Topics tagged with 'Science'

Kiwi company aims to make alternative protein from carbon emissions
6 May 2024
A New Zealand-based start-up has raised $1 million towards commercialising production of an alternative protein made with carbon emissions.

Commission rejects basis for review of methane targets - but methane vaccines could be good news for ag sector
9 Apr 2024
The Climate Change Commission has rejected the basis of a new, separate review of Aotearoa’s methane target in its advice released yesterday.

Best by the rest...
5 Apr 2024
In our weekly round-up of the best climate coverage in local media: How to avoid a billion climate deaths? Why pressure must increase to cut emissions; and the Maōri king and other indigenous Pacific leaders sign up to granting whales legal personhood.

Scientists warn Australians to prepare for megadroughts lasting more than 20 years
5 Apr 2024
New research shows megadroughts lasting up to 20 years or more have occurred in Australia in the past and could happen again.

Half of Tairāwhiti at risk of erosion - new data
28 Mar 2024
An estimated 182 million tonnes of eroded soil entered New Zealand's rivers in 2022, according to new research.

Mountain species at risk of extinction due to climate change
28 Mar 2024
Experts say an international study that has found species in mountain regions are at risk of extinction due to rapidly rising temperatures has worrying implications for New Zealand.

Methane-detecting satellite launched with NZ govt backing
6 Mar 2024
A long-awaited satellite designed to accurately detect methane emissions from space finally launched yesterday, with New Zealand backing.

Native snails heading for extinction
27 Feb 2024
Media release | New Zealand has some of the most spectacular land snails in the world, but they’re sliding to extinction – and climate change is a major factor.

Researchers looking to develop ‘resilience credit’
20 Feb 2024
Researchers are hoping to develop the world’s first 'resilience credit' as the ultimate goal of a project looking at how salt marshes and mangroves could protect the Bay of Plenty’s coastline from climate change.

Kiwi researchers rewriting climate history
13 Feb 2024
New Zealand researchers say they have rewritten the deep time history of Earth’s temperature record with findings that disprove ideas that early oceans were hot.

A leading data scientist's journey from doomism to climate hope
12 Feb 2024
Data scientist Hannah Ritchie argues that planetary damage could be about to peak – but that the US election result could be "pivotal".

Scientists call for a new hurricane category as storms intensify
7 Feb 2024
Kiwi scientists are welcoming international research suggesting we need a new hurricane category to communicate just how much more intense the biggest tropical cyclones are expected to become under climate change.

Sustainability and climate change concerns for Central Otago - new research
26 Jan 2024
Sustainability and climate are high on the list of concerns for people in Central Otago - and they don’t want a new airport, according to research released today.

Climate crisis to blame for more extreme weather - NIWA
24 Jan 2024
Scientists have been working on joining the dots between human-driven climate change and more extreme weather since the Auckland Anniversary floods and Cyclone Gabrielle.

Octopus DNA contains grave warning for sea level rise
22 Dec 2023
Media Release | Scientists have used octopus DNA to discover that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) likely collapsed during the Last Interglacial period around 120,000 years ago when global temperatures were similar to today.

NZ a consistent carbon sink - new research
21 Dec 2023
Aotearoa is a consistent carbon sink, while Australia switches between being a carbon sink and a carbon source, according to new research.

Powerful climate deniers delay action in NZ: new report
18 Dec 2023
Most New Zealanders believe in climate change and its human cause - but climate change deniers are often over-represented in powerful positions and are delaying action, according to new research.

Climate change might be to blame for ozone hole - new research
22 Nov 2023
Ozone levels above Antarctica may not be recovering after all, and climate change might be to blame, according to NZ scientists.

Bottom trawling risks releasing massive ocean CO2 sink: new report
17 Nov 2023
New Zealand’s Exclusive Economic Zone contains about 2,240 million tonnes of organic carbon or 1% of the estimated global carbon stocks in marine sediments, a report commissioned by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has found.

Heat-related deaths could increase fivefold by middle of 21st century
16 Nov 2023
Heat-related deaths could increase almost fivefold by the middle of the century, according to an international WHO co-authored report by more than 100 researchers.

New study highlights need to address risk of continued global warming after net zero
16 Nov 2023
From scorching heat waves to torrential downpours and devastating storms, the disastrous effects of global warming are sweeping across the world.

Global heating is accelerating, warns scientist who sounded climate alarm in the 80s
6 Nov 2023
Study delivers dire warning although rate of increase is debated by some scientists amid a record-breaking year of heat.

NZ’s response to climate change ‘hangs in the balance’: scientists
3 Nov 2023
Scientists are calling on the incoming government to urgently rebuild the country’s research, science and innovation sector - with our climate change response at risk.

Marsden Fund grants for climate research
2 Nov 2023
Research into climate and the energy transition are among 123 projects taking $83.59 million from this year’s Te Pūtea Rangahau a Marsden, the Marsden Fund, announced today.

New govt funding for climate research
30 Oct 2023
One third of this year’s Rutherford Fellowships are for climate research, with four of the 12 researchers tackling climate-related projects with $800,000 each from the fund over five years.

Proposal to include non-forestry land in NDC calculation
25 Oct 2023
By Jeremy Rose | A Cabinet minute from July of this year agreed in principle to include non-forest land in New Zealand’s nationally determined contribution.

10% of wilderness outside of Antarctica may be threatened by agriculture as the climate warms
20 Oct 2023
Media release | Expansions in crop farming across the globe are the biggest driving force of biodiversity loss in the wild. Now, in a new study publishing in the journal Current Biology on November 6, researchers have modeled how the world’s agricultural landscape could change over the next 40 years.

Sea-level rise likely to skyrocket if Paris Agreement targets not met
19 Oct 2023
Media release | The Greenland ice sheet is projected to undergo abrupt losses due to melting if global warming exceeds temperatures of around 2°C above pre-industrial temperatures, according to a modelling study published in Nature.

Climate change increases risk of earthquake damage
17 Oct 2023
Climate change not only worsens storms, but also increases the risk of landslides and flooding after earthquakes, according to researchers.

Scientists call for urgent emissions reductions as Antarctic sea ice hits record low
4 Oct 2023
New Zealand scientists are calling for an immediate and dramatic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, in response to record low sea ice levels in Antarctica this year.

We must change human behaviour to save ourselves - scientists
28 Sep 2023
A group of researchers, led by a Kiwi conservationist, want global recognition of a “Human Behavioural Crisis” as a step towards tackling ecological overshoot and its symptoms - such as climate change.

Researchers engineer marine bacteria to destroy plastics in seawater
28 Sep 2023
By combining key traits of two bacterial species, the team created a novel bug that can break down plastics in salty conditions—at room temperature.

Strong hurricanes are hitting earlier due to warmer oceans
28 Sep 2023
Warmer oceans mean stronger storms, and the earlier onset of the strongest means potentially devastating consequences.

Visualizing a summer of extremes in seven charts
28 Sep 2023
The past four months of 2023 have shattered all prior records by a truly staggering margin.

Farmers call for methane review based on flawed report, says expert
19 Sep 2023
The agriculture sector is calling for a review of New Zealand’s methane targets, citing a report suggesting Kiwi farmers are being asked to do more than their fair share in terms of reductions.

NZ’s vital kelp forests are in peril from ocean warming – threatening the important species that rely on them
13 Sep 2023
By Christopher Cornwall and Wendy Nelson | Years of almost non-stop marine heatwaves are stressing New Zealand’s kelp forests. But as we show in our new research, ongoing ocean warming is only one of several threats to these unique and important coastal seaweed ecosystems.

Landmark research could open the door to climate protections
13 Sep 2023
Lawyers said it was impossible to tie a specific dose of greenhouse gases to polar bear survival. They were wrong.

Warmer oceans are driving more frequent seabird die-offs
12 Sep 2023
A new study used long-term volunteer data to show that marine heatwaves are linked to mass avian mortality at sea.

Antarctica warming much faster than models predicted in ‘deeply concerning’ sign for sea levels
8 Sep 2023
Study finds ‘direct evidence’ of polar amplification on continent as scientists warn of implications of ice loss.

Invasive species pose devastating threat to local ecosystems and economy: new research
6 Sep 2023
Invasive alien species are taking a massive toll on ecosystems and the global economy, and the problem is growing exponentially.

Adult corals have been safely frozen and revived for the first time
6 Sep 2023
Freezing chunks of living corals for safekeeping — or cryopreserving them — could save them from extinction as the oceans heat up and acidify from human-caused climate change.

NIWA forecasts early and long-lasting ozone hole
5 Sep 2023
Media release | NIWA scientists are predicting that this year’s ozone hole will stay around for longer than usual, potentially lasting into early summer.

How can we use AI to address global challenges like climate change?
4 Sep 2023
As climate change continues to pose an enormous threat to our planet, we must explore innovative solutions that can help mitigate its impact.

Top science publisher withdraws flawed climate study
29 Aug 2023
Science publisher Springer Nature has withdrawn a study that presented misleading conclusions on climate change impacts after an investigation prompted by an inquiry.

Researchers call for the urgent expansion of Southern Ocean science
21 Aug 2023
Hundreds of international scientists are sounding a clarion call for urgent expansion of Southern Ocean science in the emerging climate crisis.

Rising methane could be a sign that Earth’s climate is part-way through a ‘termination-level transition’
17 Aug 2023
Since 2006, the amount of heat-trapping methane in Earth’s atmosphere has been rising fast and, unlike the rise in CO₂, its recent increase seems to be driven by biological emissions, not the burning of fossil fuels.

Study suggests rise in global photosynthesis rate due to increase in carbon dioxide has slowed
15 Aug 2023
A team of Earth scientists has found evidence that the rise in photosynthesis rates around the world caused by the increase of carbon dioxide, has slowed dramatically.

Can vacuums slow global warming? Biden administration bets $1.2 billion on it
14 Aug 2023
Texas and Louisiana will become a global testing ground for giant machines that suck carbon from the air.

Why this startup is covering the ocean with wooden balls
11 Aug 2023
The climate tech startup Running Tide has a unique approach to carbon removal that involves wood waste, seaweed, and the deep ocean.

Floating solar near the equator could power the world
11 Aug 2023
Researchers in Australia suggest that floating solar on parts of the ocean near the Equator could power the entire world several times over.