Science Media Centre

Video game ‘loot boxes’ – boxes with randomised rewards inside that players can purchase – can meet the structural and psychological criteria for gambling, according to New Zealand and Australian researchers. In a comment piece published today in Nature Human Behaviour, Massey University’s Dr Aaron Drummond and University of Tasmania’s Dr Jim Sauer wrote about […]

The only real cure for rotting teeth is ending poverty, according to a report released this morning from the Child Poverty Action Group which highlights the level of tooth decay in our nation’s kids. The report, written by oral health researcher Prathibha Sural and public health specialist Dr Rob Beaglehole, makes clear that some parents don’t […]

District Health Boards are urging people to get the seasonal influenza vaccine as the flu season kicks off and hospitals are already overflowing from a particularly busy summer season. Waikato Hospital’s Emergency Department has had a particularly busy summer season, with clinical nurse director Mary-Anne Spence saying the number of people presenting to ED in […]

Climate Change Minister James Shaw has announced the members of the Interim Climate Change Committee, which will begin work while the Government sets up a full Commission. Shaw said the independent Climate Change Commission would be set up under the Zero Carbon Act next year, and the interim committee would hand over its work and […]

University of Otago researchers are calling for safety labels on raw poultry products because New Zealand has one of the highest campylobacteriosis rates in the world. Research published last week in BMC Public Health surveyed consumers’ knowledge of Campylobacter and safe chicken preparation, but while a majority of chicken for sale in New Zealand (60-70 per […]

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced this morning that the Government would not hand out any new offshore oil and gas exploration permits through the Block Offer programme. The decision will come into force immediately with the exception of Taranaki, which will have another three years: consultation on the 2018 Block Offer, limited to onshore areas […]

Years of study at Plant and Food Research has led to the development of an appetite-suppressing pill which has just been launched in New Zealand and soon the United States. The pills use a compound, registered as Amarasate, from hops, which the research team honed in on following tests of 900 extracts. The bitter-tasting compound “activates […]

Building new prisons won’t fix the problem with New Zealand’s justice system, instead, we need to focus on prevention and early intervention, according to a new report from the Office of the Prime Minister’s Chief Science Advisor. The report comes while the government decides whether or not it will build a new 3000-bed prison in Waikeria, despite promising to reduce the […]

Over 22,000 cattle will be culled in an effort to prevent further spread of the disease Mycoplasma bovis. Minister for Biosecurity Damien O’Connor announced the cull on Monday after testing confirmed the disease was not endemic, meaning there was still a chance to eradicate it. The cull will involve 28 infected properties – six of which […]

The Prime Minister’s Science Prizes have been presented in Wellington today, awarding a total of $1 million across five categories. The top prize has been awarded to a multidisciplinary team from Plant & Food Research that helped the New Zealand kiwifruit industry recover after the discovery of the vine-killing disease Psa (Pseudomonas syringae pv. actinidiae). Plant […]

Some women who were unknowingly included in the ‘Unfortunate Experiment’ at Auckland’s National Women’s Hospital went on to develop cervical cancer after being diagnosed with microinvasive cancer but not given treatment. A study led by University of Otago researchers, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, found that of the 82 […]