Jamie Steer • Feb 14, 2017 •
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
Guest Work • Feb 13, 2017 •
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
Guest Work • Apr 20, 2016 •
By John Long, Flinders University Palaeontologists and the famous Tin Man in The Wizard of Oz were once in search of the same thing: a heart. But in our case, it was the search for a fossilised heart. And now we’ve found one. A new discovery, announced today in the journal eLife, shows the perfectly preserved 3D … Read More
Guest Work • Jan 18, 2016 •
Emma Johnston, UNSW Australia and Jim Carlton, Williams College When the tsunami waters withdrew from the devastated coast of Japan in March 2011 they took with them a vast amount of debris consisting of potentially millions of objects, and sent it rafting across the Pacific Ocean. On this debris came a host of Japanese marine … Read More
Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Dec 15, 2015 •
The diverse range of native fish in the South Island are thanks to the uplift of the Southern Alps, new research suggests. Research published today in Nature Geoscience, and led by the University of Otago, has drawn a link between rapid mountain-building in the South Island and the diversification of native fish. Changes in geography have long been … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • Mar 06, 2015 •
Milking male salmon- it’s all in the hand hold. A long time ago in a place not so far away, a young research scientist spent several weeks each colour-changing autumn ejaculating male salmon for their rich, milky sperm. It certainly wasn’t your everyday job and it wasn’t all as glamorous as it perhaps sounds. In fact it was about … Read More
Waiology • Nov 20, 2014 •
By Cindy Baker Lamprey and hagfish (known as cyclostomes or agnathans) are the only living jawless vertebrates. Over 360 million years old, lampreys swam past herds of drinking dinosaurs, and have survived at least four mass extinctions. The brain of the lamprey is believed to be the closest example of our primal vertebrate ancestors, and lampreys provide important insight into … Read More
Lynley Hargreaves • Nov 19, 2014 •
Dr Michael PlankThrow the small fish back, so they can grow and reproduce. So goes conventional scientific wisdom, as well as most of the world’s fishing regulations. But research – including Marsden-funded mathematical models by the University of Canterbury’s Michael Plank – is now showing that we should be catching more small fry, and letting the big fish go … Read More
Victoria Metcalf • Jul 25, 2014 •
If we believe the headlines we might expect to see aliens waving at us via telescopes within 20 years. How much harm does the sensationalism of science do? Image Source: Wikimedia Commons http://science1.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2001/ast07sep_2/ Accompanying the increasing permeation of science news into mainstream media, there’s an explosion of popular science media sites such as IFLScience. Should we … Read More
Waiology • Jun 06, 2014 •
By Jane Goodman New Zealand’s native freshwater fish are becoming increasingly threatened The conservation status of New Zealand freshwater fish was assessed in June 2013 using the New Zealand Threat Classification System. The threat ranking lists are often misconstrued as being ‘owned’ by the Department of Conservation. However, although the listing exercise for all New Zealand taxa is … Read More