Gene editing is now being used in research around New Zealand, usually to ‘switch off’ genes one by one in order to figure out what they do. Overseas, this technology has started to emerge from the lab—it has the potential to help eradicate pests, save threatened species, even cure diseases—and soon, we’ll have to decide whether gene editing should be permitted more widely in New Zealand.

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Life hackers

Gene editing is being used in research around New Zealand, usually to ‘switch off’ genes one by one in order to figure out what they do. Overseas, this technology has started to emerge from the lab—it has the potential to help eradicate pests, save threatened species, even cure diseases.

Soon, we’ll have to decide whether gene editing should be permitted more widely in New Zealand. What are the risks? What could we use it for? And how should we decide?

Into the big white

Earlier this week, a team of 10 left Scott Base to travel to the heart of the Ross Ice Shelf. New Zealand Geographic photographer Neil Silverwood is one of them.

Owls don't go deaf

All birds can regrow damaged hair cells in the inner ear, preserving their hearing into old age, while mammals have lost the ability to do so.

#SundayDoco: Borneo

From a cute animal that can kill with its armpit sweat to a plant that will swallow and digest almost anything, appearances can be deadly.

An easy Christmas gift with a free calendar

Order a New Zealand Geographic subscription as a Christmas gift, and have a magazine sent to your place in advance to wrap up and give on Christmas Day. Bonus: the Christmas issue comes with a free 2018 calendar.

You can subscribe from just $1/week for digital, $1.50/week for print, or $2/week for both, billed bimonthly or annually. See the options here.

Northland's new fruit crop

Will Northland become the avocado capital of New Zealand? The sandy, free-draining soil of the Aupouri Peninsula is ideal for avocados, and 17 new growers have applied to pump 16,000 cubic metres of water a day from the Aupouri aquifer, prompting worries over water availability.

Once, a vast kauri forest stood on the Aupouri Peninsula, letting organic matter and resin fall to the forest floor over eons. What's special about these gumlands?

See the finalists in Photographer of the Year 2017

This season heralds a bumper crop of finalists in the Photographer of the Year competition—65 sparkling new visions of our society and environment from the finest photographers in the country.

You can view the whole lot online, vote for your favourites for the Panasonic People's Choice award, or get along to the exhibitions in Cathedral Square, Christchurch (on now) and Auckland Museum (from December 15). See the finalists and vote here.

Photo: Jason Hosking


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2017 LIKELY TO BE IN THE TOP THREE HOTTEST YEARS

The World Meteorological Organisation says 2017 is set to be the warmest year without an El Niño occurrence since temperatures were first recorded in the late 1800s.

WILL 'TOO MANY' NATIVE BIRDS BECOME A PROBLEM?

Farmers are worried that a rampant bird population will end up dependent on agricultural crops for food, because the birds' natural habitats are too small.

COMMUNITY IRATE AS NATIVE SAPLINGS CUT DOWN
Hundreds of native trees planted by volunteers in Christchurch are being destroyed by over-zealous council contractors armed with weed whackers.