Tag Archives: Nature

Mathematician Vaughan Jones a Man Who Knew Knots

Mathematician Vaughan Jones a Man Who Knew Knots

“In 1994, Gisborne-born mathematician Vaughan Jones walked on stage to address the Italian national academy in Rome’s Palazzo Corsini, lit a cigar and began to blow smoke rings. With a mischievous grin, he told…

Why NZ Is an Attractive Destination For Scientists

Why NZ Is an Attractive Destination For Scientists

Our country’s fertile research landscape, combined with a sustained funding drive, makes it a rewarding place to work, according to freelance journalist James Mitchell Crow writing for science journal, Nature. At high tide, the Cook…

Quake Scientists Make Surprising Find Underground

Quake Scientists Make Surprising Find Underground

When Victoria University of Wellington researchers drilled deep into Alpine Fault, they stumbled upon a discovery they say could provide a significant new energy source for New Zealand. The scientists found the water in the…

Geologists Solve Tectonic Mystery with Explosives

Geologists Solve Tectonic Mystery with Explosives

Local geologists may have finally explained how tectonic plates shift by blowing up hundreds of kilograms of dynamite in a 100km line from Glendhu Rocks in the Wairarapa to Queen Elizabeth Park on the…

New Zealand Landscape Plays Active Role in Films

New Zealand Landscape Plays Active Role in Films

“If a country could be eligible for a best actor award, New Zealand could be in the running for every gong going,” writes Megan Lane. In the piece for BBC News Magazine, Lane explores…

Wild About New Zealand

Wild About New Zealand

A stunning preview for the Natural History New Zealand produced television series, Wild About New Zealand, which follows Gus Roxburgh as he travels through New Zealand’s National Parks and connects…

24 Hours In Rotovegas

24 Hours In Rotovegas

Rotorua set itself up as a tourist destination in the 1800s; its pink-and-white terraces became New Zealand’s first attraction with people having to pass through sleepy Rotorua to reach them. “Today, Rotorua receives 3.2…

Inspired By Nature

Inspired By Nature

The stunning landscape of Waiheke Island (off Auckland’s east coast) is home to over 7,5 residents. Regenerating bush, an indented coastline, vineyards and olive groves are some of its defining characteristics. When…

Mellow and Beautiful

Mellow and Beautiful

The South Island of New Zealand may appear insignificant on a globe for those who can find it at all,” Karen Baker writes for Oregon Live. “But the island boasts natural grandeur that leaves…

Edge Hero Remembered

Edge Hero Remembered

The science world – and the Edge community – lost one of its brightest stars with the death of Maurice Wilkins on October 5. Born in NZ in 1916, Wilkins was awarded the Nobel…

Talking Turkey

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 a complex computer program modelled…

These Wings are Made for Walking …

These Wings are Made for Walking …

A team of NZ researchers – led by David Lambert of Auckland’s Massey University – has broken new ground in the field of genetics to reveal previously unknown details about the moa. In a world first,…

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Journey to the Centre of the Earth

NZer David J. Stevenson – a planetary scientist at the California Institute of Technology – has a project up his sleeve straight out of science fiction, but grounded in the search for science fact.    Stevenson’s proposal – outlined…

Kiwis Have the Secret to Animal Magnetism

Kiwis Have the Secret to Animal Magnetism

It sounds like a line from a bad personal ad, but a team of New Zealand biologists, led by Dr. Michael Walker, in an upcoming issue of Nature, report findings from innovative research into ‘the sixth…

Kiwi Linguists Chart Man’s Journey Across the Pacific

Kiwi Linguists Chart Man’s Journey Across the Pacific

University of Auckland linguists Russell Gray and Fiona Jordan, “may have solved one of the greatest mysteries in human prehistory – how people managed to colonise the Pacific”. Writing in the journal Nature they analysed 77 languages…