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Science New Zealand

Welcome to Science New Zealand. It represents the eight Crown Research Institutes: the power of 4,400 people advancing ideas and delivering results for New Zealand through excellent science and technology.

Last year, government, business, sectors and communities invested $690 million with the Crown Research Institutes.

From environment to trade, agriculture to manufacturing, in niche technologies and with leading edge science, the Crown Research Institutes identify, respond to and solve science-based challenges affecting our lives today and tomorrow.

Throughout New Zealand and across the globe, their ideas, insights and connections are shaping new thinking and practical action.

Discover their stories, the results and the possibilities. The snippets click to external sites. We try to keep links current for 90 days.

For more on Science New Zealand Inc, the organisation, click here.

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Tertiary Education Institutions

ScienceNZ - The Value of Science Discovery

New Value

Tiny titans

New titanium metal alloy open-pore materials currently being developed at IRL could offer high-value contributions to the biomedical sector.

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Automation excellence

A close collaboration has resulted in the recognition of IRL partner Milmeq Ltd at the prestigious New Zealand Engineering Excellence Awards.

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Eyes on the road

Science is more practical than simply applied mathematics and arcane formulae, as Coastline Markers Ltd discovered when they called in IRL to solve a particularly sticky problem – finding a new way to make reflective catseyes adhere to the road.

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Gold kiwifruit each day reduce cold symptoms

Adding gold kiwifruit to your diet may lead to less suffering from symptoms of common illnesses such as colds, research suggests.  

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Broccoli and blueberries may improve gut health

Broccoli and blueberries may have positive effects for those suffering with digestive problems, new research suggests.

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New trove of information opens up for oil exploration industry

A wide range of new geoscience information has become instantly available to the petroleum exploration industry with the culmination of a two-year project by a team of researchers at GNS Science.

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Rotomahana lake floor survey returns wealth of new information

Scientists have backed up findings from last year to show that a substantial portion of the Pink Terraces appears to have survived the 1886 eruption of Mount Tarawera and is sitting at the bottom of Lake Rotomahana covered by two metres of sediment.

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Sweet success in hunt for honey's healing factor

Comvita, the New Zealand-based global exporter of natural health and beauty products, and collaborators have identified key compounds in honey that stimulate the immune system, paving the way for a range of new wound-healing products.

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Lake assessment tool earns high honour for NIWA scientist

John Clayton, a principal scientist in the fields of aquatic biodiversity and biosecurity based at NIWA's Hamilton office, has won a 2011 Kudos award for his leading role in the development of LakeSPI  (Lake Submerged Plant Indicators).  LakeSPI is a  tool widely used to assess and rate the ecological condition of New Zealand lakes.

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Carbon cash could save marginal farms

Cash from carbon makes forestry a much more attractive proposition than livestock farming on poorer hill country according to a collaborative study led by Crown Research Institute Scion for Waikato Regional Council

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Scion licenses a revolutionary wood plastic reinforcer

An exciting new technology that produces wood plastic pellets has been developed by Crown Research Institute Scion with the potential to revolutionise the composition of plastics worldwide

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Scion’s water quality technology licensed to South Waikato company

A novel way to improve the water quality of lakes and other waterways, developed at Crown Research Institute Scion, has been licensed to Blue Pacific Minerals based in Tokoroa.  The exclusive licence is for the manufacture, sale and global distribution of modified zeolite.

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Software takes jury to crime scene

Jurors will now be able to take a virtual walk through a murder scene, with the creation of interactive software by Kiwi scientists.

The technology had its debut at the High Court trial in February for the man accused of killing Rotorua's Ruakawa Newton. It was the first time the "virtual tour" software had been used to support

(Photo) ESR forensic scientists collect photographic evidence for the new software, which will help juries visualise crime scenes.

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Innovative technology piloted at Rotorua

The Minister for the Environment Hon Dr Nick Smith has opened a pilot plant that will test an innovative process that converts biosolid waste into valuable chemical products.

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It’s good news about the oyster industry

The oyster season runs until the end of August this year and so far the news is all good for oyster fishers and oyster lovers.

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Scion Timber Design Studio Award Winners

Scion has announced the winners in the Scion Timber Design Studio Awards. The annual awards, held in conjunction with the University of Auckland School of Architecture.

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New Thinking

Innovation insider

A new innovation intern being sought from journalism schools around the country will help spread understanding of the importance of innovation to New Zealand.

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Chemical bonding

IRL has appointed Professor Juliet Gerrard, a biochemist and leader in the industrial application of biochemistry in New Zealand as its second Industry and Outreach Fellow.

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Lifestyle Blocks and the loss of New Zealand´s productive soils

New research shows the huge increase in ´lifestyle blocks´ across New Zealand and raises wider questions over our attitude to the slow but ongoing loss of valuable, high quality and productive land

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An 18-year-long project to produce a new series of geological maps of New Zealand has just finished

Known as QMAP (Quarter million scale map), the project started in 1994 and has produced 21 geological maps covering all parts of New Zealand.

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Science New Zealand Chairman elected

Science New Zealand has elected Dr Tom Richardson, Chief Executive of AgResearch, as Chairman for the next two years.

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In search of fish food on the Chatham Rise

NIWA's research vessel Tangaroa will set sail for the Chatham Rise tonight to improve our understanding of how marine ecosystems affect commercially exploited fish, and how commercial fisheries affect the marine food-web. The Chatham Rise, a large plateau between the South Island and Chatham Islands, is our most productive fishing ground.

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Appointment of new Landcare Research CEO

Dr Richard Gordon has been appointed to the position of Chief Executive of Crown Research Institute, Landcare Research.

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New Science

AgResearch team finds missing link

AgResearch scientists have made a breakthrough proving a long-held hypothesis that white clover originated as a hybrid of other clover ancestors, followed by a chance doubling of the chromosome number to restore fertility.

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Scion plays part in the water quality picture

A modified zeolite product developed by Scion has been used to treat potentially toxic algal blooms in Rotorua lakes. The product, marketed by Blue Pacific Minerals under the trade name “Aqual P”, is one of many tools being used by the Bay of Plenty Regional Council as part of their lake clean-up efforts.

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Robot spies make new science discoveries in Fiordland’s World Heritage Park

NIWA and Environment Southland have recently returned with stunning new footage of undersea sills in Dusky and Doubtful Sounds, brimming with sea life, corals and sponges.

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AgResearch and BGI Developments to commercialise revolutionary dyeing process

A revolutionary new dyeing process developed by AgResearch that allows wool fabrics to be dyed vibrant colours is about to be commercialised

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19 new hazards projects get green light

Nineteen new research projects have received a total of $7 million in funding for three years under the Natural Hazards Research Platform.

The new funding allocations were announced this week by Science and Innovation Minister Hon Steven Joyce. They include eight projects investigating lessons learned from the Canterbury earthquakes and 11 other projects covering a broad spread of natural hazards in New Zealand.

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ESR-led research team wins international tender to hunt the flu virus

A group of world-leading scientists and flu researchers, led by ESR, has beaten out international competition to be awarded a five-year, multi-million dollar contract to study influenza in an effort to better understand the burden of the virus and how to prevent its spread around the world.

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Migration patterns and genetic differences in NZ seabirds

Ground-breaking research by NIWA and The University of Auckland, investigating the annual movements of New Zealand seabirds migrating within the Pacific Ocean, has revealed that populations are genetically distinct, and have been for centuries as a result of their differing migration behavior.

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New Zealand surrounded by biggest waves on the planet

New Zealand is bang in the middle of the biggest and wildest waters on the planet: the Southern Ocean.

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Crown Research Institutes

  • AgResearch logo.
  • Plant and Food Research logo.
  • ESR logo. GNS Science logo.
  • Industrial Research Limited logo.
  • Landcare Research - Manaaki Whenua logo.
  • NIWA logo.
  • SCION logo.

Subsidiaries, associates, joint ventures

  • EBEX21
  • GlycoSyn irl
  • Enviromark NZ
  • carboNZero
  • NZCEE
  • BioPacific Ventures
  • orico
  • Catapult Genetics
  • SLURI
  • Virtual Institute of Statistical Genetics
  • Grasslands Innovation
  • EnCoate
  • farmax
  • Clone International
  • HTS110
  • PhytaGro, Inc
  • Sirtrack
  • VARNZ Ltd
  • Atlastech
  • grasslanz
  • Prevar
  • Biopolymer Network