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Issue 257                                                                                           15-21  Nov 2013
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In This Issue
State of the climate
Birds assessed
PM Science Prizes
Capital chemistry
Policy News
New from the SMC
Sciblogs highlights
Research highlights
Sci-tech events

Quick Links

SMC Alerts 

Briefings

Calendar

 

Media Registration  


Desk Guide
2013 was hot - WMO climate snapshot

This year is shaping up to be among the ten warmest since global records began in 1850, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which this week released its preliminary climate report for 2013.

 

The latest snapshot of climate trends was released as the Philippines declared a State of National Calamity in the wake of the devastating Typhoon Haiyan.

 

Aid groups now face a struggle to contain the spread of disease due to water contamination, poor sanitation and crowded conditions in towns and villages that bore the brunt of the typhoon's fury.

 

The WMO's deputy secretary general, Jeremiah Lengoasa, cautioned against blaming the super-typhoon on climate change.

  

"We cannot at this stage attribute a single typhoon to climate change," he told a news conference at a climate change meeting in Warsaw.

 

"What we do know of course is that climate change affects sea levels and sea level rise. Secondly climate change affects ocean surface temperatures and...these storms are fuelled by warmer oceans over which they form and over which they pass."

 

"The jury is still out on whether in fact tropical cyclones will become more frequent in the future but certainly we can see the extremities of the storms are only increasing because the conditions under which they are created are changing."

 

Meanwhile, his boss, WMO director general, Michel Jarraud, elaborated on the impact of sea level rise.

 

"Near (the) Philippines, the sea level rise over the last 20 years was probably of the order of three to four times bigger than it was globally. Definitely because of the higher sea level, the damage has been more than what it would have been 100 years before, under similar wind conditions." 

 

 

Key points from the WMO's State of the Climate report:

- The first nine months of the year tied with the same period of 2003 as seventh warmest, with average global land and ocean surface temperatures 0.48�C above the 1961-1990 average.  

- Global sea level reached a new record high. Sea level has been rising at an average rate of about 3.2mm per year with inter-annual variability, since altimeter satellite measurements began in 1993. This is close to the observed rate of about 3 mm/yr of the most recent decade of 2001−2010 and double the observed 20th century trend of 1.6 mm/yr.

- As of early November 2013, there had been 86 tropical cyclones, from typhoons to Atlantic hurricanes, closing in on the 1981-2010 average of 89 storms

- Australia reported its hottest month ever observed in January 2013, leading to the hottest summer (December−February) on record.

- Arctic sea ice extent reached its annual maximum on 15 March at 15.13 million square kilometers, according to the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center. This was approximately 0.5 million square kilometers below the 1981-2010 average.

 

- For the second year in a row, Antarctic sea ice extent in September reached a record maximum of 19.47 million square kilometers. This is approximately 30,000 kilometers larger than the previous record set in 2012, and is 2.6 per cent higher than the 1981−2010 average.  

 

The SMCs in New Zealand, Australia and Britain gathered reaction from experts. Auckland-based climate scientist Dr Jim Salinger told the SMC:

 

"The globe continues to warm, whether it is the increase in surface temperature, shrinkage of Arctic sea ice, or melting of mountain glaciers.

 

"Here in New Zealand 2013 produced the warmest winter since reliable climate records began in the 1860s, with many fewer frosts than normal. The results of the end of summer snowline surveys show that the glacier ice volume of the Southern Alps has melted to approximately 38 cubic kilometres, 30 percent less than when the surveys commenced 37 years ago.

 

"Climate warming is alive and well in New Zealand."

 

You can read further expert commentary on the SMC website. 

Bird conservation: how are we doing?
The latest data on New Zealand's feathered inhabitants show that while some bird species are recovering from low population numbers, others are slipping toward extinction.    
 
The conservation status of New Zealand's birds has been summarised in a new DOC report, updating the last audit in 2008. Of the nearly 500 bird species covered, 77 are classed as threatened and 92 at risk (56 more are officially extinct).

The status of some birds, such as the Chatham Island pigeon, have improved thanks to targeted conservation projects, while others, such as the Antipodean albatross and the Kea, have slipped to a more threatened category.  The moa remains extinct for now.

Read more about the report from the New Zealand Herald.

New Zealand sites 'irreplaceable'

The DOC report comes just as New Zealand's bird life featured in a list of 78 sites around the world identified as' exceptionally irreplaceable' in terms of biodiversity. The research, published today in the journal Science, aimed to identify the protected areas most critical to preventing extinctions of the world's mammals, birds and amphibians.

Two areas in New Zealand were included on the list due to the high number of rare bird species they harbour. Te Wahipounamu -- the south-west of the South Island -- and the Sub-Antarctic Islands were both included in the list, which the authors hope to help focus and target conservation efforts to where they will be most effective.

You can read more about the study from Radio New Zealand.
Wireless, stretchy, glowing science 

The annual Prime Minister's Science Prizes have recognised New Zealand's high fliers in the science sector with five awards and a total of one million dollars in prize money.

  

In a ceremony in Wellington this week, top prize winners Prof John Boys and Prof Grant Covic were recognised for their impressive track record of innovation stretching back over 20 years. The two University of Auckland engineers have developed and commercialised wireless or inductive power transfer (IPT) technology which enables high power to be delivered without electrical contact.

 Prof John Boys (left) and Prof Grant Covic receive the award from Prime Minister John Key
They plan to use their $500,000 prize money to pursue research into the development of in-road power charging systems for electric cars and public transport.
Dr Siouxsie Wiles

The PM's Science Media Communication prize was taken out by Sciblogs contributor Dr Siouxsie Wiles, the invariably pink-haired microbiologist at the University of Auckland and bioluminescence enthusiast. With her prize money, she intends to complete a children's book and launch a series of workshops teaching scientists to create two-minute animations on science topics related to their research. She also plans to fund further science-art collaborations on bioluminescence.

The emerging scientist prize has gone to a young scientist entrepreneur, Dr Ben O'Brien, who is both CEO of his own start-up company and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Auckland's Bioengineering Institute. His company StretchSense, sells lightweight, stretchy sensors that can be incorporated into clothing and devices to measure movement and provide data to computers and smartphones.

In the science education arena, physics teacher Fenella Colyer won the Science Teacher Prize and the Future Scientist Prize went to 18 year-old Tom Morgan, a student at Marlborough Boys' College.

You can read more about the awards and this year's recipients on the Prime Minister's Science Prizes website.

Chemist's capital effort recognised   

Congratulations is also due to chemist Richard Furneaux who won the 'Wellingtonian of the Year' in the the awards' Science and Technology category this week.

 

Richard Furneaux
Richard Furneaux 

Dr Furneaux heads Callaghan Innovation's world-leading Carbohydrate Chemistry group, which is behind numerous advances in drug design. 

 

The 'Welly' award recognises Dr Furneaux's decades of commitment to research in the capital, which started in 1976 with Master's degree in physical inorganic chemistry at Victoria University.   

 

You can read more about Dr Furneaux's research on the Callaghan Innovation website

Policy news and developments

Health literacy: A Ministry of Health report on health literacy and its relationship to the prevalence of skin infections has identified a number of barriers preventing treatment.

Maui claims rejected: Conservation Minister Dr Nick Smith says accusations of the government ignoring expert advice on Maui's dolphins are false.

Open data: New Zealand has been ranked 4th in the 2013 Global Open Data Barometer, released in London by the World Wide Web Foundation and Open Data Institute.

China-NZ research: The government has announced four joint New Zealand-Chinese research projects will receive $1.4 million in funding over the next three years.

Quoted: New Zealand Herald

 

"It's a journey of discovery."   

 

"One stone might have a fairy princess under it and the rest might have frogs but you don't know until you've turned them all over so you need to look in every possible direction."

 

PM's Science Prize Winner, Prof John Boys, University of Auckland, discusses his research.  
New from the SMC

  

Experts Respond:

State of the climate: New Zealand, UK and Australian researchers respond to the latest statement from the World Meteorological Organization.

Ozone's role in climate slowdown:
  A ban on ozone-depleting CFCs may have contributed to the recent hiatus in global surface temperature increases, say international scientists. 
 
Reflections on Science: 

Penguin evolution:
For The Conversation, Sankar Subramanian writes about his penguin research undertaken with NZ scientists. 

In the News:

PM's Science Prizes:
A total of one million dollars has been awarded to the six winners of this year's Prime Minister's Science Prizes. 
Sciblogs highlights

 

Some of the highlights from this week's Sciblogs posts:

The Earth's magnetic field -  Marcus Wilson explains how the planets magnetic shell is much more complicated than you might think.
Physics Stop

Dr. Flux's cat and science communication - Wayne Linklater argues that 'cutesy' anecdotal data -even if peer reviewed - shouldn't be used for scientific support in public debates.
PolitEcol Science

NZ compares well with other OECD countries - Nick Wilson and Nisha Nair explore the 'Better Life Index' which shows we compare well in health & other areas -- but there is room for improvement.
Public Health Expert

Follow us on Twitter 

Research highlights
Some of the major research papers that made headlines this week.

Please note: hyperlinks point, where possible, to the relevant abstract or paper. 
 
Winners and losers in NZ bird list: The conservation status of all NZ's birds has been summarized in a new DOC report, updating the last audit in 2008. Of the nearly 500 bird species covered, 77 are classed as threatened and 92 at risk (56 more are officially extinct). The status of some birds, such as the Chatham Island pigeon, have improved thanks to targeted conservation projects, while others, such as the Antipodean albatross, have slipped to a more threatened category. The moa remains extinct for now.
New Zealand Threat Classification Series

The original penguin?  A team of Australian and New Zealand researchers have undertaken a series of genetic analyses to estimate the age of the most recent common ancestor of all penguins. Their results suggest the common ancestor emerged about 20 million years ago and that most of the major groups of penguins diverged 11 - 16 million years ago. This overlaps with the sharp decline in Antarctic temperatures that began 12 million years ago, suggesting a possible relationship between climate change and penguin evolution.
Biology Letters

'Irreplaceable': A new scientific study has identified the protected areas most critical to preventing extinctions of the world's mammals, birds and amphibians. Seventy-eight sites (including two in New Zealand) have been identified as' exceptionally irreplaceable'. The study calculated the 'irreplaceability' of individual protected areas around the globe, using data from 173,000 protected areas and 21,500 threatened species. The authors hope the study will help to focus conservation efforts to where they will be most effective.
Depression accelerates ageing: People with major depressive disorder may show signs of accelerated biological ageing, according to international research. Telomeres are specialised sections at the end of DNA that shorten with every cell division. The researchers found telomeres are shorter in people who have experienced major depressive disorder at some point in their lives.   
Molecular Psychiatry

Stubbing out smoking in the brain: Researcher have identified a region of the brain that might be responsible for the effects nicotine withdrawal. In a mouse study researchers were able to show that pharmacological inhibition of a small area called interpeduncular nucleus alleviated withdrawal symptoms in nicotine addicted mice, while activation of the area induced withdrawl symptoms in non-addicted mice. the authors cautiously suggest that the region should be a target for future smoking cessation treatments.
Teen movie gun violence shoots up:  The amount of gun violence shown in PG-13 films has more than tripled since 1985, the year the rating was introduced. In fact, the most popular PG-13 US movies in the last two years showed significantly more gun violence than R-rated movies of the same time period, a new study reveals. The researchers studied 915 films that were drawn from the 30 top-grossing films for each year from 1950 to 2012.
Pediatrics
Upcoming sci-tech events  
For these and more upcoming events, and more details about them, visit the SMC's Events Calendar

  • Nature, Nurture or Neither? Allan Wilson Centre public lecture with Prof Steve Jones - 18 November, Auckland; 20, Wellington; 21, Palmerston North; 22, Christchurch; 23, Nelson.
  • ABRN Science Symposium - Next general Liquid biofuels and co-products conference - 21-22 November, Auckland.