#AoNZMusic #NZMusic #MusicSky APRA turns 100! Choose up to 10 songs from the longlist, and/or add your own that meets the criteria. Waiata 100: what is Aotearoa's favourite song? has been shared with you from RNZ

50% or more of the clothing manufacturing industry in AoNZ is home-based work paid by the piece apparently? That's absolutely wild. thespinoff.co.nz/business/03-...

I have sympathy towards the idea that people with industry expertise should have an easier time getting registered as teachers in their field, but teaching is its own set of skills: being an expert in one subject doesn't make you good at teaching that subject (as NZ's university system shows.)

Actively trying to *not* know things because what if the real world is inconvenient to the narrative, I guess

cool cool cool cool cool cool cool

Happy to hand over the blog for a right of reply. strictlyobiter.com/2026/05/31/a...

In AoNZ we graduate around a thousand science PhDs a year and the number of PhD FTEs in research has gone up maybe 500 in a *decade* (will prob be down again when all-sector figures come out next year). Figure those odds for all but the very established.

Just uttered the sentence “Well if you’re really still hungry you can have toast or fruit” out loud to my offspring and that’s it, I’ve turned into my mother

NB we estimate you need approx 0.6% GDP investment in foundational research to support an active research system - we're headed for 0.3%

This is super insider baseball but I'm genuinely very annoyed that in the Budget documents they've removed the summary figure from the headline appropriations for each sector so I had to manually calculate the total amount of science funding to see what the change was (up ~2.5%, if you care)

The tools developed by this researcher and his lab are utterly foundational to swathes of modern biological research, for context

If I was a journalist I would have also mentioned how funding for wilding pine control was cut by two thirds by the same government in 2023/24. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

This remains a very funny hill to die on for me Like yes, you should confirm your citation says the thing you’re citing it for! It’s bad if your whole field is fucking up a common citation! I get yelled at by a judge and potentially sanctioned if I do this

Is the Afghan biscuit racist or just misunderstood?

1 important thing to note on the NZF ridiculous definition of man/woman Bill: The report back from committee is due on 20 November. The House rises for the election on 1 October. The second reading can only be heard on Members' days. TLDR very, very unlikely the Bill is reported back pre-election.

I was reminded of this today. From 2021, and still bad science is getting trotted out to justify bigotry. Personally, if you need to be conscious of someone's gender to value them as a person you need to take a long look at yourself. You're not a good person. From: scientists.org.nz/press-releases

This is such interesting work at the intersection of all the things we are turning away from in our research system right now - work that tells us about our history, that integrates mātauranga and other knowledge systems, that can only be done here in AoNZ.

📢 New publication hot off the press in NZJE! 🌿 A critical review of the inclusion of mātauranga Māori in published environmental research 🌿 Lead author: Tara McAllister (Te Manawahoukura, Te Wānanga o Aotearoa, New Zealand) @taramcallister.bsky.social newzealandecology.org/nzje/3632

New Zealand Institute of Chemistry 2026 Conference registration is open: nzic2026.eventsair.site We're putting together what I think is a pretty awesome programme, I mean... just click on that Speaker page and see all of those happy faces! More to come too. Register ASAP and come hang

Now seems like MBIE have chosen to announce the funding in the least clear way possible but it *might* not be an actual cut (big caveats: what happens to current Marsden funding after 3 years and what is happening to the current Talent and Science Promotion funding pool)

There's either a new fund not yet announced or we're seeing another swingeing cut to science funding. Either way the lack of clarity, given the current stress throughout the system, is...unhelpful.

Vote for NZ’s Fungus of the Year 2026 interactives.landcareresearch.co.nz/foty/ #Aotearoa #NewZealand #kikorangi #fungi #fungus #mycology

Wee #eqnz?

The deadline to join by if you intend to vote in the 2026 InternetNZ board election this year will likely be 10th May. That means Sat/Sun May 9/10 - TODAY/TOMORROW. Last minute membership pushes underway, don’t leave it too late!

The helium shortage is now unavoidable. Another wonderful follow-on to the Iran War, and if you think helium doesn’t matter much, think again:

Best commentary in this article comes from the PCE on the heroism of the assumptions being made - and because he's the only person quoted to bring up the failure over the last two decades to move agriculture into the ETS.

ACT's immigration policy includes "a $6 per day infrastructure surcharge on temporary work visas, on top of existing charges." This is a tax. Which applies, per head, only to immigrants. I.e. a head tax. Just leaving the record of the last time we did that, and the official apology for it, here.

Amazing discovery & shows how adaptable NZ's frogs are to habitats far outside their current (not ancient) range. Our lab is doing DNA testing of these frogs to determine if they're descendants of those escapees. Despite what RNZ says, we haven't confirmed that yet. www.rnz.co.nz/news/environ...

Soniferous Aether xkcd.com/3238/

Time for my yearly update on how we're doing in AoNZ vis-a-vis PhD stipends (poorly). I use the Marsden Fund PhD and Masters stipends as the benchmark because they are at the *top* end of what is offered, btw. 🧪

“Women today make up nearly a third of the global research workforce. But workforce representation does not automatically translate into senior or leadership positions” theconversation.com/women-in-sci...

I know everyone wants there to be a Giant Cretaceous Octopus but after looking at methods and tables, I really don't think this is a reality.

SIXTY-TWO FEET LONG OCTOPIECES! YESSSS! 🐙🧪

Comparing the environmental tolerances of microbes from the Antarctic Dry Valleys and rock outcrops in Canterbury (AoNZ). Sadly I did not get to go to Antarctica. I did get to go to the foothills of the Southern Alps, which sounds cooler if you don't know I was living in Christchurch at the time.

Vote for Aotearoa New Zealand’s Fungus of the Year 2026! We have launched the annual vote for #NZ's favourite fungus: interactives.landcareresearch.co.nz/foty/ 🧪 #fungi #mycology

Science-folks: If we run 100 experiments, we might find 1 or 2 of them may have results that can make many dollars. NZ Govt: Excellent. We will fund those 1 or 2 experiments.

Why an ordinary storm can have an extraordinary impact - a great explainer about the Wellington events by @cubaraglanguy.bsky.social www.rnz.co.nz/news/weather...

Getting to 'wind or earthquake' levels here, on top of all the rain, so that's fun

This free webinar is Monday 20th April at 12:10 pm. Register below to get the link. This topic is particularly on point at the moment given today's MBIE webinar on public research funding priorities. Please boost the signal here and on other social platforms and through your networks. #NZPOL

If you live in the Kingston/Brooklyn area, don't plan on taking a bus anywhere today. Due to overnight weather and fallen trees, the #7 bus route isn't currently running. Please check the Metlink website for updates. Other routes are also affected. #Metlink #Wellington #Flooding #Bus #Cancellations

Cuts to lab staff.... #FarmersWeeklyNZ #nzpol

This is so fun!! science.nasa.gov/mission/land...

The human face of science funding cuts – Expert Reaction

Just as the impacts of climate change are really starting to bite, AoNZ as a nation is busy 'deprioritising' research funding into it. You can probably tell from some of the quotes how chill I'm feeling about this.

“When the river bursts its banks, or drains are popping manhole covers, that’s the river talking to us. It’s telling us: Hey, you’ve constrained me, you’ve constricted me, and I’m screaming and shouting about that.” — Dan Hikuroa.

My entire timeline is Artemis posting and I love to see it

Cite the deep magic to me, witch. I was there when it was written and I think it’s important to credit our sources.

“So even in some of our green road berm areas or parks, the soils aren’t working as if they were natural soils.” newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/09/t...

Stats NZ have released new data showing gross greenhouse gas emissions for 2025. 2019-2023: gross emissions fall 7.84 Mt CO2e or 9.1% (GDP: +8.6%) 2023-2025: gross emissions fall 0.30 Mt CO2e or 0.4% (GDP: –0.3%) What happened? www.stats.govt.nz/information-...