Tuhia ki te rangi

Seeds of Doubt

Guest Author • Jan 11, 2021

• kauri,
• kauri dieback,
• Phytophthora,
• Tane Mahuta

NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here. Tess Tuxford Ko te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New Zealand’s largest kauri tree stands at over 50 metres … Read More

Greenwashing: The New Brainwashing

Guest Author • Dec 23, 2020

• business,
• corporations,
• greenwashing,
• Sustainability

Libby Kennedy In a world of metal straws, keep cups and electric cars, everyone is on the hunt for the most eco-friendly products to help reduce their environmental impact. Many corporate companies have noticed this and are now advertising to this new green-minded demographic. Unfortunately, it is very common to see a discrepancy between the green claims advertised by … Read More

The El Niño/Southern oscillation and the rise and fall of the Incan Empire

Guest Author • Dec 21, 2020

• Climate,
• El Niño,
• El Niño–Southern Oscillation,
• ENSO,
• Incan Empire,
• south america

Alex Matheson What do sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean have to do with the rise and fall of one of the greatest pre-modern civilisations? Read on – you might be surprised! The Incan Empire The Incan Empire was, at the height of its power, the largest in North or South America. By the time of the Spanish conquest … Read More

Green is the new black

Guest Author • Dec 16, 2020

• Bangladesh,
• cotton,
• fashion,
• fast fashion,
• polyester,
• Sustainability

NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here. Electra Scott Despite its pretty appearance, the fashion industry has some ugly truths. The fashion industry is a massive contributor to environmental degradation, globally. The production of clothing uses extreme amounts of water and creates … Read More

The Jiangcungou landfill – China’s sleeping giant

Guest Author • Dec 15, 2020

• China,
• emissions,
• landfill,
• leachate,
• rubbish,
• waste

Jim Missen Jiangcungou is home to a 700,00 square metre landfill, with the ability to hold 49 million cubic metres of municipal waste. Of China’s 1.4 billion populace it serves a mere 8 million and has reached its capacity 25 years early. The landfill in question is located in Shaanxi province and its sole user is the city of … Read More

Good s-ci-ense of humour

Guest Author • Dec 10, 2020

• humour,
• late night shows,
• satire,
• Scientific literacy

Krishna Chandrasekar Colbert, Oliver, Meyers, Kimmel… The low profile that we were expected to keep, courtesy COVID-19 lockdown, had me paying more attention to the Late-Night Shows hosts, who have all been “working from their homes”. Oh yes, Fallon and Noah figure in there somewhere too. But what struck me as interesting was how all of them derided Trump mercilessly … Read More

Things that grow fast, and things that surprise us

Guest Author • Sep 17, 2020

• black swan,
• coronavirus,
• COVID-19,
• exponential growth,
• Pandemic

Marie Becdelievre January 2020. The number of news article mentioning coronavirus exploded and anxious voices whispered about a global pandemic. Whisper? To me, it was only a whisper. I tend to learn about the world through non-fiction books, conferences, and academic research rather than news and social media, so I did not see the crisis coming. But as whispers … Read More

The 2019 measles epidemic in Samoa

Guest Author • Sep 14, 2020

• epidemic,
• immunisation,
• measles,
• MMR,
• Samoa,
• Talune,
• vaccination

Gabrielle Po-Ching In November 1918, the cargo and passenger ship Talune travelled to Apia, Samoa from Auckland, carrying a number of passengers who had pneumonic influenza. From these passengers stemmed the biggest pandemic Samoa had ever seen. With around 8,500 deaths, over 20% of the country’s population at the time had been wiped out. Just over a century later, … Read More

Secret Lives of Lakes

Guest Author • Sep 10, 2020

• Cawthron Ins,
• Fiordland,
• Lake Troup,
• lakes,
• Lakes380

McKayla Holloway The helicopter carries a team of four Lakes380 scientists and me; we hug the Gneiss rock walls that tower over Lake Manapouri. It’s arguably one of New Zealand’s most well-known lakes – made famous by the ‘Save Manapouri’ campaign of the 1970s. My chest is drawn back into my seat as we swoop over Wilmot Pass; out … Read More

Tuhia ki te rangi: a new space for student science communication

Sarah-Jane O'Connor • Sep 09, 2020

• science communication,
• tertiary students,
• writing

Nau mai, haere mai – welcome to our newest addition to Sciblogs: Tuhia ki te rangi. Over the eleven years Sciblogs has been operating, the face of science communication has changed dramatically. Where a decade ago there was a burgeoning number of scientists and other experts looking to stretch their wings in science blogging, now there is a growing establishment … Read More