Oct 13, 2021 | Politics & Society
By Jim Metson New Zealand’s Covid response has been praised for being led by research, expertise and evidence. Let’s use the same approach for all the big challenges we face, writes Jim Metson. While the arrival of the Delta variant into New Zealand was not...
Oct 7, 2021 | Arts & Culture, Science & Technology
By Paul Panckhurst There’s evidence that looking at paintings can reduce stress and anxiety. A researcher wants to know if this phenomenon can help surgery patients heal. Pablo Picasso once said, “Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”...
Jul 28, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Gilbert Wong Space might be the final frontier, but, like all frontiers it’s strewn with junk. Luckily, Professor Guglielmo Aglietti, director of the Auckland Space Institute has a plan. Three giant monitors line the front of the Mission Operations Control Centre...
Jul 15, 2021 | Politics & Society
By Stuart McNaughton From the rise of social media to dramatic change in the education system, many reasons are offered to explain New Zealand’s decline in international literacy assessments. Stuart McNaughton says a single cause is very unlikely. The international...
May 20, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Paul Panckhurst New Zealand has one of the world’s worst rates of a fatal brain disease. Now, scientists hunting rogue genes hope to unravel the 150-year-old mystery of what triggers the disease and how to find a cure. Motor neuron disease is absurdly cruel and...
Apr 12, 2021 | Science & Technology
By Gilbert Wong Professor Merryn Tawhai’s work on the virtual lung has led to a vital new tool for medical staff caring for patients hospitalised with serious Covid-related illness. The Covid-19 pandemic has taught humanity a lesson in the cruelty of numbers. At...
Mar 9, 2021 | Arts & Culture, Science & Technology
By Paul Panckhurst Researchers have articulated a way to look at and look after our fresh waterways founded on Matauranga Māori. When floodwaters pounded the Bay of Plenty township of Matatā with boulders and logs to devastating effect in 2005, three marae went...
Feb 24, 2021 | Business & Economics, Politics & Society
By Gilbert Wong New Zealand has its own world expert on the economics of happiness. Professor Robert MacCulloch says the pandemic is an opportunity to show how we could do a lot better. In the annual World Happiness Report, New Zealand consistently sits in the top ten...
Feb 23, 2021 | Business & Economics, Politics & Society
By Gilbert Wong International business expert Christina Stringer has lifted the lid on migrant workers facing serious exploitation in New Zealand. When a temporary migrant worker queried his $8 an hour wage for an 80-hour week job, his employer told him, “We are the...
Nov 2, 2020 | Business & Economics
By Paul Panckhurst Tech giants make billions of dollars as people hand over their personal information in exchange for free apps, search engines and social media platforms. The raw material of our digital lives – location data, online searches, purchases, “likes” – is...