Guest Work

The Lark Descending: are non-native birds undervalued in New Zealand?

Guest Work • Jun 23, 2017

• birds Garden Bird Survey,
• blackbird,
• chaffinch,
• dunnock,
• extinction,
• goldfinch,
• non-native,
• Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment,
• red list,
• song thrush,
• tarling

By Stephen D Wratten, Lincoln University, New Zealand New Zealand has an audacious plan to protect its native birds. The country has pledged to rid itself of introduced mammalian predators by 2050 and, this year, will spend $20 million on the Battle for the Birds, one of the largest predator control programmes in the country’s history, across … Read More

Ancient DNA reveals how cats conquered the world

Guest Work • Jun 22, 2017

• cats,
• DNA,
• feline,
• genetics,
• trade

By Janet Hoole, Keele University Humans may have had pet cats for as long as 9,500 years. In 2004, archaeologists in Cyprus found a complete cat skeleton buried in a Stone Age village. Given that Cyprus has no native wildcats, the animal (or perhaps its ancestors) must have been brought to the island by humans all those … Read More

Volcanoes under the ice: melting Antarctic ice could fight climate change

Guest Work • Jun 16, 2017

• Antarctica,
• iron,
• phytoplankton,
• Southern Ocean,
• Volcanoes

By Silvia Frisia, University of Newcastle  Iron is not commonly famous for its role as a micronutrient for tiny organisms dwelling in the cold waters of polar oceans. But iron feeds plankton, which in turn hold carbon dioxide in their bodies. When they die, the creatures sink to the bottom of the sea, safely storing that carbon. How exactly … Read More

When do we stop vaccinating against an infectious disease?

Guest Work • Jun 13, 2017

• disease eradication,
• polio,
• poliovirus,
• public health,
• smallpox,
• tuberculosis,
• vaccination,
• vaccines

By Rebecca Chisholm, University of Melbourne and Nicholas Geard, University of Melbourne Australia was declared measles-free in 2014. However, the recent importation of a case of measles into Australia from Indonesia illustrates the threat this disease still poses to Australians. It also underscores the importance of maintaining high vaccination rates against rare diseases to … Read More

No more playing games: AlphaGo AI to tackle some real world challenges

Guest Work • Jun 10, 2017

• AI,
• artificial intelligence,
• computers,
• Go,
• machine learning

By Geoff Goodhill, The University of Queensland Humankind lost another important battle with artificial intelligence (AI) last month, when AlphaGo beat the world’s leading Go player Ke Jie by three games to zero. AlphaGo is an AI program developed by DeepMind, part of Google’s parent company Alphabet. Last year it beat another leading player, … Read More

Will the Paris Agreement still be able to deliver after the US withdrawal?

Guest Work • Jun 03, 2017

• Climate,
• climate change,
• paris accord,
• Paris Agreement,
• trump

By Bill Hare, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research In the short term, the United States’ withdrawal from the Paris Agreement will certainly have ripple effects globally. But rather than fatally undermine the Paris Agreement, it will likely cause other countries to reaffirm their firm commitment to the full implementation of the climate deal. We are already … Read More

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A 3D-printed rocket engine just launched a new era of space exploration

Guest Work • Jun 01, 2017

• 3d printing,
• Mars,
• NASA,
• rocketlab,
• rockets,
• space

By Candice Majewski, University of Sheffield The rocket that blasted into space from New Zealand on May 25 was special. Not only was it the first to launch from a private site, it was also the first to be powered by an engine made almost entirely using 3D printing. This might not make it the “first … Read More

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New homes for our native birds?

Guest Work • May 31, 2017

• birds,
• conservation,
• IUCN,
• native species,
• Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment,
• PCE,
• urban habitats

By Prof Phil Seddon, University of Otago. The newly released report from the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment (Taonga of an island nation) highlights the precarious state of our native avifauna, with one in five of our 168 native bird species at risk of extinction. Birds are highly visible but also highly vulnerable indicators of habitat change, not just … Read More

The Manuka honey fight is one we have to have

Guest Work • May 30, 2017

• agriculture,
• food,
• Geographical Indications,
• honey,
• manuka,
• trade

By William van Caenegem, Professor of Law, Bond University The current row about the certification of Manuka honey, and whether it is a distinctly New Zealand product, is just the latest dispute involving Geographical Indications (GIs). These are markers that products have special qualities due to their origins in a specific region, like Champagne. There is … Read More

Has Everest’s iconic Hillary Step really collapsed? Here’s the science

Guest Work • May 29, 2017

• Everest,
• geology,
• Hillary,
• Himalayas,
• mountain climbing,
• mountineering,
• Nepal

By Mike Searle, University of Oxford The Hillary Step, a rocky outcrop at 8,770m, just beneath the summit of Everest (8,850m), has finally succumbed to gravity and partially collapsed. At least it has according to mountaineer Tim Mosedale, who climbed the mountain this year. His claim has been refuted by the chair of the Nepal … Read More