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Science Media Centre NZ
Our aim is to promote accurate, evidence-based reporting on science and technology by helping the media work more closely with the scientific community.
The Science Media Centre is New Zealand's only trusted, independent source of information for the media on all issues related to science. Thousands of news stories providing context from and quoting New Zealand researchers have been published as a direct result of our work.
Science Media Centre NZ - Latest News [Page 66]
Science Media Centre Issue 120 Feb 11-17
Friday, 11 February 2011, 4:22 pm | Science Media Centre
We're hiring! One of our media advisors has been snapped up by the science sector which means the SMC is looking for new talent. If you are obsessed with science, news savvy, great with words and interested in how science is communicated, you could ... More >>
Meat 'gassing' - what are the facts?
Monday, 7 February 2011, 5:02 pm | Science Media Centre
News reports within the last day or two have revealed that some of New Zealand's meat undergoes a process called 'gas flushing', in which carbon dioxide and oxygen is pumped into meat packaging to significantly lengthen the meat's shelf-life. More >>
Yasi: nature's devastating power
Friday, 4 February 2011, 2:13 pm | Science Media Centre
In the end it wasn't as severe as it could have been as category 5 Cyclone Yasi spared Queensland's large townships but nevertheless wreaked widespread damage between Cairns and Townsville. As is often the case with looming natural disasters, saturated ... More >>
Bluegreens to discuss environment
Friday, 28 January 2011, 4:29 pm | Science Media Centre
An indication of the Government's environment policy direction in election year may be given tomorrow when the National Party's environmental wing the Bluegreens meet in Akaroa . More >>
Two become one in science shake-up
Friday, 28 January 2011, 4:28 pm | Science Media Centre
Tuesday sees the official debut of the Ministry of Science and Innovation and the merging of science funding and policy roles into one unit as the Government's revamp of the science system continues. The new Ministry is to be launched at Victoria University ... More >>
Queensland floods: the aftermath - experts respond
Friday, 14 January 2011, 2:58 pm | Science Media Centre
Professor Beverley Raphael is from the University of Western Sydney's School of Medicine. She heads a research unit which tackles mental health issues associated with disasters, terrorism and other adversity. As a former Director of the NSW Centre ... More >>
Queensland flood crisis - experts respond
Thursday, 13 January 2011, 11:13 am | Science Media Centre
The most recent flash floods in Queensland, which started on Monday, have now claimed at least 10 lives, and left 56,000 properties without power. Ninety people are still missing, and evacuation warnings have been issued in Brisbane. More >>
New UK consensus on vitamin D - experts respond
Friday, 17 December 2010, 3:56 pm | Science Media Centre
Earlier today, UK health charities launched a consensus position paper on vitamin D covering issues of sun exposure, cancer risk and dietary supplementation, recommending some exposure to midday sun. More >>
Climate talks deal in Cancun - experts respond
Monday, 13 December 2010, 12:44 pm | Science Media Centre NZ
Over the weekend, delegates at UN climate talks adopted the 'Cancun Agreements', laying the groundwork for an extension to Kyoto commitments and reviving fading hopes for an outcome from international climate negotiations. More >>
Lignite and the future of hydrogen
Friday, 10 December 2010, 4:37 pm | Science Media Centre
This week Dr Jan Wright, Parlimentary Commissioner for the Environment, released a report - subsequently backed by academics - condemning moves by Solid Energy and the L&M Group to exploit low-grade lignite coal reserves beneath Southland. Plans ... More >>
"Plenty more earthquakes" to come
Friday, 10 December 2010, 4:36 pm | Science Media Centre
Canterbury University engineering expert Professor Andy Buchanan wasn't mincing his words in this week's Science Media Centre media briefing - he considers it a "fluke" that no one was killed in September's 7.1 quake in Canterbury. More >>
Attack on fur seal colony - expert responds
Monday, 6 December 2010, 1:43 pm | Science Media Centre
23 New Zealand fur seal pups and adults were found clubbed to death this morning at Ohau Point, near Kaikoura. The Department of Conservation has issued a press release with further details of the incident. (Contact the Science Media Centre to have a ... More >>
Kyoto focus in Cancun climate talks
Friday, 3 December 2010, 4:46 pm | Science Media Centre
Predictably fraught negotiations appear to have dominated the COP16 climate summit in Cancun, Mexico, as representatives from 190-odd countries try to come to agreement on how to lower greenhouse gas emissions. The overall goal of the conference is to ... More >>
International Year of Biodiversity, is drawing to a close
Friday, 3 December 2010, 4:07 pm | Science Media Centre
This year's targets for global biodiversity conservation -- the culmination of UN efforts emerging from the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 -- have largely failed. More >>
2010 Global Temperatures 'near record levels' - WMO
Friday, 3 December 2010, 10:54 am | Science Media Centre
The World Meteorological Organization released its draft annual statement on the status of global climate today at UN climate talks (COP16) in Cancun. The statement details extreme weather trends around the globe in the past year , and says that ... More >>
Arsenic-eating bacteria expand scope of what life could be
Friday, 3 December 2010, 10:17 am | Science Media Centre
NASA researchers have discovered a strain of bacteria in a lake in California that uses arsenic as one of its nutrients, increasing the potential for finding new forms of life on Earth and beyond. More >>
Experts on preliminary results from new longitudinal study
Friday, 26 November 2010, 4:53 pm | Science Media Centre
The study will follow more than 7000 Kiwi families over two decades, through pregnancy, birth, childhood and adolescence, until participating children reach adulthood. This first report presents data from extensive interviews with expectant mothers and their ... More >>
Experts on potential techniques to stabilise Pike River
Thursday, 25 November 2010, 3:33 pm | Science Media Centre
Further explosions in the Pike River mine are possible as a volatile mix of gases prevents a rescue crew from entering the mine to retrieve the bodies of the miners who are presumed dead following a second massive explosion yesterday. More >>
Mine CCTV footage - what it may tell us
Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 11:29 am | Science Media Centre
CCTV video footage taken from a camera at the entrance to the Pike River mine was released last night and shows the impact of the pressure wave that resulted from the explosion deep within the mine. More >>
Effectiveness of robots in mine rescue operations
Tuesday, 23 November 2010, 10:48 am | Science Media Centre
A military robot sent into the Pike River mine to survey conditions has broken down, mine officials confirmed at a press conference this morning. The multi-purpose robot carried four cameras, which it was hoped would return images to engineers of the ... More >>
