Jul 22, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Michael Plank, Alex James, Audrey Lustig, Nicholas Steyn, Rachelle Binny & Shaun Hendy Stringent border controls and mandatory quarantine give New Zealand a good chance to remain free of COVID-19 for months to come, according to our latest modelling. It’s been...
Jul 20, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Gilbert Wong The streams here are small and New Zealand is supposed to be clean, but the levels were the same as the Danube and the Rhine. Nadezhda Dikareva is an expert in something she wishes she didn’t have to be. Arguably she is the most knowledgeable person in...
Jun 17, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Gilbert Wong Robot caregivers can help maintain independence as we age, but the trick is getting humans to trust them. It will not surprise those with a pessimistic view of humanity to know that even robots suffer racial prejudice. In a study by German researchers...
Jun 9, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Michael Plank, Alex James, Audrey Lustig, Nicholas Steyn, Rachelle Binny & Shaun Hendy New Zealand hits a 95% chance of eliminating coronavirus. However, researchers predict new cases will emerge. There is now a 95% chance COVID-19 has been eliminated in New...
Apr 12, 2020 | Arts & Culture, Politics & Society
Awarding-winning filmmaker Professor Annie Goldson didn’t have to travel too far from her University of Auckland desk for her latest documentary production, with Dr ‘Ema Wolfgramm-Foliaki. See the FiF project at – https://fif.op.co.nz/ Annie is best...
Apr 7, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Ignacio López-Goñi Studies of numerous antiviral treatments and potential vaccines are already underway. Never has science advanced so much in such a short period of time to combat an epidemic. Just three months after China first notified the World Health...
Mar 31, 2020 | Science & Technology
By Christian Yates With basic mathematical models, researchers can begin to forecast the progression of diseases and understand the effect of interventions on disease spread. Disease has afflicted humans ever since there have been humans. Malaria and tuberculosis are...
Mar 25, 2020 | Business & Economics, Referee, Science & Technology
New Zealand has a dirty rivers problem. In 2017, two-thirds of the country’s rivers were deemed too polluted to swim in. Given this, research is being carried out to find ways in which the country can attempt to clean up its rivers. Ngārie Scartozzi is a student...
Jan 29, 2020 | Science & Technology
New research out of the University of Otago has revealed that increasing the uptake of plant-based diets in New Zealand could have a significant impact on reducing greenhouse gas emissions while simultaneously improving population health. The results showed that a...
Jan 15, 2020 | Business & Economics, Politics & Society
Why do sustainable business initiatives so often fail? What fundamental changes do we need from societies and the economic system to stem a climate change-induced collapsed? What economic systems might work on a planet with a finite capacity to sustain life? These are...