Hey #SciComm friends--pls fill out this survey!🧪 #ScienceTalk26 #SciTalk26

Off to do some reading 😊, but I’ll leave you with this peaceful thread from Japan. I still hope to cycle there and in South Korea one day, assuming airfares don’t totally bork.

My current read as it happens (in trade paperback format). About halfway through – recommended. Speaking of that one last post, then I’ll get a cuppa, and get back to it… 😊

Happiness booster (Alt text is an exercise in the futility of a picture being worth a thousand words)

What the hell?

#Christchurch #NZ Submissions for the city’s annual plan close tomorrow. The CCC say at least 5498 submissions have been entered. letstalk.ccc.govt.nz/annualplan

Jailbreak testing NZ’s Emergency Department AI - Not sure I’m convinced in the defence offered

#NZpol Shane Jones was on CNBC last night. I hope he didn’t embarrass NZ too much 😬 I can’t put myself up to watching, but the blurb includes, "He also discusses his push for a “resource renaissance” in the country". Sharing for anyone more willing to torture themselves! www.cnbc.com/video/2026/0...

BREAKING: information now coming in that the Dutch have been hoarding the solution to the oil crisis.

From Lianne Dalziel @lianned.bsky.social former MP & Christchurch mayor - “The WHO amendments, which NZ has just rejected, do not threaten our sovereignty“ … "I want to see the analysis. Otherwise, this looks like a party-political election stunt, rather than an evidence-based position.” 1/2

#Christchurch #NZ Parklands library to reopen on April 7th www.newsline.ccc.govt.nz/news/story/p...

🖥️📱🍏 If you’re on 26.x, get your 26.4 updates, comes with a stack of security updates - www.forbes.com/sites/kateof...

💉 “Getting an annual influenza vaccine can reduce the risk of a heart attack or stroke by a third according to research from the Public Health Communication Centre, who say there is a growing amount of evidence showing getting the vaccine is about as effective as using common heart medication.”

This sucks on so many levels 😔

#NZ A state of emergency has been declared for Northland which will last seven days. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Golden Bay residents have been warned to be ready for communication and power outages, and to be prepared to self-evacuate they see rising water.

#NZpol ⬇️ (See second post for awards)

🌧️ Severe weather Watches and Warnings update 🍃 The latest watches and warnings have been issued, with important changes. 🚩 A Red Heavy Rain Warning remains in force for eastern Northland until 4am tomorrow, with the potential for downpours on top of all the rain that has already fallen.

Lots of ripe rimu fruit appearing on the trees on Pukenui/Anchor. This is the food driving the current biggest #kakapo breeding season on record: ripe fruit is the main diet of kākāpō chicks, and a record rimu crop is the reason why the chicks are growing well. #conservation #kakapo2026 #birds

#NZ There’s a lot of it! - a thread ⬇️

#NZ I can’t yet read this (I think it’ll be open later, perhaps tomorrow), but the lack of wider process like Cabinet approval doesn’t sound good. 1/n

For anyone reading @thepress.co.nz's "Health & Well-Being" advertising feature, be aware that chiropractic is bunk, i.e. pseudo-science. It’s based on a sham belief of "chiropractic subluxations", and associated things like "Innate Intelligence". e.g. if you have persistent headaches, see your GP.

No to ChatGPT, but note Fleur Fitzsimons: "Let's not forget that HNZ has been cutting the very teams responsible for digital systems and IT support. If staff are improvising with free tools, HNZ needs to examine why that is the case, not simply threatening staff with a breach of the Code of Conduct.

#NZpol This from Stuff looks to cover the backstory of the Marsden closure drama pretty well - www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360... 1/n

#NZ More university job cuts 😔 “The university informed staff today it was calling for early retirements and voluntary redundancies, before beginning formal processes in the middle of this year.” [Today = yesterday] “Staff were told the university was losing some of its government funding”

Today the @thelancet.com are retracting a 1977 unsigned commentary on talc powder and asbestos for a conflict of interest -

The first sentence has some truth to it, in a strangely-worded, misfiring sort of way.* But the only thing I can do with "Your stomach microbiome is plants" is giggle. Like MM says earlier, it may be because he confused by the term gut flora, which isn’t saying your gut is floral 😆

So, hand it over to the techbros? That’ll go well. (Not.)

I've had an EV for nearly a year. As petrol prices rise, I've decided to share what I've learned (and saved) in that time: newsroom.co.nz/2026/03/24/w...

You have to feel for the post-doc 😔

Another day, ANOTHER study shwoing clear benefits for the baby when mom gets vaccinated against COVID during pregnancy I'll never forgive Bhattacharya, Makary, & RFK Jr for posting that horrific video that recommended AGAINST vaccination in pregnancy; it was dreadful disinformation

A fun snippet of history. I imagine there are hundreds of accounts individual observations where at the time the observers didn’t see or have the means to conceive it as sitting within a general encompassing concept, one that we can look back at it and can see easily now. Great little story -

Autumn at Nenokuchi, Towada Lake, Kawase Hasui 1933

Nice little spot of scicomm in the ALT 😊

Impressive work 🤩

"Developers will be required to install solar panels and heat pumps in all new homes in England as part of updated planning requirements published by the government." Imagine taking the energy transition seriously.

🚴 Although written for the USA, the general points may be useful elsewhere for those looking to buy an e-Bike, especially cargo bikes.

Amazing interview with Fiona Cross, whose work on spider cognition inspired Children of Time: www.animalcognition.org/2018/04/18/w...

Great images of where lipids are in cells – sharing for the images mostly!

#NZpol This from Stuff looks to cover the backstory of the Marsden closure drama pretty well - www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360... 1/n

Comment from Otago University: Professor Peter McIntyre explains how to protect against meningococcal disease.

Describing him as 'airborne' makes him sound like an infectious disease *ducks*

#NZ Warnings and watches set; note red warning in parts of Northland, and high risk of upgrade to red warnings in some other areas. Metservice says 270-320 mm of rain expected for eastern Northland. bsky.app/profile/mets... 1/2

For #Dunedin #NZ research people -

#NZpol Is this appropriate, and if not how easy would it have been to choose someone without this history? 1/2 (Sharing for the post; the article needs a subscription, which I don’t have.)

Scary as they may look, Curiosity rover is still rolling just fine nearly 13 years after the wheel cracks were first noticed and mitigations were put in place www.space.com/24049-mars-r...

Just for the record: I’m now blocking accounts that are just reposting to try get attention. So far accounts making out to want financial support for some cause, but their feeds are only reposts of random things. They also have tiny followings, which is sign of possibly being a bot, etc.

#NZpol Has anyone seen a media account of Goldsmith being thrown out of the House? I’ve seen this screencap of a transcript which is hilarious