I spent an enjoyable morning at the Prime Minister’s Science Prizes where the glow of last night’s premiere of The Hobbit was obviously still buoying attendees – particularly the Prime Minister, who at one stage suggested there were “cauldrons of opportunity” in science. The PM’s Science Prizes spell the end of the science awards season, […]
MoreOf all the questions raised by the controversy surrounding scientist Mike Joy’s quotes in the New York Times – and the heated response to them, this is the most important: can Dr Joy back up with evidence his claims about the parlous state of New Zealand’s environment? He can and he has. From the peer-reviewed […]
MoreOver 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 […]
MoreScientists around the world have reacted with dismay to conviction of six italian scientists and a former government official on manslaughter charges. The seven were convicted after prosecutors successfully argued that public statements they had contributed to a false sense of security in the Italian city of L’Aquila ahead of the 2009 earthquake that killed […]
MoreSir Richard Friend, the Cambridge University physics professor who has just completed a lecture tour of New Zealand, recently stacked all 78 volumes of the 2005 editions of Physical Review on the floor of his office. “I probably broke all sorts of OSH rules,” says Sir Richard, whose towering wall of paper comprised 80,000 pages of […]
MoreThis 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 […]
MoreThe concept of the newspaper science section pretty much died a death in New Zealand a few years ago as the squeeze on newsroom resources saw specialist sections ditched in favour of running science stories in the paper’s general or “A” section. Some saw that as a good thing, suggesting that cramming science stories into […]
MoreThe Government has released Building Innovation, the second progress report of six in its Business Growth Agenda. The document gives a pretty good overview of what the Government has done and intends to do in its efforts to boost innovation in the economy. It also shows our major weaknesses when it comes to the R&D […]
MoreEpisode 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 […]
MoreWe missed a week of the Sciblogs podcast to do some extra interviews for the Sciblogs podcast special on the Curiosity Mars Rover landing – the biggest science news event since, well the discover of the Higgs Boson. You’ll enjoy the insights New Zealand scientists provide in the podcast on the Curiosity mission. Professor Craig […]
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PETER GRIFFIN 
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