Rebecca Priestley

New Zealand Listener

(@RKPriestley) Rebecca Priestley is a science writer and historian with a particular interest in New Zealand’s science history. Her anthology, The Awa Book of New Zealand Science, won the 2009 Royal Society of New Zealand Science Book Prize and Atoms, Dinosaurs & DNA: 68 Great New Zealand Scientists, co-authored with Veronika Meduna, won the Elsie Locke Award for Children’s Non-fiction in 2009. Rebecca curated The Art of Science, a joint exhibition between the Royal Society of New Zealand and the New Zealand Portrait Gallery, which opened in March 2011. As well as her regular science column for The Listener, she writes the occasional book review or travel feature and is working on two books: one about New Zealand’s nuclear and radiation history and the other an anthology of Antarctic science.

Scope for learning

By Rebecca Priestley in Travel

Issue 3688 15th Jan 2011

Florence celebrates 400 years since Galileo changed our view of the universe.

Scientifically gifted

By Rebecca Priestley in Science

Issue 3685 25th Dec 2010

Presents and activities to spark children's interest in science needn't cost a packet.

Tree of life

By Rebecca Priestley in Science

Issue 3683 11th Dec 2010

Tracing the evolutionary pathway of life owes a lot to mathematics as well as biology.

Carbon's other face

By Rebecca Priestley in Science

Issue 3681 27th Nov 2010

Graphene, another form of the (over)abundant element carbon, has a long list of qualities that are getting the attention of Victoria University materials researchers.

Ultimate questions of life and everything

By Rebecca Priestley in Commentary

Issue 3680 20th Nov 2010

The winner of New Zealand's top science honour is delving deeply into the genetic code, working on drugs for HIV, cystic fibrosis and Alzheimer's and still finding time to pass on his passion.