Science Media Centre

Did you know that 96 percent of New Zealand is underwater? New Zealand’s ocean territory is vast. Its EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) stretches across an area twenty times greater than its dry land.  Scientific surveying allowed the country to expand its claim further in 2008, giving it rights to additional seabed minerals and resources.  But [...]

The Science Media Centre today held a press briefing to release new information about the chemical make-up of synthetic cannabis products. Crown Research Institute ESR has been testing all available varieties of herbal smoking blends treated with legal, psychoactive synthetic cannabinoids. While the cannabinoid JWH-018 is one chemical speculated to be in the products, there [...]

ONLINE MEDIA BRIEFING: Wed 6 July 10.30 AM Soil, water, energy, air, wildlife and minerals — they underpin our economy, but go largely unrecognised when it comes to tallying up the balance sheet. Recent steps by policy-makers in the UK and locally are making concrete efforts to move away from a purely economic valuation of [...]

What does earthquake damage to buildings and structures during the Christchurch earthquakes mean for building design in the future? A new information paper launched today brings together the science and engineering expertise of several organisations — the Royal Society of New Zealand (RSNZ), the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand (IPENZ), the Structural Engineering Society [...]

“Small countries cannot rely on small science,” say backers of a new initiative linking high-powered supercomputers throughout the country.  The National eScience Infrastructure (NeSI) will be launched this week at an event in Auckland. The Infrastructure is a distributed network of efficient, coordinated and accessible computing resources – representing superior computing power for New Zealand [...]

The Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor, Sir Peter Gluckman, today released a comprehensive report on the health and social issues faced by New Zealand’s teenagers. The Prime Minister last year asked his Sir Peter Gluckman to explore the factors underlying adolescent behaviour and to indicate where there may be evidence-based opportunities for changes to policy [...]

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) is assessing the carcinogenic hazards associated with exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields. They are looking at: (a) occupational exposures to radiation from radar and to microwaves, (b) environmental exposures associated with transmission of signals for radio, television and wireless telecommunication, and (c) personal exposures associated with the [...]

Geothermal energy now generates around 13 percent of New Zealand’s electricity, but scientists gathering this week in Taupo will explore options for vastly expanding the resource’s potential. A two-day workshop (25 – 26 May) “HADES: Hotter and Deeper Exploration Science” will bring together engineers and geothermal specialists from 10 countries to discuss the international context [...]

Communications minister Steven Joyce yesterday annouced a $285 million deal has been finalised to contract Telecom and Vodafone to extend broadband to rural areas. The main points of the deal allow for: – 86 percent of rural houses and businesses access to peak speeds of at least 5Mbps – 154 new cell phone towers and [...]

Why do some people staunchly maintain their beliefs in the face of irrefutable evidence to the contrary? Journalist Chris Mooney investigates this question in an excellent article written for the magazine/website Mother Jones. His piece, titled “The Science of Why We Don’t Believe Science“, covers issues such as climate change, the vaccine debate and creationism. [...]

This is a backgrounder preared by the Science Media Centre of Canada in response to the unfolding situation at the Fukushima plant in Japan. We hope it will be useful when dealing with some of the technicalities of radiation. Because the situation continues to unfold, we will update the backgrounder periodically if needed. How do [...]

The Science Media Centre’s latest Heads-Up newsletter is out – bringing you the latest science and tech news and a peek at what’s coming up in the week ahead. Click on the image below to read the latest Heads-Up.