Code for life

New Zealand’s Chief Science Advisor (CSA), Professor Juliet Gerrard, has been asking where research can most effectively influence policy – one post-it note at a time, (Posted 21st August ~10:45pm, NZST; click on image to open tweet.) The comments after this piece are open for readers to offer their thoughts on where science should best influence policy. Please do! … Read More

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Food Evolution, the movie, is screening at Queenstown at the end of the month. If you’re in the area, check it out. It’s free: you just have to register at EventBrite. The screening and panel discussion is in the Clancy’s Meeting Room, Level 5, Rydges Lakeland Resort, from 7pm on Fri. 31 August. The film is narrated by well-known science communicator … Read More

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We’ve had more than 100 years of warnings of human-induced climate change now. It’s nearer 200 years, really. Before records were taken they would be extrapolations rather than observations. Extrapolations are harder for those outside of science to trust, but extrapolations are part of what science does. Looking to where things might go is useful. This pithy, insightful newspaper article … Read More

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A lot has been said about a recent court case ruling about Monsanto’s Roundup. Let’s look just at the role of IARC and Eugenie Sage’s call for the New Zealand Environment Protection Agency (NZ EPA) review their stance on Roundup. The role IARC seems to be very little understood. Many media reports (worldwide) on this court case offer a throw-away … Read More

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In the New Zealand media and social media people are talking about this genetically modified ‘Impossible Burger’. Except it’s not. Sorry everyone, but it really isn’t genetically modified. What was genetic engineered is a yeast that makes one of the ingredients used in the ‘Impossible Burger’. It’s just a different way of making that ingredient. The ingredient is the same … Read More

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‘Fake author’ papers opposing HPV vaccine by ‘Lars Andersson’ are being retracted. The editor of one of the papers has offered an extraordinary defence, railing at the Karolinska Institute. Earlier this month I wrote about a research opinion piece claiming that the HPV vaccine increases cervical cancer in some patients. Among the faults of the comment article were that the … Read More

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As you age history repeats itself. Anyone over about 30 will know what I mean. Today I was reading over at ArsTechnica how some of the Apple 6 phones were bendier than earlier models, and Apple knew it. The writer reports, These touchscreen-controlling chips became unseated from the logic board due to bending and flexing with normal use. Back … Read More

Here’s a great video of HIV infection animated, showing molecular life at play – Molecular life is fascinating stuff. Complex molecules getting around making life happen. I’ve been following it for 30+ years and it continues to amaze me. It’s a realm where chemistry and physics merge to become life. In this case, an HIV infection taking place. There’s a … Read More

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When the author and the core claims of the paper aren’t real, you’re faking HPV vaccine claims in more ways than one. A new paper in the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics (IJME) claims that the HPV vaccine causes an increase in cancers in some patients. It’s first problem is that the author is fake. A fake author Yes, you … Read More

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New Zealanders and Australians might like to contribute (last-minute!*) submissions to revise Food Standards Australia and New Zealand’s code for controlling new food varieties, FSANZ is seeking input from the community on whether food derived using new breeding techniques (NBTs) should be captured for pre-market approval under the Code, and whether the definitions for ‘food produced using gene technology’ … Read More

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