Aimee Whitcroft • Feb 15, 2012 •
In this newest animated video from fellow Sciblogger Siouxsie Wiles (Infectious Thoughts) explains how fireflies* use bioluminescence to find love (or the firefly equivalent), and, well, food. And it then goes on to explain how the chemical reaction used to produce that light, can be exploited to help us test for bacterial presence. In your [...] … Read More
Michael Edmonds • Aug 03, 2011 •
This month is a busy one for organisers of events in Canterbury to celebrate the International Year of Chemistry. We have two events rapidly approaching. A Soupçon of Science: Creativity at the Interface of Chemistry and Cuisine Thursday August 18th , 5.30 pm, D-Lecture theatre, Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology This is a free public lecture which explores the of … Read More
Bryan Walker • Jul 14, 2011 •
I’ve been looking at the The World Economic and Social Survey 2011: The Great Green Technological Transformation which Gareth drew attention to in his recent post. It’s a long document prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), not intended for casual consumption, and I haven’t read all 250 pages. But the [...] … Read More
Bryan Walker • Jun 22, 2011 •
I thought of Oxfam’s recent report on food justice while I was reviewing Christian Parenti’s book Tropic of Chaos. He wrote of how climate change impacts are compounding the existing economic and political problems of many poorer populations. This is also very evident in Oxfam’s report on the alarming new surge in hunger as higher [...] … Read More
Gareth Renowden • Feb 17, 2011 •
Highlight of this week’s show is a fascinating — and sobering — interview with Greenland expert Professor Jason Box. His perspective on current events in the Arctic — from the dangers of permafrost methane, through rapid warming over Greenland and the potential impacts on sea level is essential listening and viewing. And he can surf, [...] … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Aug 23, 2010 •
I come from an extremely foody family. I’ve always explained it to people as follows: “you know that place in their hearts where fundamentalist religious people keep their god? That’s where my parents keep food’. So yes. And I now find myself living in a particularly foody city (Wellington has, … Read More
Bryan Walker • Aug 13, 2010 •
One of the things that persuaded Gwynne Dyer that it was time to write his book Climate Wars was the realisation that “the first and most important impact of climate change on human civilization will be an acute and permanent crisis of food supplyâ€. He’s not the only one to recognise that. Many of us [...] … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Jul 19, 2010 •
Hah! Still alive! (Possibly) A melon A little bit of very intriguing strangeness today. And yes, a brief post too. Still, the amount of time spent watching this in fascination should hopefully make up for that. Some very interesting person took a bunch of different foods, and bunged them into an MRI … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Dec 15, 2009 •
In more of the spirit of things festive, Stats NZ have released a series of data looking at the cost of two different types of NZ Christmas dinner, both this year and in previous years. (No, rabbit is not on the menu) And, because I enjoy graphing, I thought I’d take some … Read More