Health and Medicine

The TPP – what does it mean for science?

Right now, hundreds of diplomats and trade experts from around the Asia Pacific region are ensconced at Sky City convention centre in Auckland for top-secret negotations as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement. The level of secrecy alone is of great concern and to some, anti-democratic, let alone what is actually being concocted in the latest draft agreement. […]

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Science journalism that MATTERs

Over the weekend I paid 99 cents for a quality piece of long form science journalism that I downloaded and read on my iPad. Who published it? The New Yorker? Atlantic Monthly? National Geographic? No, the article is the first of what will hopefully be a long series published online by Matter, which bills itself […]

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Trip notes 2: Swaziland's AIDS crisis

This is the second in a series of posts on my recent visit to South Africa and Swaziland. Part 1 is about South Africa’s fracking dilemma. The border town of Matsamo is anything but inviting as you wait in the immigration queue on your way into the mountain kingdom of Swaziland. The day we arrive […]

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Your fingers for a cigarette?

Of all the press releases that flow into my inbox, some of the quirkiest are from Waikato Hospital. Take today’s tale (I’m publishing the release in full below as it relates the story well). What struck me in particular with the case of this unfortunate meat packer, is that Tamati would even consider losing the […]

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Trip notes: South Africa's fracking dilemma

This is the first in a series of science-related posts based on my recent trip through parts of South Africa and Swaziland. Follow up posts will look at rhino poaching, Swaziland’s AIDS crisis, the sustainability of game parks, the geology of the Drakensbergs and South Africa’s Square Kilometer Array project. Check out my photos from […]

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Podcast: Skeptics, eruptions and the male pill

Episode 40 sees us revisiting volcanology and some fun with explosives as a New York professor uses explosives to recreate the eruptive effect of maars – low profile volcanoes, the remnants of which can be seen across Auckland’s volcanic field. We check in with Vicki Hyde, the founder and stalwart of the NZ Skeptics Society […]

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Christchurch's chance to be innovation central

The blueprints for Christchurch are out and by and large, they represent an ambitious and progressive vision for the future of our second biggest city. Interestingly, they also account for innovation and health precincts that could make Christchurch, already a major centre of excellence for electronics and high value manufacturing and with significant medical research […]

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