News of New Zealanders via Global Media

Classical Stirrer

Classical Stirrer

“By instinct a man of the left and no respecter of reputations,” influential Cambridge Classical scholar Professor Robert Coleman “brought from his native New Zealand a suspicion of the great English institutions and took delight in expressing…

Gene Genie

Gene Genie

Edge Gene Therapist and Professor of Neurosurgery at the Jefferson Medical College Philadelphia Matthew During, releases a first and major step forward in the prevention and possible treatment of stomach cancers through a technique involving oral doses…

US Feels the Edge

US Feels the Edge

The US needs a fillip if it is to maintain inventiveness and compete with up-and-coming centres of innovation like New Zealand.  

Face the Message

Face the Message

New Zealand tech-designers LifeFX’s Facemail programme spreads the word about a deal with major photo company Kodak.

Bird DNA

Bird DNA

“The first ever functional genome sequences from an extinct species have been mapped by scientists at Oxford University. The mitochondrial DNA sequences were obtained from two giant moa and a Madagascan elephant-bird.”

Old Birds

Old Birds

Entering into the debate over cloning, Dr. Alan Cooper of Oxford comments that, despite the moa-mapping efforts of his team, “it is crucial that we do not become complacent and start assuming that we will be…

Foot Gloves

Foot Gloves

More than 50% of mass-market shoes just aren’t made to go on feet, but a small New Zealand company is an oasis of comfort among the pinching, making shoes that “fit like a glove”.

Virtually There

Virtually There

New Zealand sport 3D-broadcaster Virtual Spectator talks investment and expansion.

Actually Into It

Actually Into It

New Zealand company Deep Video Imaging teams with Philips to incorporate actualdepth(TM) technology in next generation Philips monitors, creating “a new information display paradigm”.

Johnny Appleseedless

Johnny Appleseedless

Scientists at the New Zealand Horticulture and Food Research Institute have pin-pointed the gene that creates seedless apples. They hope to develop a commercial variety using the gene to switch off seed production.

LifeFX

LifeFX

Auckland University’s digital-face email-reading technology attracts interest after the institute invested in the Boston-based firm that’s commercialising the product.

Philosophical Spilt

Philosophical Spilt

“Western philosophy starts with a conflict between reason and faith. But there is no such dichotomy in Indian philosophy where dharma is a part of philosophy. Everything is substantiated by reason,” says Victoria University Philosophy Professor Jaysankar L….

We Want Waitangi

We Want Waitangi

Canadian victims of the Feb blues want a holiday, citing Waitangi day’s health-giving properties.

Hey Prestwick! An Airport

Hey Prestwick! An Airport

High-flying New Zealand airport developers Infratil snap up Prestwick Airport in Ayreshire, planning to turn it into a low-cost travel hub.

Wheezy September

Wheezy September

Mysterious medical matter: asthma admission in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Trinidad all have an unexplained annual peak in the third week of September.

Watch for the Splash

Watch for the Splash

MIR is scheduled to descend into the South Pacific “up to 2000 kilometres (1 250 miles) off the coast of Australia…the same distance off the coast of Australia are New Zealand, the French territory of…

Long in the Tooth – at 26

Long in the Tooth – at 26

New Zealand researchers have uncovered the biting truth – periodontal disease, which leads to loss of teeth, can be a problem from as early as 26.

Family Planning, Possums!

Family Planning, Possums!

David Heath of the Wallaceville Animal Research centre is developing a GM bug that secrets a substance designed to curtail possums’ fertility.

One Blind Mouse

One Blind Mouse

Following the lead of New Zealand company Pulse Data, Israeli firm VirTouch has developed a Braille mouse for blind computer users.

Playing in the Big League

Playing in the Big League

Otago’s Business School makes it into the Financial Times top 100 league.

Frucor on the Up

Frucor on the Up

“One of last year’s hot floats” in Australia, Frucor, makers of headline energy drink V,  have increased turnover by 55%.

Over and Out

Over and Out

“After six months and more than 400 bidding rounds, the battle for New Zealand’s third-generation mobile radio spectrum is over, netting the Government over $51 million.”

Good Mooves

Good Mooves

“New Zealand’s dairy industry enjoys a strong position from which to attain leadership status in the global marketplace, especially with the recently inked merger pact between its two biggest players,” says Alan Jackson of Boston Boston Consulting…

Virtual COO

Virtual COO

New Zealand sport-viewtechies Virtual Spectator have appointed veteran sports exec Alexander Brown as President and Chief Operating Officer.

Keep Your Skin On

Keep Your Skin On

A New Zealand-developed vaccine “switches off” debillitating skin disease psoriasis.  

Baby Step

Baby Step

Researchers at Auckland University have uncovered a gene that may be linked to premature menopause, a condition that prevents up to 1% of women from bearing children.

Blue Star Buyout

Blue Star Buyout

International book-giant W H Smith is in negotiations to buy Whitcoull’s, New Zealand’s largest book-sellers.

Dolly Good

Dolly Good

Ron James, managing director of PPL and the closest thing Dolly has to a father, got his start at New Zealand-spawned pharmo-giant Glaxo. Now PPL is using New Zealand cows in research aiming to produce drugs to…

Blinding Brilliance

Blinding Brilliance

New Zealand sociologist James Flynn is unconvinced that increasing IQ results (‘the Flynn effect’), actually means we’re getting smarter: “If people were really getting as smart as the test scores suggest, we should be…

Major Milk Player

Major Milk Player

New Zealand’s newly-minted Global Dairy Company has the size to “become a serious challenger to the likes of Nestle, Danone and Kraft” in world diary markets.

Ocoloco in the Wairarapa

Ocoloco in the Wairarapa

Wairarapa company Siliconblue has scooped venture funding for its Ocoloco software, designed to replace physical Web servers with a combination of software and service.

Flying Doctor

Flying Doctor

Mama Daktari spent her life working for the African Medical Research Foundation, co-founded by Kiwi Sir Archibald McKindoe.

Deadly Thorn

Deadly Thorn

A thorn in your side could prove fatal according to doctors at Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital. The bug streptococcus pyogenes, present in soil, can enter the bloodstream through small wounds.

Masai Milk

Masai Milk

Milk from Asian and African cows is free of the heart disease-linked beta casein protein found in other milk, according to Professor Bob Elliott of the University of Auckland. The healthy hearts of the milk-drinking Masai switched Elliot…

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Design

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Design

The revolutionary John Britten V1 bike featured in a story in Germany’s top news magazine Focus on the ‘The Art of the Motorcycle’ exhibition at the new Rem Koolhaas designed Guggenheim, Las Vegas. And in CycleWorld the…

Asparagus are from Mars, Potatoes are from Venus

Asparagus are from Mars, Potatoes are from Venus

Lincoln University researchers have successfully grown potatoes and asparagus in soil collected from Mars. “Space-based soils could potentially support future human expansion in the solar system,” according to Professor Michael Mautner. “I wouldn’t say very soon, but…

Kreme de la Kreme

Kreme de la Kreme

New Zealander Donald Henshall is the new president of international development for Krispy Kreme, makers of President Clinton’s favourite doughnuts.

Smart Milk

Smart Milk

Breast is best for premature babies according to Christchurch School of Medicine researchers. Brest-fed babies have a slighter higher IQ at ages 7 and 8, compared to their peers raised on the bottle.

Berg Ahoy!

Berg Ahoy!

Kiwi Nigel Jolly heads a team of eleven sailing into Antarctic waters in search of a giant iceberg. The crew are hoping to film the berg inside and out.

Controversial Language

Controversial Language

The “anthropological treasure trove of the Pacific” is a breeding ground for academic debate. University of Auckland researchers Russell Gray and Fiona Jordan have adapted DNA mapping techniques and applied them to language families, creating a new…

Cold Shoulder

Cold Shoulder

Warming-swarming says Wellington scientist Vincent Gray, whose anti-global warming beliefs challenge scientific orthodoxy.

Whistle-blowing

Whistle-blowing

After ten years of play on an unregulated field, an umpire has been appointed for the New Zealand telecommunications industry.

Flat Out

Flat Out

Chaos and interacting sound waves power new-generation flat speakers. New Zealand’s Soundlab is at the head of the pack, in sound-delivery technology.

Putting Meat on the Table

Putting Meat on the Table

“Inexpensive frozen New Zealand lamb enabled Glaswegians to put meat on the table during the misery of the 1930’s. Galloway’s “Empire Lamb Shop”, at the end of Jamaica Street, was open just four days a week,…

3G in 3rd M?

3G in 3rd M?

The auction of New Zealand’s 3G radio spectrum frequencies has been an on-again, off-again affair – will it take till the third millennium?

Pharming Drugs

Pharming Drugs

“Pharming” is the name for growing drugs in transgenic animals, like PPL’s New Zealand sheep.

PPL Piggies

PPL Piggies

PPL (Scotland, US, NZ) presented the world with five cloned piglets – the beginning of interspecies organ donation and top five important science event 2000.

First Time

First Time

Christchurch Casino has placed a clock in its gaming room – a first for the industry, which usually likes punters to forget the outside world exists.

Who Supervises the Supervisors?

Who Supervises the Supervisors?

New Zealand economist Tim Hazledine detects over-supervision – a proliferation in the ranks of “pseudo-managers monitoring their underlings”.

Locally Better

Locally Better

Staying awake with a local anesthetic may reduce surgical complications by 30% states an Auckland University study published in the British Medical Journal.

Sane Dolly

Sane Dolly

PPL Therapeutics, the company that brought the world Dolly, hooks up with New Zealand company Celentis to clone cows  in a BSE-free environment.

Nail ’em Up

Nail ’em Up

Calcium supplements don’t prevent broken nails according to an Auckland study. Back to the snake oil…

Stunning Success

Stunning Success

New Zealand designed electrical cattle stunner approved in Britain.

Dot.com Dream

Dot.com Dream

Kiwi Victoria Davies is among the silicon dolls burnt by the dot.com crash. She’s now on a $100,000+ salary, but has less confidence in stock options, “I don’t look at it as my ticket to being…

Download a Friend

Download a Friend

Auckland-developed virtual faces read your email in your own voice. Download for free at lifeFX.com.

Nobel Award

Nobel Award

New Zealander and Nobel laureate for Chemistry, Dr Alan MacDiarmid, receives his award from His Majesty the King of Sweden.