Pattern recognition
Prime numbers act as locks and keys to bank accounts—and cracking them requires solving a riddle that dates back to ancient times.
The first test
If we’re serious about Predator Free 2050—about ridding New Zealand of every last rat, stoat and possum—then Fiordland poses its sternest backcountry test. If we can pull it off here, we can pull it off in any of our national parks. What makes this land so difficult—and so important?
No going back
Why is time the only dimension to flow in one direction?
Farming for our future
As things stand, the land can’t endure our enterprise much longer. If it’s to sustain our grandchildren, we have to change the way we think and cultivate. The Our Land and Water National Science Challenge is helping us forge a new accord with the soil beneath our feet.
The jellyfish that wouldn’t die
“Nothing can be said to be certain,” sighed Benjamin Franklin, “except death and taxes.” But there is one creature inconvenienced by neither.
Fits and giggles
Only a few species are capable of laughing. So why do we do it?
Why are whitebait on the brink of extinction?
There isn’t a catch limit on the lucrative whitebait fishery, which threatens to extinguish a cherished tradition and a small family of fish in one sweep of the net. If nothing changes, two whitebait species will be gone within five years, and the rest by 2034.
The lava caves hidden beneath suburban Auckland
Hidden beneath quiet suburban streets are clues to Auckland’s tumultuous geological past: lava caves.
How trees trade with each other below ground
Forests have their own information superhighway, and it works much like ours, carrying information, trade—and cybercrime.
Last chance to see
Twice the kākāriki karaka has returned from the dead. Orange-fronted parakeets were declared extinct in 1919 and again in 1965, but each time, the birds were concealed deep in the beech-forested valleys of Nelson and Canterbury. Now, the bird is approaching its third extinction, and this time, rangers have already scoured the valleys for hidden strongholds. This time, there isn’t a secret population waiting in the wings.
The coming swarm
Every summer, a plague of wasps gathers, ruining picnics, harassing trampers and disrupting ecosystems. Wasps outcompete bees for food, costing New Zealand about $130 million each year in loss of honey and pasture crops. Where wasps abound, biodiversity suffers: butterflies disappear, songbirds stop breeding and invertebrate communities are looted. But there’s hope on the horizon. Scientists are developing weapons, both biological and genetic, in a bid to cure the pestilence, once and for all.
Time crystals
For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction, right? Not in the maverick world of this new form of matter.
Taking sides
When left- or right-handedness is a matter of life and death.
Swap a forest park for an irrigation dam
Is the Department of Conservation allowed to exchange conservation land for farmland?
Explainer: New “Swimmable” Water Standards
Are they better or worse?
Slaves to the rhythm
Your body is controlled by chemicals, telling you when to wake, when to eat, even controlling your physical strength.
Playing an away game
Female birds have turned promiscuity and deception into artful survival, as have females of many other species.
Science in the time of post-truth
Chemtrails, 9/11 “truthers”, lizard people. It’s like the Renaissance never happened.
Reckless driving?
Before too long, we’ll be able to encode unwanted organisms for extinction. But should we?
