Digging archaeology
Subscriber contentBy Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3783 10th Nov 2012
Raking over the past inevitably means looking underground.
Rebecca Priestley
(@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.
Understanding Oceania's humpback whales
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3782 1st Nov 2012
For some unknown reason, Oceania’s humpback whales are failing to thrive.
Antarctica’s climate change clues
1 CommentsBy Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3781 27th Oct 2012
Antarctic ice cores are a valuable source of climate change clues.
Preparing your tsunami evacuation plan
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3780 20th Oct 2012
Make your tsunami evacuation plan, then get on with enjoying your life.
Sir Richard Friend on organic solar-cell technology
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3779 13th Oct 2012
Plastic solar cells are the way of the future, says a visiting Cambridge physics professor.
Disposing of felled trees in an environmentally friendly way
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3778 6th Oct 2012
What is the most environmentally friendly way of disposing of felled trees?
The first people to settle New Zealand
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3777 29th Sep 2012
New Zealand was first settled by (a) the Celts; (b) the Phoenicians; (c) the Spaniards; or (d) none of the above.
The genomic zoo
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3775 15th Sep 2012
By sequencing the tuatara genome, scientists hope to better understand the evolution of humans.
The mystery of the pumice raft
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3774 8th Sep 2012
Active underwater volcanoes are regularly spewing debris into the Pacific Ocean.
Evolution: Whales, dolphins and hoofed mammals?
By Rebecca Priestley in Science
Issue 3773 1st Sep 2012
Recent genetic evidence tells us the hippo is the closest living relative of whales and dolphins.