Stories from Massey University, the engine of the new New Zealand
While most of us were on holiday, a team of Massey University education researchers ran an ambitious project aimed at halting the ‘summer slide’ usually suffered by struggling readers. Promising early results suggest they’ve made an important breakthrough. Bevan Rapson writes.
Some of you may blame Bilbo Baggins. Some of you will inculpate The Famous Five. Or perhaps, if you are of a more recent generation, it will have been Harry Potter or some teen vampire. The culprits are varied. Myself, I blame the likes of Dr Dolittle, Tintin and Asterix. In the warm haven that was the Palmerston North library, close by my family home, they and their kind got me hooked on reading. Steve Maharey writes.
The North Island bush robin has lessons to teach us about how to go about reintroducing species. Using the robin as his subject, Professor Doug Armstrong has been crafting mathematical models that can be applied to any species. He talks to Malcolm Wood.
New Zealand and the Massey community have lost a remarkable individual.
A digital microscope imaging, identification and pollen counting system going under the name of the Classifynder is going to spare scientists having to tally pollen grains by hand. Katherine Holt, who spent four years of her life investigating past patterns of vegetation on the Chatham Island, won’t miss this particular chore.
The plants have a strange allure. Passers-by cannot resist the urge to browse, inspect, touch and sample. In Civic Square, in the heart of New Zealand’s capital, tomato plants and nasturtiums are proving a hit. Researcher Amanda Yates is pleased.
Jennifer Little meets Professor Marti Anderson, who is assessing what is happening to our marine ecosystems.
Tired of spending too much time in front of the television? Fancy developing your own cult? Heather Kavan, who has published a number of research papers about religions and cults, has some useful tips. She talks to Redmer Yska.
It’s fair to say nurse Andrew Cameron relishes a challenge, whether it’s confounding the gender stereotypes of his profession or working with victims of war and addiction. The Florence Nightingale Medal winner talks to Andrea O’Neil.
A pair of Longburn freezing workers’ singlets at the Te Manawa museum helped reawaken historian Kerry Taylor’s interest in labour history. He now plans to tell the story of the radical meatworks that employed Manawatu people for nearly a century. Redmer Yska reports.
