Execution over innovation
Our science sector, long considered an essential generator of new ideas that can be turned into innovative, exportable products, is in turmoil. As outlined in the Listener's Science column (February 22), Callaghan Innovation, the government agency tasked with boosting research and development and growing start-ups, is being shut down. Already, 63 redundancies have been announced from a total staff of more than 350. The seven crown research institutes (CRIs) are to be merged into three "public research organisations", and a fourth created to focus on artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and synthetic biology.
Budget cuts at the CRIs and universities have led to our best boffins seeking greener pastures overseas.
The government's once-in-a-generation shake-up of the sector is an attempt to fix a broken system that isn't delivering enough of a return on the $1.2 billion we spend on research every year. Other small countries like Singapore and Denmark outspend us on R&D and are better at translating cutting-edge science and engineering into high-growth businesses.
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A hint of mermaids
Erin Palmisano's latest novel once again has food and romance at the heart of its well-plotted story.
Something's wrong with all of them
Engaging dissection of the 20th-century novel likely to send the reader in search for the book under discussion.
Cell warfare
A NZ trial using immunotherapy to beat a form of blood cancer is expanding after promising results – and it's hoped the 'gold standard' treatment will soon be widely available.
The virus that stole all the smells
In this edited extract from The Forgotten Sense, Jonas Olofsson traces the rise in anosmia as a result of Covid-19 infections.
When caring is ‘woke'
Some years ago, I sat in a small plane circling over Punta del Este in Uruguay. There was a delay and we sat in tense silence until we began our descent. Outside the tiny airport, a taxi ferried us past private Lear jets; these had been the cause of the hold-up. The driver pointed to two planes side by side. \"This one is a Trump plane.\"
Getting along swimmingly
The presenters of Endangered Species Aotearoa spend a fair bit of time on and in the water in the second season.
That clingy feeling
Our pets display the same types of attachment behaviours as we do, or so it seems.
The famous furred
A peaceful little spot in LA is the final resting place for the pets of some of Hollywood's biggest names.
Gone girl
She wandered in on Thursday morning looking very wan, and climbed into her bed. I sat on the edge and stroked her back.
