Infrequently Asked Questions

Climate change, inequality, and why we need cycle lanes in South Auckland

Lynley Hargreaves • Nov 23, 2017

• agriculture,
• Climate,
• cycle lanes,
• Health,
• inequality,
• Rhys Jones

Action on climate change is essential, but poorly planned action risks exacerbating inequality, says University of Auckland public health physician Dr Rhys Jones, making the health of our poorest people even worse. Instead, New Zealand needs to look for win-win policies which reduce emissions while also improving the health of vulnerable populations. That means applying an ‘equity lens’ to climate … Read More

Mosquito-borne diseases more likely to reach New Zealand

Lynley Hargreaves • Nov 02, 2017

• climate change,
• disease,
• ecological change,
• mosquitoes,
• possums,
• Ross River virus

It’s a familiar New Zealand story, the havoc wrecked by all the pest species we’ve brought in. But in the case of mosquitoes, the worst might be yet to come. There were 12 mostly bird-nibbling mosquito species in pre-European times. Since our arrival, three new species have become permanently established here. We’ve stopped dozens more at our … Read More

Future Medicine: Organising Human Brain Cells on a Silicon Chip

Lynley Hargreaves • Sep 13, 2017

• astrocytes,
• Auckland University,
• brain cells,
• epilepsy,
• Marsden Grant,
• neurons,
• silicon chips,
• Stroke

Forget petri dishes: a team from the University of Auckland is using a Royal Society Te Apārangi Marsden Fund grant to organise human neural cells into grids. The group then stimulate the cells with electrodes, to better understand real communication in the brain and to mimic the effects of common neurological conditions such as epilepsy and stroke. Associate Professor Charles … Read More

Take a walk on the polluted side: air pollutant exposure on busy roads

Lynley Hargreaves • Sep 01, 2017

• air pollution,
• Air Quality,
• land use regression,
• modelling,
• nitrogen dioxide,
• PM10,
• Pollution,
• Traffic

Originally posted on Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Past and Future series where, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, early career researchers are invited to share discoveries in their fields from days gone by or give us a glimpse into where their research may take us in the future. By Dr Lena Francesca Weissert, Research Fellow in Chemical Sciences at University … Read More

Matters of coincidence or the collective digital unconscious?

Lynley Hargreaves • Aug 18, 2017

• collective behaviour,
• information managementniversity of Wellington,
• social networks,
• Twitter,
• Victoria University of Wellington,
• Wikipedia,
• zooniverse

Originally posted on Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Past and Future series where, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, early career researchers are invited to share discoveries in their fields from days gone by or give us a glimpse into where their research may take us in the future. By Dr Markus Luczak-Roesch, senior lecturer from the School of Information Management … Read More

Investigating homicide in mental health services

Guest Author • Jul 20, 2017

• forensic psychiatrist,
• homicide,
• Mental health,
• prisons,
• psychological medicine,
• Psychology

Originally posted on Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Past and Future series where, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, early career researchers are invited to share discoveries in their fields from days gone by or give us a glimpse into where their research may take us in the future. By Lillian Ng, Department of Psychological Medicine, The University of Auckland In … Read More

Words as windows into our minds

Andreea Calude • Jul 06, 2017

• corpus linguistics,
• language,
• linguistics,
• Maori,
• words

This article was originally posted on Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Past and Future series where, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, early career researchers are invited to share discoveries in their fields from days gone by or give us a glimpse into where their research may take us in the future. This article is by Dr Andreea Calude, … Read More

Curiouser and Curiouser: The mysterious incidence of testicular cancer in Māori

Lynley Hargreaves • Jun 15, 2017

• cancer,
• epidemiology,
• Otago,
• testicular cancer

Originally posted on Royal Society Te Apārangi’s Past and Future series where, as part of 150th anniversary celebrations, early career researchers are invited to share discoveries in their fields from days gone by or give us a glimpse into where their research may take us in the future. By Jason Gurney, Department of Public Health, University of Otago, … Read More

The lost map of South Westland

Lynley Hargreaves • Apr 27, 2017

• Charlie Douglas,
• Geological Survey,
• science history,
• Simon Nathan,
• West Coast

Fascinating science stories await those willing to delve into New Zealand’s archives. But few do, because of the vast amount of information to sift through, says Dr Simon Nathan, geologist and guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand. The first of two issues focused on science history, this … Read More

The Royal Society, 150 years on

Lynley Hargreaves • Apr 06, 2017

• Charles Fleming,
• James Hector,
• John Martin,
• New Zealand Institutde,
• Ross Moore,
• Royal Society,
• science history

There’s a common thread running through the 150 year history of the Royal Society Te Apārangi. That is the Society’s ability to reinvent itself, says historian John Martin, who wrote the book Illuminating our World: 150 Years of the Royal Society Te Apārangi launched in Wellington last night. The Society’s latest reconception, in some ways, takes the organisation back to its … Read More