Science Media Centre

New Zealand is in the grip of a winter storm, with cold southerlies from Antarctica bringing snow, wind and hail. Severe Weather warnings from MetService are in place for most of the country. Earlier in the week, MetService Meteorologist Daniel Corbett commented,”This winter storm will have quite a bit of bark and bite, and is […]

Annual reports for all eight Crown Research Institutes were tabled in parliament yesterday. Here are links to the reports that have been published online so far: Scion annual report 2009 AgResearch annual report 2009 Industrial Research Ltd. annual report 2009 NIWA annual report 2009 Plant & Food Research annual report 2009

With the Copenhagen climate conference in Denmark looming, it is far from clear whether the world’s nations will be able to reach agreement on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But one thing is for sure – the scientific evidence suggests such an agreement is crucial. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) presented […]

Prime Minister John Key this evening launched the Primary Growth Partnership, which will inject funding into public-private research and development and innovation partnerships “to boost the economic growth and sustainability of New Zealand’s primary, forestry and food sectors”. The Government can make matching contributions alongside industry investors, in projects that relate to pastoral (including wool) […]

An OECD report released this week, Doing Better for Children, suggests New Zealand needs to lift its game in terms of early childhood spending on to address health and societal issues. An extract from the New Zealand commentary: (Read in full here) “Outcomes for New Zealand children are weak in several key areas, according to […]

The Draft Canterbury Water Management Strategy was released today, and is up for public discussion.  It is expected that a final report will be issued in late October 2009.

The Emissions Trading Scheme select committee set up by the Government to review the emissions trading framework put in place by the Labour Government has reported its findings. The report can be downloaded here. Dr Peter Read, Honorary Research Fellow at Centre for Energy Research, Massey University comments: “The Report should have stated clearly that […]

UPDATE: Click here to read about the MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year winners Tomorrow night will see the  2009 MacDiarmid Young Scientist of the Year Award presented in Auckland, with the top prize of $10,000 and a trip to an international science event going to a “future leader” in science. The awards are always […]

Statement to Science Media Centre Uptake As at 31 July 2009, more than 81,000 New Zealand girls and young women have chosen to have the HPV immunisation. Around 40 percent of young women born in 1990 or 1991 who have been eligible to have the vaccine for free through their GP, local health clinic or […]

Can looking at samples of five million year-old rock sediment tell us the consequences of warming the earth by pumping more CO2 into the air? According to scientists who have been studying the impact of changes in the earth’s axial tilt during the early Pliocene period (3 – 5 million years ago) when temperatures were […]