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Issue 277                                                                                                       9-15 May 2014
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In This Issue
Didymo origins
Policy news
Urban air quality
PM's Science Prizes
Quoted
Sciblogs highlights
NEW! Desk Guide
New from the SMC
Research highlights
Sci-tech events

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Media Registration  



 
Has 'rock snot' been here all along?
Controversial new research claims that noxious blooms of the fresh water algae didymo -- aka 'rock snot' -- are caused by changes in native algal species and suggest that current efforts to prevent the spread of the organism may be misguided. Kiwi scientists, however, are unconvinced.  

 

In a new forum article published in BioScience, two North American researchers conclude that the growing problem of didymo blooms worldwide is caused by native species responding to changing environmental conditions rather than by accidental introductions of invasive species by fishermen or the emergence of a new genetic strain.

They state: "Nuisance blooms have been reported in rivers worldwide and have been hastily attributed to introductions. However, evidence indicates that blooms are probably not caused by introductions but, rather, by environmental conditions that promote excessive stalk production by this historically rare species."

The authors cite the historical presence of didymo cells in American and European waterways, as shown in fossil records and sediment cores, as evidence that didymo has been hiding in lakes and rivers for decades and possibly longer - although has not bloomed.

 

They suggest rock snot blooms have become more common because of climate change and other human-caused environmental changes that are decreasing phosphorus to levels that promote the formation of didymo blooms in many remote, otherwise pristine rivers worldwide.

 

The Science Media Centre contact New Zealand experts for comment:

Prof Craig Cary, Professor of Environmental Biotechnology, University of Waikato, comments:

 

"There is no indication that what they are thinking happened in Canada is the same here in New Zealand.  To my knowledge there is no historical record of any type that suggests didymo was in New Zealand prior to 2004. In fact the authors of the article do not include New Zealand in their analysis of any fossil records."

 

Dr Phil Novis, Phycologist, Landcare Research, comments:

"The authors assertion that Didymo is probably not a recent introduction to New Zealand is problematic.  In my view, this is vulnerable to two potential errors: treating the dispersal of Didymo like that of any other microbe, and treating New Zealand, with its isolation and human history, as a continental country." 

 

Dr Susie Woods, Senior Scientist - Microalgae and Algal Biotechnology, Cawthron Institute, comments:

"This is an compelling article and I with agree the proposition that not all problematic species are necessarily new introductions. We recently demonstrated this for a toxic bloom forming blue-green algae in the Waikato lakes. Using molecular techniques we were able to show that recent blooms of this species were most likely due to changes in water quality, and that this species had been in New Zealand for a long time."

 

"Research by multiple agencies across New Zealand suggests that this is not the case with didymo in New Zealand. As the authors state - there is no fossil or confirmed historical records of didymo in New Zealand. Whilst the recent blooms in the Northern Hemisphere might be a sign of environmental change rather than a new introduction, I still believe that the evidence from Zealand, including the way in which it spread across South Island rivers,  suggests that it was a recent introduction. Attempts and on-going efforts to prevent its spread, particularly to the North Island, are warranted."

 

You can read more commentary on the Science Media Centre website. 

Policy news and developments

 

CoREs announced: The six Centres of Research Excellence (CoREs) that have been selected through the 2013/14 selection process.

 

The successful CoREs

Other policy news:  

 

Psychoactive Substances: Parliament, under urgency, passed an amendment removing all remaining psychoactive products on the market. It also bans the use of animal testing data in support of product approvals.

Hearing screening: Two new reports indicate progress is being made in implementing the recommendations from a quality improvement review for newborn hearing screening.

Duty free tobacco cut: Duty-free tobacco allowances will be cut from 200 cigarettes to 50 cigarettes from November this year.     

WHO clears up urban air quality data
A global update on air quality in cities around the world has shown that most - but not all - New Zealand centres meet international health standards

The new database, released yesterday by the World Health Organisation, covers 1600 cities across 91 countries - 500 more cities than the previous report (2011), revealing that more cities worldwide are monitoring outdoor air quality, reflecting growing recognition of air pollution's health risks.

At the heart of the database are two measures of pollution, PM10  and PM2.5, representing the amounts of particulate matter per cubic meter that is less than 10 or 2.5 microns in diameter, respectively.

Such particulate matter is produced mainly from burning coal, oil, wood and fuel in domestic fires, transportation and industrial processes. High levels of ambient air pollution have been associated with increased risk of lung complications and cancer.

On the global stage, Australia ranked number one in urban air quality (10 micrograms of PM10 per cubic meter (ug/m3)) and New Zealand ranked seventh (16 PM10 ug/m3) out of the 91 countries included in the database.

Air quality data from a number of New Zealand cities and towns were included in the updated 2014 database: Lower Hutt and Wainuiomata had the best air quality in the country while Timaru, Christchurch and Rotorua were the worst, with PM10 levels at or above the WHO's Air Quality Guidelines for health safety (20ug/m3).

New Zealand cities' PM10 levels from the WHO database (ug/m3; latest data, 2012)

Auckland15
Porirua12
Blenheim19
Rotorua20
Christchurch23
Taupo13
Dunedin18
Timaru28
Hamilton13
Upper Hutt10
Hastings15
Wainuiomata10
Lower Hutt10
Wellington13
Masterton14
Whangarei15
Napier14



"We cannot buy clean air in a bottle, but cities can adopt measures that will clean the air and save the lives of their people," said Dr Carlos Dora, Coordinator, Interventions for Healthy Environments, WHO Department of Public Health, in a media release.

Measures include ensuring that houses are energy efficient, that urban development is compact and well served by public transport routes, that street design is appealing and safe for pedestrians and cyclists, and waste is well managed.

You can read a round up of media coverage on the Science Media Centre website.
PM's Science Prizes now open

Applications for the Prime Minister's Science Prizes -- recognising the nation's best scientists, teachers, students  and communicators -- are now open. 

 

The five prizes recognise the impact of science on New Zealanders' lives, celebrate the contribution of current scientists and encourage those of the future.   

To find out more visit www.pmscienceprizes.org.nz  

Prizes close Monday 4 August 2014

Quoted: Stuff.co.nz

 

 

"In the past we've had people send in some pretty grisly packages, so we're advising people to send us a photo first and kill the insect by putting it in a jar and freezing it."  

 

"We'll look at the photo and send out the appropriate packaging for the insect to be posted to us."

 

 

Massey University's Assoc Prof Steve Trewick, on collecting samples for the "Weta Geta" citizen science project.

On the science radar this week...    
 
Eight legged goats, smartphone microscopes, expanding life's alphabet,  solar panel parking and young blood boosts old brains    
 
The Friday video...
The High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment - Watch the planet in HD... live!

 

Sciblogs highlights

 

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

 

 Two is a big number - revisited - When it comes to toddlers and electrons, writes Marcus Wilson, you can  almost get away with using 'two' as a term to mean 'more than one'.
Physics Stop

Kids in court: how cross-examination can kill the truth - Lynley Hargreaves interviews Marsden Fund recipient Dr Rachel Zajac on child testimony.
Infrequently Asked Questions

Battle of the Boats - America's Cup tech explained - Peter Griffin is looking forward to a speaking tour of Oracle Team USA and Team New Zealand's designers hosted by the Institute of Professional Engineers.
Griffins Gadgets 

Follow us on Twitter 

Handy media desk guide for scientists

The Science Media Centre is proud to present Desk Guide for Scientists: Working with Media, a 28 page booklet packed with tips and tools for scientists keen to work with the media to communicate their science.

 

Helping journalists do a better job of covering science is at the core of what we do. But we have found that the key to quality media reporting on science is the ability of scientists to communicate effectively. 

 

From preparing your messages and working with your comms team to engaging in social media and blogging, the Desk Guide lays out what our experience shows work. The Desk Guide features input from New Zealand's leading science communicators, journalists and communications experts.

 

Read a digital copy of the Desk Guide here or order some free copies to share with your colleagues.

New From the SMC

Experts respond:

Rock Snot - NZ experts react to research suggesting didymo is not an invasive algae.

In the News:

Air quality: Read media coverage of the WHO air quality global report featuring several NZ centres.

Reflections on Science:

Antibiotic apocalypse:
Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles examines the issue of antibiotic resistance in the New Zealand Herald. 
Research highlights
Some of the research papers making headlines this week.

Penguin influenza: An international team of researchers has, for the first time, identified an avian influenza virus in a group of Ad�lie penguins from Antarctica. The virus, found to be unlike any other circulating avian flu, does not appear to cause illness in the birds but raises questions about how the virus got to Antarctica and how it is maintained in ecosystems there.  
mBio

Brain stimulation implant for Alzheimer's: Deep brain stimulation of a region called the nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) may slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease in some patients, reports a preliminary study of six individuals. The results suggest that stimulating this area of the brain - rich in a neurotransmitter that is important for cognition - could potentially be used as a treatment to stabilize or slightly reduce Alzheimer's disease symptoms.
Molecular Psychiatry

"Black List" needed to rank harmful species: An international team of experts, including a New Zealander, argue for the need to rank harmful invasive species into so-called "Black Lists", according to the severity of their environmental impacts. Similarly to the IUCN Red List of endangered species, the proposed Black List could be used to prioritise species for action, as required by international policy on biological invasions.
PLOS Biology

Human activity scrambles bird navigation: Night-migratory birds lose their sense of migratory direction when exposed to electromagnetic noise produced by electronic devices, according to evidence from European research. The study reveals a striking effect of weak electromagnetic fields generated by everyday human activity: disruption of the function of an entire sensory system in birds.
Nature

Virus super test: Researchers have developed a new approach for the rapid detection of multiple disease pathogens in a single test, with a method from the biomedical frontline: 'decoding' tunable photonic nanocrystals. A demonstration successfully detected some of the world's deadliest conditions - trace amounts of DNA from HIV, Human Papillomavirus 16, Ebola virus, and Hepatitis B virus - simultaneously in a single test within minutes, requiring only a tiny sample.
Nature Communications
Upcoming sci-tech events  
For these and more upcoming events, and more details about them, visit the SMC's Events Calendar