John Kerr • Mar 28, 2017 •
One of the world’s most well known and entertaining science communicators is coming to New Zealand. Dr Neil deGrasse Tyson will be coming to New Zealand – for the first time ever – this July to talk life, the universe and everything. He will be performing his show A Cosmic Perspective in Christchurch (July 4) and Auckland (July 9). Both … Read More
Grant Jacobs • Feb 02, 2017 •
Over the last six months of or so a number of New Zealanders involved in science have suggested a body represent science and technology be formed, with the aim that government policy and lawmakers be better informed. What I would like to do to add to this mix is to very briefly introduce two organisations in … Read More
Guest Work • May 12, 2016 •
By Natalie Rens, The University of Queensland and Kelsey S. Palghat, The University of Queensland Imagine seeing this headline: A zap to the brain could make you a genius The story might go something like this: Neuroscientists have proven that zapping your brain with an electrical pulse can make you three times smarter. In a recent … Read More
Eric Crampton • Nov 16, 2015 •
Why can’t New Zealand public data be as publicly available as American data? Here’s a snip from my column from interest.co.nz: Academics in New Zealand wanting to use individual-level publicly collected data to look at questions of public policy interest have two basic options. They can request a Confidentialised Unit Record File from Statistics New Zealand for the Census … Read More
Siouxsie Wiles • Aug 27, 2015 •
From the 29th of August to the 4th of September, over 1,000 scientists will be descending on Queenstown for the annual Queenstown Research Week. And this year the public are invited! In addition to the conferences the scientists will be attending comes a fantastic array of events for the public. Hands on science Otago University’s chemistry, physics, geology, microbiology, food … Read More
Peter Griffin • Nov 03, 2014 •
There’s been much debate about the forthcoming Code of Conduct on Public Engagement the Royal Society of New Zealand is developing. This piece of work is part of the Government’s Science in Society Strategy and is laid out in Annex 4 of this document, which outlines initiatives that will be rolled out as part of the Strategy including: “The … Read More
Elf Eldridge • Feb 05, 2013 •
It really has been far too long since my last post, but thanks to some prodding from the local Sciblogs community (God bless them!) I’ll try and summarise why Just So Science has been so quiet since last year. And I wish I could say it’s because I’ve been putting my nose to the grindstone and focussing on my PhD … Read More
Fabiana Kubke • Oct 25, 2012 •
It has been a busy Open Access Week for me. My last (well almost last!) duty is today at 4:00 pm at the Old Government House at the University of Auckland. Stratus has organised a panel and invited me to participate, and I have just uploaded my upcoming presentation to Slideshare. If you have a […] … Read More
Fabiana Kubke • Feb 13, 2012 •
I just came back from another amazing kiwi foo. I have talked about it before, so I will not bore you with the details of what kiwi foo is all about. This time, unlike other years, I went with a very focused view of what I wanted to achieve. And it was as stimulating as […] … Read More
Aimee Whitcroft • Oct 18, 2011 •
Scientists and the public often seem to speak a different language. And no, I’m not necessarily talking about the dense jargon employed by scientists or, to be frank, the private (or public!) sectors. Instead, I’m talking about some pretty common words, like enhance*. Or aerosol, or manipulation, or, even, scheme. Taken from the article … Read More