Faculty of Science – Leading creativity and innovation in the sciences
Our faculty in the media
Every week, the Faculty of Science's research is featured in various national and international media. Find below a selection of articles published in recent months which will be extended on a frequent basis.
If you are a member of the media and need help finding a subject expert or would like more information about the research projects mentioned below, visit our media contacts page.
There are estimated to be just 55 adult and juvenile Maui’s dolphins according to a recently released joint study by The University of Auckland, Department of Conservation and Oregon State University. But Dr Rochelle Constantine and Adjunct Professor Scott Baker (School of Biological Sciences) see still reasons for optimism as population had retained an equal balance of females and males, and the individuals had reasonable genetic diversity.
Read more about Rochelle's and Scott's research on the New Zealand Herald website
There are scientists who want to read your mind, and with the aid of an advanced functional MRI scanner, they’re getting closer to actually achieving it. Cognitive neuroscientist Donna Rose Addis (Department of Psychology) and Brett Cowan from the Centre for Advanced MRI are two of them. They explain how they used scans of the brain of a volunteer and attempted to tell the difference between a genuine memory and a made-up lie.
Listen to the feature interview on the Radio New Zealand website
Research by Prof Roger Davies (Department of Physics) shows that clouds around the world may be falling in response to rising global temperatures. This phenomenon could have a cooling effect on global warming, according to analysis of 10 years of data from the NASA Terra satellite.
Giraffe weevils are a very distinctive kind of beetle, with a long elongated rostrum on the top of their head which gives them the appearance of a six-legged horizontal giraffe. Despite the fact they can grow very large – up to 9 centimetres – and they can occur in large mating aggregations numbering several hundred individuals on a single tree, very little is known about giraffe weevils and they have a low public profile. PhD student Chrissie Painting and her supervisor Dr Greg Holwell (School of Biological Science) are determined to change both of those things.
Listen to a radio interview about their research on the Radio New Zealand website
The reason we have a bad summer is largely due to the La Niña conditions, where we experience the blustery damp weather compared to that of El Niño’s long hot and dry spells. New research by Dr Antony Fowler (School of Environment) suggests we should probably get used to more of both La Niña and its equally troublesome twin. They came to that conclusion by looking at kauri trees.
For the past years cognitive neuroscientist Dr Donna Rose Addis (Department of Psychology) has conducted world-leading research on the constructive nature of memory and imagination. Her research into the psychology of cognitive processes and their neurological basis may lead to new therapies for diseases ranging from Alzheimer’s to depression.
Listen to a feature interview about Donna's research on the Radio New Zealand website
Scientists have found that wild yeasts vary from region to region, and can have a unique influence if used in the wine-making process. PhD student Velimir Gayevskiy and Dr Matthew Goddard (School of Biological Sciences) discovered distinct differences between the so-called "wild" or "indigenous" yeasts found on syrah and chardonnay grapes and in their corresponding spontaneous ferments in three separate New Zealand regions.
Read more about their research on the New Zealand Herald website
The transition from solitary to group living provided protection from predators that allowed our primate ancestors to come down from the trees and become active during the daytime, according to joint research conducted by Quentin Atkinson (Department of Psychology) and researchers from the University of Oxford. The research team found that the first transition in the primate family tree was straight from solitary to group living, and any change to pair or harem social structures occurred later.
Read more about the study published in Nature on the HealthCanal.com website
Listen to the readio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
The waters around Antarctica sit at around minus 1-point-93 degrees celcius - yet most fish have a freezing point of minus zero-point 7 and so cannot survive in Antarctic waters. Associate Professor Clive Evans (School of Biological Sciences) and his colleagues are studying the remarkable ways Antarctic fish manage to survive the icy waters without freezing and what this can teach us.
Listen to a radio interview about his research on the Radio New Zealand website
Dr Luitgard Schwendenmann and Dr Neil Mitchell's (School of Environment) research into carbon use and storage in urban and native trees shows that they need to be taken into consideration when measuring and managing New Zealand carbon emissions. Native trees and shrubs in urban ecosystems absorb and store carbon just as commercially grown trees and thus play an important role in taking SO2 out of the atmosphere.
Listen to the radio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
Forensic science MSc students Nardia Foot, Ashleigh Fox, and Eletra Williams (School of Chemical Sciences) had feature interviews on the TVNZ7 'Ever Wondered' series, covering their research projects on back-spatter from gun-shot wounds, how enhancements to fingerprints at crime scenes might jeopardise the subsequent recovery of DNA, and how to the post-mortem interval can be established for bodies found outdoors.
Watch the full episode online on the TVNZ website (chapter 1 and 2)
Strategies to inspire sustainability are the topic of a new book published by Associate Professor Niki Harré (Department of Psychology). Based on the latest research in social and positive psychology, Niki describes new ways to think about how people interact in social settings, why we are tempted to stick with what we know, and how the same characteristics that currently keep us hooked into unsustainable practices can be used to move us forward.
Listen to a radio feature about the book on the Radio New Zealand website
Snapper on the North Island west coast are in a vulnerable state and new research by PhD student Carina Sim-Smith (Leigh Marine Laboratory) suggests the fishing industry may need to rethink management near the Kaipara Harbour. Carina's findings support the assumption that virtually all snapper spawning is happening outside the Kaipara Harbour, along the coast. This, she says, puts all the mature spawning snapper at risk from commercial and recreational fishers who gather each year during the peak spawning times.
MSc student Michelle Kelly and her supervisor Dr Anne Gaskett (School of Biological Sciences) had a feature interview on Our Changing World, Radio New Zealand, on how orchids trick unsuspecting insects into pollinating them. In her masters thesis Michelle studied tiny New Zealand orchids which produce smells to lure flies into their flowers and into contact with their pollen.
Listen to the radio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
The Department of Psychology's research on New Caledonian crows' cognition and culture has been widely reported nationally and internationally in the past years. By studying the social structure and behavior of the crows and the details of their difficult daily lives, the researchers hope to gain new insights into the evolution of intelligence, the interplay between physical and social skillfulness, and the relative importance of each selective force in promoting the need for a big animal brain.
Professor Russell Gray and Dr Jennifer Holzhaider commented on the background of their research in an article in the New York Times.
Read the full article online on the New York Times website
Results which suggest that crows understand basic physics were covered by national media. When presented with a tall half-filled tube of water, which had a small piece of meat floating on the surface, the crows dropped stones in it to raise the water level to get to the treat.
An experiment which uses the latest laser technology to measure the colour absorption of super-cooled helium atoms was the topic of a feature interview on Radio New Zealand with Dr Maarten Hoogerland (Department of Physics). The experiment undertaken by Maarten and colleagues at the Free University in Amsterdam made measurements that were a thousand times more accurate than currently predicted by theoretical quantum electrodynamics, and also enabled extremely accurate measurements to be made of the size of the nucleus of a helium atom. The paper was published in Science, and was also written up in Physics Today, the flagship publication of the American Institute of Physics.
Listen to the readio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
New step-parents who jump in and act like real parents are asking for trouble, suggests research by PhD graduate Dr Vicki Mobley (Department of Psychology). The study, covered in the New Zealand Weekend Herald, has found that children are more likely to want their step-parent to be a "friend" than a "parent", and want their biological parent to stay in charge of discipline.
It's a battle of the sexes for praying mantises in New Zealand, and the introduced females are proving fatal to native males suggests research by Dr Greg Holwell (School of Biological Sciences). The recently arrived South African praying mantises turn out to be hyper attractive to native males but being sexually cannibalistic species they contribute to the decline of the number of New Zealand mantises.
Listen to the radio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
Dr Craig Millar's (School of Biological Sciences) and Dr Guy Warman's (Biological Sciences and Anaesthesiology) research on honey bees was featured in the "Ever Wondered?" series on TVNZ7. They spoke about their research using bees, to understand biological-clock disruption during anaesthesia.
Watch the full episode online on the TVNZ website (chapter 3)
Far fewer species live on earth than previously thought, and all 2 million are likely to have been discovered by the end of the century, suggests a new paper by Associate Professor Mark Costello (Leigh Marine Laboratory) and fellow scientists at Trinity College Dublin. The scientists concluded there were likely to be just 1.8 million to 2 million species on Earth.
Associate Professor James Wright (School of Chemical Sciences) had a feature interview on an episode of Ever Wondered, focusing on green chemistry. He spoke about his work on a safer and cheaper way of bleaching the paper we produce. Replacing the conventionally used chlorine, he uses hydrogen peroxide as a bleaching agent.
Watch the full episode online on the TVNZ website (chapter 2)
Dr Rochelle Constantine's (School of Biological Sciences) participation in a research expedition to study whales in the Antarctic was widely reported in national media. The joint Australia-NZ expedition found that humpback whales in the Ross Sea also spend time in east Australia.
Listen to the radio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
Workplace bullies hurt not only their victims but the colleagues who witness it, a study conducted by Dr Helena Cooper-Thomas (Department of Psychology) has found. Helena's research on the effects of bullying on witnesses was widely reported nationally and internationally.
Ideas about human language development published by Emeritus Professor Michael Corballis (Department of Psychology) challenge the conventional wisdom of how humans think. His book disputes the idea, argued especially by linguist Noam Chomsky, that thought is fundamentally linguistic - in other words, you need language before you can have thoughts.
Read more about Michael's book online on the New Scientist website
Dr Cather Simpson's (Department of Physics) research into using lasers to try and create molecules that focus energy was featured in Radio New Zealand's "Our changing world" series. Using various lasers, and techniques such as time-resolved Raman spectroscopy, she is studying how molecular structures can alter with energy inputs, and is also looking at the interactions between electrons and the nuclei of molecules like the iron-carrying haems that exist in haemoglobin in the blood.
Listen to the radio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
A feature story about research by PhD student Andrew Veale and his supervisor Professor Mick Clout (School of Biological Sciences) on how far stoats can swim, threatening birdlife on predator-free islands, was published in the Listener. Using archived hair samples from stoats from the island, along with DNA samples from mainland stoats, Veale determined that stoats can swim farther than the distance of 1200m previously thought.
Dr Quentin Atkinson's (Department of Psychology) ground-breaking discoveries on language evolution were covered by media worldwide. His study published in the prestigious journal Science provides strong evidence for Africa as the birthplace of human language.
Research into lab-on-a-chip devices conducted at the Microscale Research Group and the BioMEMS Research Group (School of Chemical Sciences) was profiles in Radio New Zealand's "Our changing world" series. Researchers like Dr Donald Wlodkowic, Prof David Williams and Dr Bryon Wright develop lab-on-a-chip devices which incorporate one or several laboratory functions on a chip no bigger than the size of a credit card, using techniques developed for the semiconductor industry.
Listen to the radio feature on the Radio New Zealand website
Research on the decline of native bird numbers conducted by associate Professor John Craig (School of Environment) and Sandra Anderson (School of Biological Sciences) has been widely covered by New Zealand media. Their research in collaboration with the University of Canterbury shows that the loss of native birds from the New Zealand mainland is contributing to the decline in a plant that they pollinate.
Read more about the research project on the Nelson Mail website
Contrary to the findings of noted linguists Noam Chomsky and Joseph Greenberg, a study coauthored by Professor Russell Gray (Department of Psychology) concludes that cultures, not innate preferences, drive the language rules humans create. These findings were reported internationally by media such as the Los Angeles Times, BBC News, Wired, and ABC Science.
It's physical exercise, not brain gymnastics, that will keep your mind sharp into old age. That is the result of research conducted by Professor Winston Byblow (Department of Sport and Exercise Science). His findings show that regular exercise significantly increases the flow of oxygen to the brain, nourishing cells and helping thought. Winston Byblow's results were published in the East & Bays Courier and the Herald on Sunday.
Associate Professor Ross Ihaka (Department of Statistics) is widely known as one of the creators of the free data-analysis software 'R' which is used on a daily basis by companies such as Shell, and Merck Sharp & Dohme, and universities such as Cambridge and Harvard. Recently, his success story was featured in an article in North&South magazine.
Download the full article below:
Under water grunts, chirps and pops recorded by PhD student Shahriman Ghazali (Leigh Marine Laboratory) have revealed a mysterious language used by New Zealand fish. Her results were extensively published throughout New Zealand and internationally, including articles in the UK newspapers the Telegraph and The Globe and coverage on the Agence France-Presse network.
Read more about Shahriman Ghazali's research online on the New Zealand Herald website
Associate Professor Paul Kench's (School of Environment) research showing that Pacific islands are growing in land area despite rising sea levels, has received media coverage in publications such as the New Zealand Herald, The Independent (UK), and The Australian. It was also featured by various television stations ranging from New Zealand's TVONE to BBC News and FOXNews.
Read the full article online on the New Scientist magazine website
Research conducted by Associate Professor Paul Kilmartin (School of Chemical Sciences) has shown that keeping sauvignon blanc cooler reduces the loss of its characteristic tropical fruit aromas. His findings were published in several New Zealand newspapers, national and international industry websites, and the Australian Science Show.
Read more about his research online on the New Zealand Herald website
Listen to the Science Show radio broadcast
Research on fossils from oceans around New Zealand conducted by Associate Professor Phil Shane (School of Environment) and researchers from New Zealand, the United States, and Spain suggests that the release of carbon dioxide from the Southern Ocean at the end of the last ice age was much faster than anticipated - on a scale of hundreds rather than thousands of years. These findings, featured in several New Zealand and Australian publications, raise the possibility that a similar process may occur as a result of global warming.
Read the full story online on the Sydney Morning Herald website
Dr Emma Marks' (School of Biological Science) research suggests that when it comes to finding the perfect partner, female penguins are looking for the fattest male with the best voice and great nest-making skills - traits that indicate he'll be a great dad who isn't going to up and leave. Her findings were featured in numerous New Zealand publications as well as international science-related websites.
Read more about her research on the Science Daily website
Dr Jennifer Eccles' (School of Environment) research on the alpine fault to predict earthquakes has been profiled in "Close up" on TVNZ. As part of a group of 40 geologists Eccles conducts research on a small West Coast creek bed, just north of Franz Josef, drilling into the alpine fault in an attempt to unearth its secrets.
Dr Nicholas Gant's (Department of Sport and Exercise Science) and Dr Cathy Steiner’s (Medicine) research on carbohydrates and muscle strength was featured in the first episode of "Ever Wondered?" on TVNZ7.
Watch the full episode online on the TVNZ website (chapter 2)
New Zealand waters have more than 4100 undescribed fish species, according to the 'Census of Marine Life'. Lead author Dr Mark Costello (Leigh Marine Laboratory) and his colleagues have combined information collected over centuries with data obtained during the decade-long census to create a roll call of species in 25 biologically representative regions, from the Antarctic through temperate and tropical seas to the Arctic. The publication was featured in the New Zealand media and in more than 400 international news stories, including stories in The Australian, National Geographic and the Irish Times.
Read more about the 'Census of Marine Life' on the stuff.co.nz website
A few years ago, Dr David Krofcheck (Department of Physics) helped broker the deal which secured New Zealand's foothold in the most talked-about physics lab in the world - the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. On the occasion of the first trial of collisions of lead nuclei in the world's largest and highest-energy particle accelerator, Krofcheck had first-hand access to the data from sensors monitoring the collisions.
Dr Jan Lindsay's and Associate Professor Phil Shane's (School of Environment) research into the past activity of the Auckland Volcanic Field and how it is used to predict future volcanic events was featured in the 4th episode of "Ever Wondered?" on TVNZ7.
Watch the full episode online on the TVNZ website (chapter 2)
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