Guest Author • Aug 14, 2019 •
Tim Maddock How well does NZ support people who face job loss? I feel fortunate. In my working life – 3 ½ years – I have not yet lost a job. But roughly 2% of New Zealand workers each year do lose their jobs, based on Stats NZ data.1 Closed down. No work today. Photo: Judy Kavanagh. Job loss … Read More
Guest Author • Aug 07, 2019 •
Dan Weijers, University of Waikato and Nick Munn, University of Waikato At a conference about disruptive innovations in food production last week, dairy industry spokespeople criticised the “milk” labelling of non-dairy products such as almond or rice milks. Federated Farmers, a rural advocacy group, prompted media headlines with a suggestion that we should call … Read More
Alison Campbell • Aug 01, 2019 •
Recently I came across the claim that cystic fibrosis (CF) can be cured by diet. This was news to me, given that the mutation that causes CF is well-documented, as are the necessary treatments, and I wasn’t aware of any evidence that diet alone would correct the faulty membrane pump involved. So I said so. In response I … Read More
Guest Author • Jul 31, 2019 •
Ceridwyn Roberts I often wonder if all science starts with kids making potions. All you really need is some red cabbage indicator and then everything in the house is being tested, including the cat’s fur with the cat still attached. When my son was little ‘playing chemist’ would keep him happily occupied for at least half an hour at a … Read More
Alison Campbell • Jul 25, 2019 •
Science has known for a while now that there is a strong genetic component in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), although those opposed to vaccination tend to deny this. (David Gorski points this out in his commentary on this new 2019 paper.) In this paper, Bai et al. cite data from a meta-analysis of twin studies that estimated the heritability … Read More
Alison Campbell • Jul 19, 2019 •
One of the things that strikes me about the commenters actively opposing vaccinations – e.g. on the many news stories about NZ’s measles outbreak – is their continued readiness to state and repeat mistruths and inaccuracies. You see it all the time, and I have to wonder – is there just this underlying assumption that no-one will actually check? … Read More
Kindness In Science • Jul 19, 2019 •
The Co-founders of the Kindness in Science Collective Whakarongo ake au ki te tangi a te manu: tui, tui, tuia In December of 2017, a diverse group of people in science from across Aotearoa met at the Fale Pasifika at the University of Auckland to discuss a new way to improve science outcomes. The goal was simple: to talk … Read More
Duncan Steel • Jul 18, 2019
There are lots of ways of remembering the Apollo project, which resulted in a dozen men walking on the lunar surface (and some of them even driving around in their lunar buggies). Here I show a few of them, dear to my heart. You may not have heard, but this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, when we … Read More
Robert Hickson • Jul 17, 2019 •
There is a lot now being talked and written about the success of Apollo 11, and the Apollo space programme, half a century ago. The BBC podcast 13 minutes to the moon is fantastic. It tells well the story leading up to and during the 13 minutes that Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin descended to … Read More
Duncan Steel • Jul 16, 2019 •
The TV pictures of Neil Armstrong clambering down the ladder of the Apollo 11 Lunar Excursion Module and taking the first steps by a human on the Moon’s surface are rightly iconic, though rather fuzzy. Most people seem to think that those images were received by the radio telescope at Parkes in New South Wales, largely because that was what … Read More