22 July 2009: Glaciers provide global climate puzzle
Glaciers – large slow-moving rivers of ice – are sensitive indicators of the climate. Research recently published on dating glacier moraines has come up with a puzzling picture of the global climate system.

13 July 2009: The 2009 influenza pandemic
Swine flu, a novel influenza A subtype H1N1, arrived in New Zealand in late April 2009. By 11 June 2009, the World Health Organisation had announced an influenza pandemic.

13 July 2009: Swine flu pandemic being managed
The Ministry of Health is responsible for implementing the New Zealand Government’s response to the swine flu pandemic. Now that this virus is spreading in our communities, the health sector has moved from the containment phase to the management phase.

13 July 2009: WHO is monitoring swine flu
Initially, swine flu caused widespread panic. Many countries closed workplaces, schools and kindergartens. But how bad is swine flu? And are the health authorities panicking unnecessarily?

29 June 2009: A piddle in the paddock
Cows are responsible for releasing tonnes of nitrous oxide into the atmosphere, just from taking a piddle in the paddock. Promising research by Lincoln University PhD student Janet Bertram may provide a solution to this wee issue.

22 June 2009: Super magnets attract international interest
New Zealand’s Industrial Research Limited (IRL) has developed a type of very powerful magnet using high-temperature superconducting coils.

08 June 2009: Designer trees for healthy honey
Scientists at Waikato University have discovered a compound in the nectar of mānuka tree flowers that converts to the antibacterial ingredient found in ‘active’ mānuka honey.

03 June 2009: NZ joins world’s largest geoscience programme
New Zealand has joined a major international scientific drilling programme that will collect sediment cores from beneath the seabed in New Zealand waters later this year.

25 May 2009: Native frogs enjoy a long life
Frogs live much longer than previously thought, according to an ongoing study by scientists at Victoria University.

11 May 2009: Eocene waters warmer than predicted
Scientists have discovered that sea temperatures around New Zealand 50 million years ago were much warmer than they are now – at a very pleasant 30 degrees Celsius.

11 May 2009: Exploring undersea volcanoes
Scientists and university students from New Zealand, Britain and the United States have recently returned from a voyage investigating 3 active submarine volcanoes in the Kermadec Arc, northeast of New Zealand.

04 May 2009: New discoveries in Fiordland ‘china shops’
Scientists have discovered a number of previously unknown species during a 2-week survey around Fiordland’s underwater ‘china shops’.

04 May 2009: Perch pests culled
Scientists from the University of Waikato and NIWA have announced that their electro-fishing and netting operations have successfully reduced perch numbers in the lake at the Karori Wildlife Sanctuary.

27 April 2009: Bill proposes wider DNA sampling
A new Bill that will allow DNA to be taken from anyone arrested and charged with an imprisonable offence had its first reading in Parliament on 10 February 2009.

14 April 2009: Tree lobsters’ convergent evolution
New Zealand scientists have uncovered remarkable new information on the evolution of one of the world’s rarest insects – the Lord Howe Island tree lobster (Dryococelus australis).

06 April 2009: Salmonella outbreak quickly traced
A recent outbreak of Salmonella typhimurium was quickly identified and contained and the source of infection located thanks to new techniques developed by ESR (Environmental and Scientific Research) scientists.

25 March 2009: Designer vaccines boost cancer treatment research
Groundbreaking research involving dendritic cells and sea sponges may soon see designer vaccines for the treatment of cancer developed at New Zealand’s Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.

25 March 2009: Science roadshow opens with a bang
The Prime Minister, the Hon. John Key, opened the 2009 Fonterra Science Roadshow with a bang on the 26 February. This year, the roadshow plans to visit more than 700 schools.

16 March 2009: Using nanotechnology to combat sea muck
New Zealand scientists are developing a unique nanotechnology solution to the world-wide age-old problem of marine biofouling.

10 March 2009: Of mice and men
British-owned Gough Island in the South Atlantic is a world heritage site. For centuries, some 22 species of seabirds have thrived there – but now there is trouble in paradise.

02 March 2009: Giant kauri under threat
Kauri trees in the upper North Island are under threat, not by deforestation or vandals, but by a microscopic fungus-like organism called PTA (Phytophthora taxon Agathis).

23 February 2009: Generating power from the sea
Energy from the Sun is stored in many forms all around us. We just have to recognise the stored energy and develop technologies to utilise the energy to create electricity.

16 February 2009: Big male tuataras hogging the love
A study of one of New Zealand’s native reptiles, the tuatara, has revealed some unfortunate breeding habits.

09 February 2009: Dob in a wood pigeon
Victoria University in Wellington launched an interactive website in December 2008, where you can dob in a wood pigeon – that is the public can report sightings of the bird nationwide.

03 February 2009: Jetpack set to take off
A personal Jetpack flying machine, the stuff of science fiction and superheroes, is set to become a reality thanks to work by inventor Glenn Martin and his company Martin Aircraft.

8 December 2008: Capturing carbon
Many people are concerned that carbon emissions from human activities are causing the Earth’s temperature to warm up. There is debate about this, but irrespective of where you stand on human-induced global warming, some scientists say we should be doing as much as we can to prevent man-made greenhouse gas escaping into the atmosphere anyway.

24 November 2008: Easter Island: The mystery of population collapse
Today, Easter Island is a primarily pastoral island in the south-eastern Pacific Ocean. However, less than a thousand years ago, the island supported a tropical forest that included the world’s largest palm tree and dandelions of tree height, and there were at least six species of land birds and 37 species of sea birds.

7 November 2007: Adversity’s Sweet Milk (PDF 82K) A1/A2 Milk debate: It would seem that all milk is not created equal, and that’s even before humans start “adding value” by reducing fat content or adding vitamins, minerals or flavourings. A genetic variation among cattle could be affecting the milk we drink and causing health problems for a few people with particular types of health predisposition. In September 2007, Professor Keith Woodford from Lincoln University released his book, “Devil in the milk: Illness, health and politics, A1 and A2 milk”, claiming that a particular type of milk protein is causing some people health problems and that the dairy industry is doing little to change the situation or to alert consumers of the potential problems. This issue is one that has existed in scientific circles for decades, but Professor Woodford’s book has finally thrust the issue into the public arena. The subsequent media attention has many consumers concerned about the milk they drink. But what are the scientific facts surrounding Professor Woodford’s claims.

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Site last updated: 28 July, 2009.
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