Science Media Centre

A group of New Zealand entrepreneurs has launched a $900 million bid to build a new, high-capacity undersea cable linking Australia, New Zealand and the US.
The cable, if completed as planned, would offer our fastest link to the rest of the world and could also herald the end of internet data caps in New Zealand [...]

University of Otago researchers have discovered that  increased exposure time either to television or computer screens amongst teenagers is linked with poorer relationships with their parents and peers.
On the other hand, teenagers who spent more time doing their homework or reading had higher levels of attachment to their parents.

Published in the Archives of Pediatrics & [...]

Updated 7.30pm: Civil Defence has downgraded its national tsunami warning to an advisory but says water surges and rapid seal level changes could continue for up to 24 hours.
“Wave heights could be larger than what we have currently experienced but within the threat levels and wave height estimates that have been previously forecast,” it said [...]

The Australian Science Media Centre rounded up questions on climate science from journalists and put them to leading scientists in the field. Below is the resulting Q&A.

1) There has been conflicting messages about warming in recent years – is it or is it not getting warmer?

Professor Steven Sherwood, Climate Change Research Centre at the [...]

Last year saw the start of the ‘Climategate’ email controversy, in which it was claimed that top climate scientists from the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia had behaved inappropriately.
Since then, an official enquiry has been launched to look into the issue, and our colleagues at the UK SMC gathered comment from [...]

A proposal for the next generation of climate scenarios for projecting future change features in this week’s Nature. This paper, which is the culmination of four years of work by IPCC scientists, is co-authored by Prof Marting Manning of the NZ Climate Change Research Institute, Victoria University of Wellington.
An excerpt from the Editor’s summary of [...]

In response to intensifying calls for reform of the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), five influential climatologists have stepped forward with their views on what ought to be done.
Their suggestions, in an Opinions article in today’s edition of the journal Nature, range from reaffirming the current structure with an emphasis on best practise, [...]

Are many of us wasting our time with efforts to get in shape?
An article in the New Zealand Herald yesterday certainly suggests this is the case. The article, which reports on a study published in the Journal of Applied Physiology, states, “Millions of people who strive to keep fit by jogging, swimming [...]

This week, the 18th International Superconductivity Industry Summit (ISIS-18) will take place in Wellington.  The Summit brings together various companies – both local and international – involved in the commercialisation of high temperature superconductors: a technology with implications for power generation, electronics, and mass transportation, and in which New Zealand has significant involvement.
Superconductivity has [...]

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine this month has prompted calls in Europe for EU-wide salt legislation.
In the NEJM paper, the authors undertook a computer simulation showing the effects of population-wide reductions in dietary salt intakes among adults aged 35 to 85 years living in the USA.
They claim that: “a [...]

Pipe dream or economy booster?
The news yesterday that a group of wealthy businessmen including Warehouse founder Stephen Tindall and Trade Me founder Sam Morgan are leading a $900 million bid to build a 13,000km fibre optic cable between Australia, New Zealand and the US has created a lot of buzz.
The prospect of an internet without [...]