Guest Author • May 13, 2021 •
Mark Harvey, University of Auckland It seems unlikely the arts will be a priority in the government’s May 20 budget. With housing affordability, climate change and child poverty all urgent issues, arts funding might not be seen as equally important. I argue it is — for two main reasons: it makes economic sense, and it is also essential to … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 03, 2021 •
Nick Wilson, University of Otago; Caroline Shaw, University of Otago; Jude Ball, University of Otago; Michael Baker, University of Otago; Simon Hales, University of Otago, and Tim Chambers, University of Otago The Climate Change Commission’s recent draft report and recommendations has helped to kick-start an extremely important process. But, as others have argued, there remain serious questions about … Read More
Guest Author • Jan 08, 2021 •
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing measures have contributed to an increased recognition of the … Read More
Robert Hickson • Mar 27, 2019 •
It’s hard to find a way through the forest of forecasts about the impact new technologies will have on work and life. Is it going to be terrible, awesome, same same, all of the above, or something else? The answer is no one knows, or can really know. However, it’s useful to explore the issues and consider what policy options … Read More
Guest Author • Apr 13, 2018 •
Eric Morand, Monash Health This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article. Thanks to Selena Gomez and Dr House, most of us have heard of lupus. But most of us don’t know what it is, and until recently, none of us were sure whether stress could be a risk … Read More
Jean Balchin • Dec 14, 2017 •
“I’ll start eating healthily… tomorrow.” We’ve all said it, and inevitably, we’ve all fallen prey to that tempting slice of pizza or that luscious slice of chocolate cake. But it’s clear that a healthy diet has its benefits, and recently, an international team of researchers have found a link to better self esteem for kids … Read More
Sarb Johal • Oct 30, 2017 •
The first article in this short series looked at the scale and scope of the problem of increasing mental health related presentations in New Zealand. In that first article, I argued that ‘Capitalism with a Human Face’ can take its place in altering the settings of the economy in favour of the experience of those who live and work in it, … Read More
Sarb Johal • Apr 24, 2017 •
In this week’s Psychology Report I talked with Laurie Parma from the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge in England, about Nature Buzz (iTunes / Android)- the new research application they have developed to explore the links between nature and well-being. Have a read of this conversation to understand more … Read More
Eric Crampton • Apr 18, 2017 •
Credit: Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. The graph looked plausible. It didn’t really fit my experience, but it didn’t seem implausible either. So I took a 5 minute jaunt over to Berkeley’s SDA engine, which draws on US GSS data. First I ran a basic regression of happiness on age, age squared, with a high score in wordsum (a vocabulary … Read More
Guest Author • Mar 15, 2017 •
By James Ward, University of South Australia; Keri Chiveralls, CQUniversity Australia; Lorenzo Fioramonti, University of Pretoria; Paul Sutton, University of Denver, and Robert Costanza, Australian National University Our economy and society ultimately depend on natural resources: land, water, material (such as metals) and energy. But some scientists have recognised that … Read More