Not surprisingly, newspapers around the world have given extensive coverage to the volcanic ash clouds over Europe as airports remain closed, travellers stranded. Here are a couple of infographics from the region, that try to make sense of the story. They are variations on the same theme. Which does a better job? The top one […]
MoreThe last time I checked in at Heathrow to board NZ38 to Hong Kong I ended up being bumped from the flight and spending a night at an airport hotel. But unlike the stranded passengers at Heathrow today grounded due to volcanic ash wafting over from Iceland, I was happy to stay off the over-sold […]
MoreWellington-based Trade Me founder, entrepreneur and philanthropist Sam Morgan sat down with me a few weeks ago to do an interview, the results of which ran in Idealog. Here’s the full, unedited version which expands on the work he is involved in in Africa. What about this inclement Wellington weather? Is it tempting you to […]
MoreIt’s been climate sceptic central in the Timaru Herald’s letter pages this week. Malcolm Rollinson sounds rational enough in this letter published today, but the manipulation of the truth, twisting of facts and plain distortion of what has transpired in the wake of Climategate puts him firmly in the crazy science letter writing category.
MoreI’m all for freedom of speech and diversity of opinion. But some of the letters I read in the letters pages of our newspapers really are written by crazy people. Science-related subjects especially seem to bring out the nutters. I read a lot of letters in the country’s newspapers so I’m beginning a series that […]
MoreThe journal Nature features a report from Sydney-based New Zealander Branwen Morgan, looking at the implications of the New Zealand Court of Appeal move to quash an earlier High Court decision that saw Agresearch applications to undertake genetic modification research thrown out. I blogged on the Court of Appeal case in February heading the article: […]
MoreJohn Forman is a dedicated if unconventional New Zealand activist, but his cause is one which is putting him at odds with the more vocal and occasionally militant end of the Kiwi activist spectrum – anti-GM campaigners and those who protest against animal testing. Forman, the executive director of the New Zealand Organisation for Rare […]
MoreI’m at NZBio (updates on twitter @smcnz), where day two has been been dominated by updates from some of the country’s most innovative alternative energy start-ups. The back-story for Auckland-based Lanzatech is well known – the company was formed in 2005 with plans to extract clean fuel from biomass like waste wood and high-energy crops […]
MoreThe Guardian’s George Monbiot has a thoughtful column this week about the attacks on climate science and how they have widened to take aim at science in general. The last sentence of his column would seem to aptly sum up the state of public opinion on climate change: The battle over climate change suggests that […]
MoreBluff oyster lovers will be heartened to learn that NIWA surveys of the oyster beds in Foveaux Strait show them to be looking increasingly healthy. The Bluff oyster season starts today, so you will soon see the expensive delicacy on menus at good restaurants around the country. But as in recent years, prices will be […]
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PETER GRIFFIN 
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