Guest Work

Exoplanets, life, and the danger of a single study

Guest Author • Nov 28, 2019

• exoplanets,
• goldilocks,
• K2-18b,
• space

By Pallab Ghosh There’s value in covering new research advances, even when the underlying science is unsettled. But there are also risks. The recent announcement that scientists discovered water on the planet K2-18b, 110 light years away, prompted a media swoon. News stories, including a piece written by me, billed it as the first detection of … Read More

A Team Approach to Tackling the Psychology Replication Crisis

Guest Author • Nov 24, 2019

• psychological research,
• Psychology,
• replication crisis

Dalmeet Singh Chawla In 2008, psychologists proposed that when humans are shown an unfamiliar face, they judge it on two main dimensions: trustworthiness and physical strength. These form the basis of first impressions, which may help people make important social decisions, from who to vote for to how long a prison sentence should be. To date, the … Read More

Big Pharma has failed: the antibiotic pipeline needs to be taken under public ownership

Guest Author • Nov 23, 2019

• antibiotic,
• antibiotic resistance,
• drug development,
• drug discovery,
• R&D,
• Research and Development

Claas Kirchhelle, University of Oxford; Adam Roberts, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, and Andrew Singer, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Antibiotics are among the most important medicines known to humankind, but we are running out of this crucial resource. Decisive action is needed if we are to retain access to them. This includes rethinking our reliance on private companies … Read More

How does poor air quality from bushfire smoke affect our health?

Guest Author • Nov 14, 2019

• asthma,
• bushfires,
• respiratory illness,
• smoke,
• wildfires

Brian Oliver, University of Technology Sydney New South Wales and Queensland are in the grip of a devastating bushfire emergency, which has tragically resulted in the loss of homes and lives. But the smoke produced can affect many more people not immediately impacted by the fires – even people many kilometres from the fire. The smoke haze blanketing parts of … Read More

Holy bin chickens: ancient Egyptians tamed wild ibis for sacrifice

Guest Author • Nov 14, 2019

• archaeology,
• bin chicken,
• DNA,
• Egyptian,
• ibis,
• sacrifice

Sally Wasef, Griffith University and David Lambert, Griffith University These days, not many Aussies consider the ibis a particularly admirable creature. But these birds, now colloquially referred to as “bin chickens” due to their notorious scavenging antics, have a grandiose and important place in history – ancient Egyptian history, to be precise. Using DNA from ibis mummies buried around … Read More

Why municipal waste-to-energy incineration is not the answer to NZ’s plastic waste crisis

Guest Author • Nov 14, 2019

• plastic,
• waste,
• waste-to-energy incineration

Trisia Farrelly, Massey University New Zealand is ranked the third-most-wasteful country in the OECD. New Zealanders produce five times the global daily average of waste per person – and they are getting more wasteful, producing 35% more than a decade ago. These statistics are likely to get worse following China’s 2018 ban on imports of certain … Read More

Climate change will fuel bush fires

Guest Author • Nov 12, 2019

• Australia,
• climate change,
• Drought,
• fire ecology,
• fire science,
• fires

Grant Pearce The effects of the current Australian bushfires in New South Wales and Queensland (and also again in California) are devastating and far-reaching. To date, the fires have resulted in several lives being lost and many homes and properties destroyed. Here in New Zealand, the impacts have been only minor, with New Zealand firefighters gearing up for possible deployment … Read More

The freshwater mussel housing crisis: eviction by invasive weeds?

Guest Author • Nov 05, 2019

• freshwater mussels,
• herbicide,
• invasive plants,
• kākahi,
• lake ecology

Tom Moore Traditionally a food source and cutting tool, freshwater mussels/kākahi are now widely valued as water filters that help clean our waterbodies and maintain ecosystem health throughout Aotearoa. The improvement they provide in water quality can make it easier for other animals to live in streams and rivers, as well as making the water safer for recreational activities and … Read More

A mountain of a challenge in banning glyphosate

Guest Author • Nov 01, 2019

• cancer,
• glyphosate,
• IARC,
• Monsanto,
• Risk,
• toxicology

Belinda Cridge I was reading my son a story last night. A great tale of derring-do of five mountaineers scaling the Matterhorn for the first time. One in the party had tried six times previously and failed, this was the last attempt before winter closed another season. They tried a new route, scaling from the north face. The route was … Read More

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A small New Zealand songbird that hides food for later use provides insights into cognitive evolution

Guest Author • Nov 01, 2019

• bird,
• food caching,
• Intelligence

Rachael Shaw, Victoria University of Wellington When we think about animals storing food, the image that usually comes to mind is a squirrel busily hiding nuts for the winter. We don’t usually think of a small songbird taking down an enormous invertebrate, tearing it into pieces and hiding these titbits in the branches of trees to snack on later in … Read More