Taking issue: Is social media good or bad for democracy?
We asked three academics to address the question of whether social media is democratising or eroding democracy. Great democratic potential It’s tempting to dodge this question by arguing technologies don’t determine our politics, or equivocating with a...
Are we on the verge of a revolution in cancer research?
By Geraldine Johns In the past decade, cancer research undertaken at the University of Auckland has changed lives. Our top scientists say it has now entered the next frontier and there’s hope that cancer could eventually be brought under control. In Waterloo...
You’re eating, drinking, and breathing microplastics. Now what?
By Anna Robuck A new study led by Kieran D. Cox and researchers at the University of Victoria in British Columbia confirms a logical but cringe-worthy conclusion: humans are consuming plastic. A new study led by Kieran D. Cox and researchers at the University of...
Can the media influence the side effects of medication?
By Kate MacKrill Kate Mackrill explores what is known as the nocebo effect and whether the media can, in fact, influence the side effects of medication. You are probably aware of the placebo effect – a therapeutic benefit from a sugar pill or even real medication...
Are New Zealand’s colonial institutions pushing Māori toward a life of crime?
By Ethan Kisby Are New Zealand’s colonial institutions pushing Māori toward a life of crime? Ethan Kisby explores. New Zealand gang membership, especially Māori gang membership, may have more to do with our colonial history and young men searching for a sense of...
What happened in the European Elections? 70 academics share their reflections
By Niklas Bolin, Kajsa Falasca, Marie Grusell, Lars Nord In the wake of the European Elections in May 2019, seventy leading academics from across the European Union contributed their reflections, thoughts, and analysis to Euroflections – a free downloadable report...
Q+A: How can we fix New Zealand’s broken justice system?
Last week, an independent report revealed massive failings throughout New Zealand’s criminal justice system. The interim report from the Safe and Effective Justice Advisory Group (Te Uepū Hāpai i te Ora) – called The Vessel of Tears (He Waka Roimata) –...
Black Lives Matter, otherwise all lives do not matter ▶
Long before three African American women registered the twitter handle, #BlackLivesMatter, and started sending out tweets that helped to mobilize the spontaneous outrage against the impunity that followed the killings of unarmed black people by police officers and by...
Q+A: Believing the ‘unbelievable’: What are conspiracy theories? How do they flourish?
Post-truth. Alternative facts. Fake news. We are living in a world where conspiracy theories are allowed to flourish. With every mass shooting, terrorist attack, and new political policy announcement, it seems like a new conspiracy theory will be dreamt up somewhere...Subscribe by Email
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