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Tag >> University of Auckland
Wireless lifesavers
Auckland University scientists have developed the technology to power a wireless heart pump which could eventually be an alternative to heart transplants. Scientists from the University’s Bioengineering Institute, Department…
Online generation bridge
Auckland City Libraries and the New Zealand Chinese Association Auckland Inc. have joined forces to develop the first New Zealand Chinese digital communities website, which will be launched at…
Lover of Words Passes
Respected literary scholar and Professor Terry Sturm, who played a leading role in placing New Zealand literature at the centre of the academic curriculum and was awarded a CBE…
Gene Predictions
University of Auckland researchers have developed the world’s first test to measure the risk for individual smokers and ex-smokers of developing lung cancer with a simple mouth swab, trade…
Sea Urchin Reef Concert
Auckland University marine biologists Craig Radford and Andrew Jeffs have discovered that sea urchins are behind loud noises emanating from underwater around New Zealand reefs. The 20- to 30-decibel…
Mugabe Expert Comes Full Circle
Stephen Chan, longtime analyst and authority on Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, returned to NZ recently to deliver the 2007 Chapman Lectures at Auckland University, his alma mater. Born in New Zealand to…
NZ Neuroscientists Spark Alcohol Rethink
A new study co-authored by two NZ researchers suggests that long-term, moderate alcohol consumption can help improve the memory. The study, which was published in The Journal of Neuroscience, was undertaken…
Top of His Game
New Zealander Bob Hayward has found success in the highly competitive US film industry. Based in Los Angeles, Hayward is the Chief Operating Officer and founding partner of Summit…
New Zealander Heads Microsoft Innovation
NZ software architect Nigel Keam has spearheaded the development of Microsoft’s new Surface technology, the subject of much excitement and speculation in the computing industry. Surface is a tabletop PC device…
What Makes NZ Sav Blanc so Special?
The NZ government and members of the wine industry are funding a multimillion dollar research project to examine the distinctive qualities of the country’s prized Sauvignon Blanc. The six-year NZ $16.9…
Auckland Prof Named UN Science Laureate
Auckland University professor Margaret Brimble has been named one of the world’s top five woman scientists by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). As Laureate for the Asia-Pacific region,…
Landmark Brain Research
A joint discovery by NZ and Swedish neuroscientists could potentially revolutionise the study of the human brain. The eight-year collaboration has succeeded in finding the path adult neural stem cells travel…
NZ Scientists Solve Pigeon Puzzle
Scientists at Auckland University have solved the enduring mystery of homing pigeons. “We are now confident that pigeons … use the intensity of the Earth’s magnetic field to determine position during…
Next-gen Stitches
A revolutionary tissue repair gel developed at Auckland University has secured NZ$15 million in US funding, thanks to the efforts of key developer Professor Colin Green. The US financial backing…
First-class Brain Up to the Challenge
The Guardian interviews Julie Maxton, the first female registrar of Oxford University since the role was created 550 years ago. Maxton previously worked with the Oxford vice-chancellor, fellow New…
Findings Nothing to Sneeze At
A NZ-led medical study has found that children around the world became more susceptible to common allergies during the 1990s. The research, which questioned parents and children in 56 different countries,…
Hands on High Flyer
Kiwi Carly Arnold has been named one of British magazine Management Today‘s 35 women under 35 for 2006. Arnold, 29, studied engineering and business at Auckland University and worked for Air…
Edge Connection for Leading Scientist
Pioneering archaeologist Lady Aileen Fox has died aged 98. Born and educated in England, Lady Fox held a visiting lectureship at Auckland University from 1972 to 1983. She conducted…
Going All the Way
John Hood continues to shake the cloisters at Oxford University in his attempts, as Vice Chancellor, to secure the venerable institution’s status as an academic powerhouse for the 21st century. A…
A Glass a Day Won’t Keep the Doctor Away
NZ researchers have put a dampener on previous claims that drinking in moderation is good for the heart. According to Auckland University’s Dr Rod Jackson, the studies conducted in the 1970s…
Kiwi contributes to Anger canon
Auckland University graduate Alice Hutchison has written an internationally acclaimed book on cult 1960s filmmaker Kenneth Anger, the artist who many believed defined the Age of Aquarius with such…
Bright Spark
Auckland University’s Johanna Montgomery has become the first southern hemisphere scientist in history to win a prestigious Eppendorf and Science Prize for Neurobiology. Dr Montgomery was one of 4…
All in a Day’s Work
The Economist reports on ructions to repair the dire finances and arcane structure at Oxford University. Proposals by new vice chancellor John Hood to centralize decision-making and change the…
Liddell to Work on Margins
TBR believes the addition of New Zealander Chris Liddell as Microsoft’s CFO should help usher in an era of growing operating margins and a tightening of the fiscal belt….
Kiwis Climb Ranks at Oxford
Julie Maxton will join former Auckland University colleague John Hood at Oxford University next year, as the institution’s first ever female registrar. The 550 year old post is similar to that…
A Method to the Madness
An Auckland University research team has shed light on the mystery of human reproduction with a new study involving yeast. Headed by Matthew Goddard, the study compares two strains of live…
Black Mountain Poet
Robert Creeley, who helped transform postwar American poetry by making it more conversational and emotionally direct, has in Odessa, Texas. He was 78. Robert Creeley’s association with New Zealand dates from…
Communication Lines Opened
Auckland University is to house a Beijing-sponsored language institute which will promote Mandarin as a second language in NZ schools. Chinese currently make up over 40% of NZ’s Asian population. NZ is…
Rann – Global Warming “Frightening”
Mike Rann, the Auckland University-educated and former NZBC journalist and now, Labor Premier of South Australia, writes in The Australian that “the world should make no mistake: in 2005,…
Google Gets Goodger
Google has hired one of the top programmers who worked on the Firefox project, fueling new speculation that the search giant may enter the browser business. The Mountain View, California-based search…
Hood Helms Oxford
John Hood was inducted as the 270th Vice Chancellor of Oxford University on October 5; the first non-staff member ever to hold the post. Dr Hood was formerly Vice Chancellor of…
Play it Again, John
Auckland University student John Chen was the overall winner at the 8th Sydney International Piano Competition, held June 30 – July 17. The 18-year-old competed against 36 rigorously selected…
Rat-tracker
Groundbreaking research into the origins of Polynesian people by Auckland University’s Lisa Matisoo-Smith has been published in the New York Times, National Geographic, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Matisoo-Smith…
Play it Safe with Silver
According to research undertaken at Auckland University, silver cars are significantly less likely to be involved in a serious crash than vehicles of other colours. Sue Furness, who led the study,…
Talking Turkey
Evolutionary biologists at Auckland University have made ivory tower headlines by providing compelling evidence of the origins of the Indo-European language family. Associate Professor Russell Gray and PhD student Quentin Atkinson applied…
No 8 Wired
Singapore’s Straits Times focuses on the entrepreneurial spirit driving NZ’s booming science industry. “Over time, the Number 8 wire came to epitomise a culture of adaptability and creativity, a ‘can-do spirit’…
Living Large
New research undertaken at Auckland University suggests that the tendency towards obesity occurs in the womb, rather than as a result of our remote-control society. The findings – recently published in the…
Tukuitonga Joins WHO’s Who
Nieuean Colin Tukuitonga has resigned as NZ’s director of health to take up a post with the United Nations World Health Organisation. Tukuitonga, a former community health lecturer at Auckland University, will…
Bright Sparks and Smart Studs
A NZ company working in conjunction with Auckland University is set to revolutionise road safety technology. Harding Traffic Systems has developed battery-powered “smart studs” to replace the cat’s eyes currently…
The Poetry of Exile
Displaced artists and writers from around the world gathered at Auckland University in July for a 3-day conference examining the link between exile and creativity. Organised by Professor Mike…
Words into Mouths – Fingering the Leap to Language
An NYT feature explores the impetus that gave man the edge to evolve from animal to language (the only characteristic that differentiates us from animals). A debate taking in Chomsky and…
Birkenhead Revisited?
From Sky Tower to dreaming spires: Oxford University today nominated NZer John Hood as its next vice-chancellor – the first to be chosen from outside the esteemed university in its 900-year…
Battle of the Bulge
Auckland University is at the forefront of new medical research linking malnutrition at the time of conception to instances of premature birth. Pediatrician Dr. Frank Bloomfield has conducted a study using…
Tea-total
Auckland University researcher, Joy Hsu, has confirmed the belief of generations: a strong, hot cuppa works wonders. Hsu measured the antioxidant levels of 33 types of green, black and oolong teas…
Brain-gain
The findings of a team of Auckland University researchers have created hope for sufferers of degenerative brain disease. According to Professor Richard Faull, diseased brains produce new cells to replace dying ones…
The Mating Game
Challenging the common assumption that reproduction is a random process, Auckland University’s Valerie Grant claims to be able to predict whether a woman is more likely to produce male or female…
To Ge or Not to Ge?
As the ethical, economic and emotional problem of how to approach GE shapes to be a central issue in the upcoming NZ election a high profile group has formed to argue…
Louder Than Words?
Michael C. Corballis, Auckland University psychologist, is “the latest proponent of a controversial idea known among language experts as ‘gestural theory.'” His most provocative idea: the inception of speech was a “cultural…
Nabokov’s Butterflies
The Brian Boyd (University of Auckland Professor and the world’s leading Nabokov scholar) edited Nabokov’s Butterflies – a collection of Vladimir Nabokov’s writings about butterflies, reviewed by Mark Ridley…
NZ Biologist Battles in Spice Wars
Michael Pearson, a biologist at the University of Auckland, has isolated six different viruses threatening to destroy the world’s second most lucrative spice – vanilla planifolia. “We are the world experts…
The Heart of the Matter
Dr Peter Hunter, of the University of Auckland, has created a “virtual heart” – hailed by Economist magazine as a spectacular example of in silico biology, an emerging discipline that…
DMXAA Discovery Fights Cancer
Yahoo News recognises Professors Bruce Baguley and William Denny of the Cancer Society Research Centre , University of Auckland, for their discovery of DMXAA, a significant new development in to cancer…
Climate Change Challenge
“The climate models are only useful if the science is correct, and so far they have simply not been validated. They predict far more temperature increase in the lower atmosphere than…
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.
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.
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…
