Guest Work

Does New Zealand need a science book prize?

Guest Work • Feb 22, 2017

• humanities,
• literature,
• science books

by Dr Rebecca Priestley On Friday last week, I noticed that the Royal Society of New Zealand’s Science Book Prize was no longer. I don’t recall ever seeing an announcement about it, but the online information about the prize now reads in the past tense, saying the prize “was a biennial book prize to encourage the writing, publishing and … Read More

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How we discovered pollution-poisoned crustaceans in the Mariana Trench

Guest Work • Feb 21, 2017

• mariana trench,
• marine ecology,
• oceans,
• PCBs,
• Pollution

By Alan Jamieson, Newcastle University Even animals from the deepest places on Earth have accumulated pollutants made by humans. That’s the unfortunate finding of a new study by myself with colleagues from the University of Aberdeen and the James Hutton Institute, published in Nature Ecology and Evolution. Up until now I have tended to stick to the nice … Read More

The Port Hills, a love story

Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Feb 17, 2017

• bush fires,
• Canterbury,
• Christchurch,
• Port Hills

The first few years I lived in Christchurch, the Port Hills were a hazy mirage on my horizon. An undergraduate student – living in the suburbs neighbouring the university, without a car and distracted by the daily dramas of assignments, waking up in time for lectures and shaking off hangovers – they were just a sight to occasionally … Read More

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What causes whale mass strandings?

Guest Work • Feb 16, 2017

• beachings,
• marine life,
• sonar,
• strandings,
• whales

By Peter Evans, Bangor University Around 600 pilot whales recently became stranded on a New Zealand beach, around 400 of which died before volunteers could refloat them back into the sea. Sadly, this kind of mass whale stranding has occurred since human records began, and happens somewhere in the world on a regular basis. At the end … Read More

Why the government should tax unhealthy foods and subsidise nutritious ones

Guest Work • Feb 16, 2017

• nutrition,
• Obesity,
• sugar,
• Taxes

by Linda Cobiac, University of Melbourne; Lennert Veerman, Cancer Council NSW, and Tony Blakely, University of Melbourne In an Australian study published today, we show that if the government were to combine taxes and subsidies on a range of foods and beverages, it could substantially improve the health of Australians and potentially free up … Read More

How far they’ll go: Moana shows the power of Polynesian celestial navigation

Guest Work • Feb 16, 2017

• aboriginal people,
• astronomy,
• celestial navigation,
• indigenous knowledge,
• migration,
• navigation,
• Pacific,
• Polynesia

By Duane W. Hamacher, Monash University and Carla Bento Guedes, UNSW One of the greatest feats of human migration in history was the colonisation of the vast Pacific Ocean by Polynesian peoples. They achieved it thanks to their sophisticated knowledge of positional astronomy and celestial navigation. The Disney film Moana has drawn attention to … Read More

Black holes are even stranger than you can imagine

Guest Work • Feb 15, 2017

• astrophysics,
• black holes,
• space

By Alister Graham, Swinburne University of Technology Our love of black holes continues to grow as our knowledge of these celestial bodies expands. The latest news is the discovery of a rare “middleweight” black hole, a relative newcomer to the black hole family. We already knew that some black holes are just a few times the mass … Read More

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Celebrating our ‘Kiwi’ Trout – Part 2

Jamie Steer • Feb 14, 2017

• conservation,
• evolution,
• fish,
• fishing,
• native,
• salmon,
• trout

New Zealand’s trout and salmon species are here to stay and every year they are evolving to become more a part of the unique fabric of this country, both culturally and genetically. In this second post in a two part series, Dr Jamie Steer says it’s to time recognise this and celebrate our wildlife – both new and … Read More

Celebrating our ‘Kiwi’ Trout

Guest Work • Feb 13, 2017

• divergence,
• evolution,
• fish,
• native,
• salmon,
• trout

New Zealand’s trout and salmon species are here to stay and every year they are evolving to become more a part of the unique fabric of this country, both culturally and genetically. In this two part series Dr Jamie Steer says it’s time to recognise this and celebrate our wildlife – both new and old.  In 1895, an article … Read More

Shifting climate and Sauvignon blanc style – Can you taste the future?

Guest Work • Feb 10, 2017

• climate change,
• climate variation,
• Horizon Scan,
• primary industries,
• viticulture,
• wine

By Dr Glen Creasy, Senior Lecturer in Viticulture, Lincoln University. Wine is a fascinating beverage. It is the culmination of a myriad of effects on the grapevine and its fruit, decisions made by the winemaker, handling of the bottles and the time until it’s poured into your glass. It is an expression of the environment it was made in, … Read More