Navigation for News Categories
Our Changing World headlines with summaries.
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Genome sequencing - a how-to-guide
9 Jun 2016If you want to sequence a genome then a company like New Zealand Genomics Ltd has the equipment and expertise to produce and manage the large amounts of data.
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Citizen science: large brown seaweeds
9 Jun 2016Marine scientists are calling on the public to help them get a better idea of the distribution of large brown seaweeds along the coast of New Zealand.
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New search of the cosmos
7 Jun 2016The University of Auckland is joining one of the most ambitious astronomy projects ever to scour the southern skies for extrasolar planets – while testing theories about the origins of the universe…
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Smart kaka - can you teach old parrots new tricks?
2 Jun 2016The kaka, or forest parrot, has had its IQ tested for the first time - and in some experiments young naive birds were better problem solvers than older birds that were stuck in their ways.
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Tuning into whale song
2 Jun 2016NIWA marine ecologist Kim Goetz is setting up acoustic monitoring stations in Cook Strait to eavesdrop on whales and dolphins as they migrate through New Zealand waters.
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Acid test for coastal seas
2 Jun 2016The ocean is becoming more acidic, and this change is most pronounced in coastal seas. Marine scientists have received $4.9 million to work out what is going on and how this affects marine life along…
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The virus hunter and the rare plant
2 Jun 2016Virus hunter and botanist Paul Guy has been called in to help threatened native cress plants that are being infected by three different brassica viruses.
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Learning from past floods
26 May 2016University of Waikato professor of environmental planning Iain White argues that our 'same again' response to flooding is hindering our ability to plan more effectively.
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Healthy homes: a breath of fresh air
Veronika Meduna joins BRANZ physicist Manfred Plagmann as he equips a home with sensors that track how heat and moisture move through the rooms.
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Up, up and away
26 May 2016Last week, NASA finally successfully launched a super pressure balloon from Wanaka Airport, following several attempts that had been thwarted by foul weather.
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Birds, feather colour – and sex
26 May 2016Why are some male birds brighter and showier than females of the same species, and sometimes both are bright? Sexual selection, size and living in the tropics are all part of the answer.
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Solar storms and electricity supply
26 May 2016Craig Rodger explains how large solar storms can overwhelm the protective shield of the earth's magnetic field and disrupt national power grids.
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Goodie goodie - bird watching with Bill Oddie
19 May 2016Use your ears and spend time on your own just listening and observing birds - good advice from one of the world's best known bird-watchers and ex-Goodie, Bill Oddie.
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Lipoprotein(a) - little known but high risk for heart disease
Lipoprotein(a) increases the risk of heart disease in 20% of people and doesn't respond to diet or exercise, so the hunt is on to find a treatment.
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Timing the Anthropocene
19 May 2016Later in 2016, an international group will decide if the Holocene has given way to a new geological period marked by our impact. NIWA geochemist Helen Bostok gives a Southern Hemisphere perspective on…
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Fat Science
Auckland diabetes specialist Robyn Toomath argues that society is to blame for the rise in obesity, and Massey University sociologist and runner Andrew Dickson shares his experience of being a big…
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Hand-rearing kākāpō chicks
12 May 2016Veronika Meduna visits a veterinary facility in Invercargill where staff look after kākāpō chicks that had to be taken off their island homes to be hand-reared.
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Shedding light on Māori health
Victoria University molecular geneticist Geoff Chambers is challenging the one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare, arguing that genes linked to the immune system of Māori and Pasifika people differ…
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Silencing science
Shaun Hendy, the director of the centre of research excellence The Pūnaha Matatini, discusses his latest book, Silencing Science, in which he tackles the issue of why scientists are often reluctant to…
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The swallowing robot
12 May 2016A soft, swallowing robot that mimics the human oesophagus is being developed as a tool that food technologists could use to design better food for people with swallowing difficulties
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Dunedin's royal albatrosses and #royalcam
12 May 2016There are 26 chicks in the royal albatross colony at Dunedin's Taiaroa Head this year - and the #royalcam chick is very much in the public spotlight.
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Tim Flannery: an atmosphere of hope
5 May 2016Tim Flannery discusses his latest book, Atmosphere of Hope, and why he is hopeful that we will tackle climate change.
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Genetic impacts of crop domestication
5 May 2016Scientists at Te Papa Tongarewa are using some of New Zealand's endemic plants and DNA sequencing tools to track how genetic diversity changes during of the process of crop domestication.
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Measuring Dante's Hell
5 May 2016Len Fisher reveals how - and why - Galileo calculated the dimensions of the roof of Dante's Hell, and how this led to his discovery of the laws of mechanics that engineers use to this day.
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