Nigel Ogle’s Tawhiti Museum is one part history lesson and one part carnival. He talks to Bryan Gibson.

Massey alumnus and former staff member Dr Rangi Mataamua talks to Sonia Yoshioka-Braid.

Childhood obesity is a growing problem in New Zealand. One in five Kiwis aged two to 14 is overweight. One in 12 is obese. Should we be changing the way our cities and suburbs are laid out? Associate Professor Karen Witten, of Massey University’s SHORE and Whariki Research Centre, is studying the relationship between where we live and what it means for our health. She talks to Kathryn Farrow.

Fascinated by the world’s hidden places, Associate Professor Wayne Barrar has photographed underground homes, mines, industrial parks, film archives and university campuses. He speaks to Sarah Young and Malcolm Wood.

Bryan Gibson talks to two very athletic academics, Associate Professor Steve Stannard and Dr David Rowlands

Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey on the merits of two wheels.

A few millilitres of nutrient broth, a bacterium and a few days: these are all the ingredients you need to watch evolution happening before your eyes. Professor Paul Rainey talks to Malcolm Wood about experimental evolution, Oxford, and his hopes for the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Study.

In the first instalment of ‘the new black’ we met Associate Professor Marta Camps and found out about biochar as a means of storing carbon in the soil and tackling climate change. In this second instalment we meet Professor Jim Jones and the fledgling science of biochar production.

The resilience of China’s economy may have been the one bright spot in the global financial crisis. But Professor of International Business Usha Haley concels caution: not everything that is good for China is good for it’s trading partners. She talks to Malcolm Wood.

Funded by the World Bank and the European Union, Massey launches a multimillion-dollar epidemiology education programme in Asia. Bryan Gibson talks to Emeritus Professor Roger Morris (pictured) and programme leader Dr Eric Neumann.

Selling state assets is a prickly issue in New Zealand and around the world.  When the National Party announced plans to sell up to 49 percent of each of its electricity companies and some other state-owned enterprises should it be re-elected in November, it sparked heated debate and some fierce opposition.  College of Business Pro Vice-Chancellor Professor Lawrence C Rose has researched the performance of privatised companies in Australia and New Zealand and believes partial sales are a critical to improving our economic growth rate.  He speaks to Kathryn Farrow.

Tony Woods wanted to be a fireman. But the Kiwi entrepreneur ended up establishing a Kabul-based enterprise bringing renewable energy to Afghani villages. He talks to Keri Welham.

Katherine Whitehouse-Tedd (Bell): Cheetah researcher

Kereama Beal talks to Professor Glyn Harper, the editor of Letters from Gallipoli, New Zealand Soldiers Write Home.

According to history lecturer Andrew Brown, the author of Civic Ceremony and Religion in Medieval Bruges c.1300–1520, Bruges really is ‘like a fairytale’. He talks to Malcolm Wood.

Even when times are tough, New Zealand needs to continue to invest in research and development. Indeed, the need for investment has never been more urgent writes Vice-Chancellor Steve Maharey.

Professor Jacqueline Rowarth writes about the affordability of food and the future of New Zealand Food Inc.

William Broughton’s ideas about multidisciplinary study were plainly ahead of his time. He talks to John Muirhead, currently head of the School of English and Media Studies, about a modest proposal he made back in 1971 in the pages of the capping magazine Masskerade for a course called Literate Agriculture 111.

A tour party of Massey MBA students finds business in South America doesn’t keep office hours. Bevan Rapson talks to MBA student Brian Davies.

A senior lecturer in the College of Education, Dr Valerie Margrain is the co-editor of and one of 12 contributors to Responsive Pedagogy: Engaging Restoratively with Challenging Behaviour. She talks to Sue Allen.

How has the Arab Spring changed the complexion of the Middle East? Nigel Parsons looks at the changes there have been and those likely to come.

Images from the Rugby World Cup and surrounding events from some of New Zealand’s best photographers.

Never try to compete for popularity with an All Black, writes Steve Maharey. Especially if you are dealing with primary school children.

New Zealand-born Fijian Deacon Manu completed his Bachelor of Business Studies (Management) degree in the nick of time, handing in his last assignments just before taking on the captaincy of the Fijian national team in the Rugby World Cup. He talks to Kathryn Farrow

Professor Jacqueline Rowarth reviews Floreat Scientia: Celebrating New Zealand’s Agrifood Innovation.

Rodney Adank reviews New Zealand by Design: A History of New Zealand Product Design by Michael Smythe.

The Illicit Drug Monitoring System run by Massey’s SHORE Centre provides a fascinating insight into changing of patterns of drug use — and in some instances there is cause for optimism.

When an innovative Tauranga vanilla company wanted help with technology, it turned to Massey University for help. Nearly five years on, the resulting relationship is still yielding benefits on both sides. Bevan Rapson reports.

Jennifer Little spends time with the National Oiled Wildlife Response Team after the Rena oil spill.

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.

Malcolm Wood reviews Warming the Emotional Climate of the Primary School Classroom by Ian Evans and Shane Harvey.

Bonnie Etherington reviews Dinner at Rose’s by Danielle Hawkins.

Ever thought about how you eat? It is a surprisingly complex process. Sonia Yoshioka Braid writes.

Football Fern and Massey student Anna Green is footing it with the world’s best, writes Kelly Burns.

A bike concept modelled in clay is taking Sam McCafferty to Italy. He talks to Michele Hollis.

Paul Mulrooney reviews Dogfight: The Battle of Britain by Adam Claasen.

Shelter from the Storm: The Story of New Zealand’s Backcountry Huts
Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint, Craig Potton Publishing
Reviewed by Malcolm Wood

In November of 2011, 25-year-old conservation biology master’s student Jonathan Cope travelled to Shaanxi province to study the vocalisations of golden snub-nosed monkeys, a field untouched by English-language researchers for four decades. He talks to Andrea O’Neil.

Redmer Yska talks to Stuart Lawrence, the author of Moral Awareness in Greek Tragedy.

Dr Chris Wilkins of the SHORE and Whariki Research Centre talks to Redmer Yska.

Master’s student Ryan McCauley has visited Timor-Leste, documenting the nation’s architecture as an expression of its history. He talks to Kelly Burns.

Heather McRae kicked off her career with a science degree at Massey, and since then has been a teacher, worked on major curriculum projects, established new schools in Asia and been a principal in the state system. Today she runs one of the country’s leading private schools for girls, where she remains a keen advocate of studying science. She talks to Bevan Rapson.

Nitrous oxide emissions threaten algae’s environmental credentials.

Dr Jason Hindmarsh is using recommissioned equipment to do great science.

Could it be that life first arose in the depths of the sea? Postgraduate student Chris Lepper is exploring the feasibilities.