Our stories
Some thoughts on Going Public
An abridged version of this blog post appeared in the University of Auckland’s Uninews on June 4th 2015. Two years ago, towards the end of my term as President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists, a journalist asked me an astonishing question. News of the...
Should the Marsden Fund be restructured?
By Shaun Hendy The MacDiarmid Institute’s Kate McGrath created a bit of a stir on Friday with a blog post that took a critical look at the Marsden Fund’s decision to invite 15% fewer proposals into the second round of its funding process than it did last year. The...
Ways to Change the World – Thoughts on a Panel at the Auckland Writers’ Festival
Change, always present, is now, more than ever, the dominating feature of life on earth. This is how Phil Ball, the eminent science writer and former editor of Nature, described the world when asked by panel chair Jesse Mulligan what we’re doing right.
Dr Sarah Morgan on NZAS 2015
By Dr Sarah Morgan Scicomm: Building a Sledgehammer for the Walls Between Science and Society I’ve been wracking my brain about how to structure this piece, and have picked so many starts and specific topics that I’ve tied myself up into a delightful hot mess. I typed...
Big Astro
By Richard Easther The advent of the web and social media have led to a huge outpouring of enthusiasm for science but almost all sciences have skeletons in their closet, some real and some imaginary. Physicists gave us the bomb, chemists cook up the chemicals they put...
Building a Nest
By Troy Baisden It was great to be at Te Pūnaha Matatini’s kickoff. As we look forward to theme meetings next week, I thought it would be useful if I explain a little more about what I’m up to, and why I’ve linked GNS Science’s "Global Change Through Time" programme...
The 2014 Marsden round
I have been keeping track of the Marsden fund for a few years now over on A Measure of Science at Sciblogs New Zealand. As we wait for the results from the first round in 2015, let’s reflect on last year’s results. 2014 was another tough year for applicants, with the...
Shaun on the physics of Cricket
On March 16th Shaun Hendy talked to Radio New Zealand National host, Bryan Crump about the physics of cricket. Listen here
Thegn Ladefoged
By Jessica Tulp Thegn Ladefoged is a man with a home here in New Zealand but work that stretches across the world. One particular project has seen him travel to Easter Island to carry out an investigation on land use and its effects on the Rapa Nui population over...
Nano-Girl Review
By Ebba Olsen, Age 14 Nano-Girl was a very interesting event. There were many experiments ranging from a small electric shock which had lights and sounds to make it seem bigger to giant explosions. Some experiments were more educational than others. Rubbing a balloon...
Pierre Roudier
Want to know how important soil is? Here's one of our investigators, Pierre Roudier talking to Bryan Crump on Radio New Zealand nights last week on Monday. To listen to the interview click here (Photo: This is peat sampled near the Waituna Lagoon in Southland)
Adam Jaffe with Radio Live
Our Theme Leader of Complex Economic and Social Systems, Adam Jaffe, discusses the “science of science policy” with Andrew Patterson. The Business Correspondent for RadioLIVE, on Sunday Business, 01 March 2015. Here's the link...