Special Feature: Water—The stuff of life

The government's announcement yesterday did not require any improvement to our water quality, except for the very worst rivers. With the new proposal, there is a one in twenty chance of getting sick – and that’s their top standard. To put this in perspective, if a school class visits one of our rivers, at least one child is likely to come back sick from polluted water. Is this good enough?

New Zealand Geographic has collaborated on a Special Focus Area with the government-funded Our Land and Water National Science Challenge to bring you the most comprehensive information about this vital resource—stories, videos, profiles, audio...

Water turns the turbines of energy generation, it fuels our dairy exports, and our tourism industry depends on clean, green experiences touted in brochures. How do we utilise this great resource while protecting it for the future?

Underwater gardens of Pupu Springs

Mike and Sharon Barton are figuring out how farming and clean waterways can coexist. Read more

#SundayDoco

An exploration of New Zealand’s Fiordland, from icebound mountain peak to the silty fiord floor. Patterns and shapes reveal an uncanny mirror image between life in the beech forests on land and that in the forests of black coral trees underwater.

Enjoy this week's SundayDoco–Mirror World

It's life, Jim, but not as we know it

NASA has discovered a new solar system of Earth-sized planets, in the 'habitable zone' from their star, and potentially with liquid water but what would life look like?

#NZGeoRadio

NASA DISCOVER 7 EARTH-SIZED PLANETS ORBITING STAR
Astronomers have detected a record seven Earth-sized planets orbiting a single star. The researchers said that all seven could potentially support liquid water on the surface, depending on the other properties of those planets. Three of these worlds were within the “habitable” zone where life was considered a possibility.

THE HISTORY OF THE HUMAN FACE
The human face may not be as modern as we think. In fact, our guest thinks that modern humans have kept a lot of primitive features from our distant ancestors. And says Neanderthals were actually more evolved in their own direction than modern humans.
Listen to the 12-minute programme at nzgeo.com

LIFE EXPECTSNCY COULD SOON EXCEED 90 YEARS
South Korean women will be the first in the world to have an average life expectancy above 90, a study suggests. Imperial College London and the World Health Organization analysed lifespans in 35 industrialised countries. It predicted all would see people living longer in 2030 and the gap between men and women would start to close in most countries.