press this morning whilst sipping coffee at Yaza! in … Read More