Science Media Centre

Jill Galloway writes in the Waikato Times about scientists’ efforts to better understand beef and sheep genetics in a bid to improve Estimated Breeding Value (EBV) information. EBVs are widely used, but accurate genetic tests could potentially save farmers years and improve their stock. An excerpt: (read in full here) “Professor Goddard said EBVs work, [...]

Kiran Chug of the Dominion Post reports that a one-size-fits-all approach to nutrition could soon become far more personal, thanks to nutrigenomics. Nutrigenomics is the study of how our genetic make-up affects which foods are good for each of us, personally, and also how different foods and micronutrients can in turn affect our DNA. An [...]

What sorts of foods should you — personally — eat to be healthiest? Nutrigenomics studies the interaction between our genes and the foods we eat. Specifically, it looks at how people with different genetic makeups are affected by different foods, with the aim of matching people to the foods that suit them best. This emerging [...]

John Gibb reports in the Otago Daily times on the publishing of the complete genome of the pea aphid. The work, carried out by a team of international scientists including researchers from the University of Otago, could help in the fight against the agricultural pest by allowing the development of tailor-made insecticides. An excerpt: (read [...]

Ian Steward reports in The Press on a new forensic technique to be introduced to New Zealand in the near future. The test, which will allow forensic scientists to see which bodily tissue a DNA sample came from, is being developed by ESR for use by the middle of the year. An excerpt: (read in [...]

Programmes such as CSI have actually been unhelpful to the field of forensics, as they’ve given the public an inaccurate view of what can be done.  This can be problematic when having to present evidence in court, says Dr Peter Gill, an expert visiting from the UK. Dr Gill, who was the first to demonstrate [...]

With the visit of international expert Dr Peter Gill, Eloise Gibson of the New Zealand Herald reports on the growing use of DNA profiling in forensics, and a future where DNA profiles can be searched through internationally using Google-like methods. She also writes about DNA profiling specifically in New Zealand, the unhelpfulness of the ‘CSI-effect’, [...]

It is 20 years since DNA evidence was first presented in a New Zealand court, a development that resulted in the conviction of Michael James Pengelly for the murder of an elderly Auckland woman. Long-used in helping solve serious crimes, DNA samples in the mid nineties were increasingly used as evidence in criminal cases when [...]

Briefing: dietary supplements Dietary supplements such as multivitamin tablets and energy drinks are an increasingly common part of our lives, but should they be? Concerns have been sparked recently by the availability of ultra-high caffeine energy drinks, the proliferation of people taking (often large) doses of vitamins/minerals every day, and an industry which appears to [...]

Scientists are examining mice DNA here and abroad, using genetics to determine human patterns of migration over centuries of colonisation and international travel. And it appears that New Zealand’s cultural mix has created a “genetic melting pot” of several subspecies of mice. While the nineteenth century saw a large influx of mice to New Zealand [...]