Bella Duncan

Winner of top science prize blames ‘batshit’ Budget for brain drain Dr Samuel Mehr says the Government values science, but their ‘idiotic’ approach to funding it will cost them their best and brightest.

I appear to have spoken to a reporter who took seriously the gravity of NZ's science crisis

does anybody have a newsroom pro subscription so that I can learn what other choice phrases I used on the record?

newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/29/w...

The Marsden Grant, New Zealand’s flagship discovery science fund, was recently restructured to focus on research with economic potential, and its total was set to decrease by $15m over three years. The Strategic Science Investment Fund decreased by $24m in Budget 2025, the Health Research Fund by $17m and the Catalyst Fund, for international collaboration, by $12m. Money was reallocated towards the new Invest New Zealand agency, aimed at attracting overseas innovation and investment. Since then, the 2025 Nobel Prize in Economics was awarded to a team of researchers who investigated the link between increased technology funding and sustained societal growth, which Mehr said underscored his point. “Do these people read the news? Like, a Nobel Prize was just awarded to people who proved that investing in science is a better mechanism for economic growth – which Luxon ostensibly cares about – than these other kinds of short-term investments,” Mehr said. “We’ve got $55 million, roughly, per year to spend on basic science. And if you open up the news, what you hear about is Chris Luxon spending 320 times that on a single road. It’s just kind of pathetic. “You could change the colour of the signs on that road, and you would spend more than this entire country spends on basic science. That is batshit. It’s just completely insane.” (The road in question was the Northland Corridor, the low end estimate of which was recently revised to $18.2b.)

I'm not 100% sure but I think Newsroom may have omitted a 'f*cking' from my phrase "Do these people read the news?"

In 2023, Mehr was awarded the Prime Minister’s MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize – a top honour for New Zealand researchers – for his work on how humans perceive and create music. Mehr told Newsroom his interaction with Luxon at the awards ceremony was brief, but engaging. “I remember he was so excited to talk to scientists about what we were up to. He told me that he had been looking forward to this event for several weeks. He said it was one of the most fun things he gets to do.” But this enthusiasm did not square with the budget for research set under Luxon’s Government – or the governments that preceded it. “So either he’s totally insincere, and he was bullshitting me, or he’s incompetent and doesn’t realise that he, himself – and his own Government, the people he’s put in power – have signed off on pennies on the dollar for scientific funding in this country, rather than serious investment in research that can change the world. “I don’t think they’re lying about being excited about science; I think they’re just being totally disingenuous about the connection between their own decisions about the Budget and the scientific outcomes that the country can produce.”

i think this is the thing I find so frustrating / depressing about how our govt works. there's a complete dissociation between what they say "we love science its great" and what they spend on basic science

#Melissa has made landfall in #Jamaica, and has preliminarily tied the record for the lowest pressure of any landfalling hurricane in Atlantic history: 892 mb. That was last observed 90 years ago with the 1935 Labor Day hurricane.
The storm does not look like it even notices Jamaica being there.

our govt wants to spend 327 times more on a single road ($18b) than they are currently spending yearly on all of basic science in new zealand ($55m) #nzpol

that abstract

Record leap in CO2 fuels fears of accelerating global heating CO2 in air hit new high last year, with scientists concerned natural land and ocean carbon sinks are weakening

The global average concentration of the CO2 surged by 3.5 parts per million to 424ppm in 2024, the largest increase since modern measurements started in 1957. We might be switching from negative to positive carbon cycle feedbacks - a horrific disaster, if so.

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Edvard Munch's 'Scream' but with the text 'I can't believe they're cancelling Art History' in a speech bubble

Could you pls do an old ex-Art History teacher a solid, sign this petition to save the subject in our schools, and pass it on.

These philistines need to hear from you all.

Thank you

petitions.parliament.nz/a1acf19a-72f...

NZ's govt has announced reforms to science funding

just one line about basic science in there: "Discovery-led science & research will continue to be funded. This will sit outside the pillars & is essential for maintaining vibrant curiosity-driven science system"

yea mate seems like a real priority

Big shakeup for NZ's research funding - Expert Reaction - Science Media Centre The Government will consolidate decision-making for New Zealand's science research funding as part of its new science system strategy. Research Funding New Zealand will be a new independent board that...

Big shakeup for NZ’s research funding – Expert Reaction

A ‘lack of ambition’ over livestock emissions targets now threatens NZ’s reputation and trade The government’s weakened methane reduction target mirrors the approach promoted by industry lobby groups but rejected by the Climate Change Commission.

My recent comments on NZ methane targets summarised here.
theconversation.com/a-lack-of-am...

Stuff front page right now… what a juxtaposition.

#climate #nzpol

Like most of the science system reforms this year, there's some good ideas here but the overarching direction this government dictates for research ('value for the private sector') is not one that will actually lead to good research

SCIS 317 Climate Change Communication   | Course | Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Examine how scientists, writers, Indigenous advocates, artists, and activists engage public audiences with the realities of climate change and the need for mitigation and adaptation. You will explore ...

In 2026 we are offering a new course on Climate Change Communication. You can study this important topic as part of a wider programme or as a standalone course, at undergraduate (SCIS 317) or postgraduate (SCIS 417) level. More info here, or ask me questions #kikorangi www.wgtn.ac.nz/courses/scis...

""Our trading partners are unlikely to smile on this reduction in ambition," [Renwick] said." – perhaps we'll hear from the EU High Commission in Wellington about this soon

Scientists fear weaker methane target signals wider retreat from climate action After cutting methane targets, New Zealand has a choice: shoulder the burden at huge cost - or cause more warming to the planet.

I thought I’d have a go at answering the question: what’s the flow on effect on emissions budgets from the methane cuts?

The answer was worse than I had anticipated

www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Farmers off the hook on climate means rest of us pick up the slack Comment: The Government's methane announcement is the policy equivalent of a steaming cowpat on cross-partisan climate consensus.

My analysis: The Government’s methane announcement is the policy equivalent of a steaming cowpat on cross-partisan climate consensus and international efforts to tackle the crisis.

The headline effect of a new, weaker climate target is a warmer, more dangerous world.
newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/13/f...

Government lowers methane target, rules out methane taxes The government is lowering its biogenic methane target for the next 25 years, a move opposed by the Greens and environmental activists.

The government knows this is bad policy because they've announced it on a Sunday.
The continued priority of short-term profit over long-term solutions is utterly shameful. Farmers will not be better off when the next cyclone or flood comes. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Scientists discovered something alarming seeping out from beneath the ocean around Antarctica New seeps of methane are being discovered at an "astonishing rate," scientists have found.

“Planet-heating methane is escaping from cracks in the Antarctic seabed as the region warms, with new seeps being discovered at an "astonishing rate," scientists have found, raising fears that future global warming predictions may have been underestimated.”

My sincere belief - & baked into Q & A style teaching I do - is that uni education is best when we learn together. I sincerely do learn things from my students, & students learn from the comments & questions of others as well as from me. Plus it's just much less lonely to have a shared endeavour.

Earlier this year, Dr. Jane Goodall sat down for an interview for Brad Falchuk’s new Netflix series, Famous Last Words.

The premise of the series is to interview people on the condition that the interview not air until the subject has passed away.

I preferred it when Prime Ministers believed things like every person deserved “someone to love, somewhere to live, something to do, and something to hope for”, and acted on those beliefs.

The Greenlandification of Antarctica - Nature Geoscience Climate and ice sheet processes in Antarctica increasingly reflect those observed earlier in Greenland. Applying process insights from Greenland can improve projections of future Antarctic ice and climate behaviour.

The Greenlandification of Antarctica

Antarctica is beginning to behave more like Greenland, with surface melt, ice dynamics, and climate feedbacks in Antarctica exhibiting "Greenland-like” traits, which have major implications for sea-level rise projections.

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

From 2006. A younger and shell-shocked looking Catherine on a balcony holding a very tiny baby with the mountains of Vancouver in the background. The baby is so new, Catherine still has the pregnant bump.

Conventional wisdom says motherhood should wait for tenure as before you land a permanent post, #academia is just not that family friendly🙁

@carersinstemm.bsky.social are calling for change and to celebrate their new report, a Saturday🧵on parenting & academia! 1/9 👩‍🔬🧪🔭⚛️

ℹ️: carersinstemm.co.uk

Destabilization of Earth system tipping elements - Nature Geoscience A review of observation-based evidence suggests that four interconnected Earth system tipping elements have moved towards their critical thresholds, highlighting the need for better monitoring and increased mitigation efforts.

Destabilization of Earth system tipping elements

(Review) suggesting key Earth system tipping points - like the Greenland Ice Sheet, Amazon rainforest, and AMOC - are losing stability and nearing critical thresholds

Interactions may mask warning signs

www.nature.com/articles/s41...

"If we lose hope, we're doomed."

We must continue Dr. Jane Goodall's mission and all fight for the future of the planet.

Luxon says we're friends with both Israel and Palestine

We watch a people go through an attempted genocide, and we sit back and say you are no people. You have no state.

For you see, we are friends with both you and your murderer.

NZ Herald app screenshot with photo of Winston Peters in front of NZ flags. Headline says “Watch: Winston Peters says NZ ‘not ready’ to recognise Palestinian statehood”

Use “I” statements please Winston. The tens of thousands of NZers who marched, the thousands and thousands more who see this genocide for what it is and who know recognising Palestine is an important symbol of solidarity, your decision does not represent us.

.

Gaza

The dead boy tries to open his eyes.
He wants to see the world he is leaving.
But there is nothing to see here,
nothing and nothing, and anyway he is gone.
His parents held him while he died
but they are both dead, too.
Or he held them, no one remembers.

.

Worth expressly noting that the ONLY reason given in Peters' speech for why AoNZ should recognise Israel and not Palestine as a state is that Palestine "does not control its own territory". So, we reward Israel for its illegal actions + will keep doing so until it chooses to stop.