Alana Alexander

Manage My Health CEO: 'Trust us even though we've dropped the ball' The chief executive of beleaguered patient portal says he is open to standing down if required.

Pretty textbook on how not to do crisis communication for this type of attack. So here’s a little thread on what to do instead. 🧵

If you don’t know, I’m Hadyn Green, Principal Communications advisor at @first.org and my job is to go around the world teaching people how to do to cybersecurity comms

Now that it's public: RIP FluTracking, which I understand only cost $50k per year to administer, yet provided incredibly valuable and irreplaceable information on levels of influenza-like-illness.
What an utterly dim decision.

(for those not familiar with the SING kaupapa it is a programme designed to develop Indigenous understanding of genomics. If that sings to your ngākau, get amongst!)

SING Aotearoa Summer Internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics

SING Aotearoa is on! SING Aotearoa 2026 - Ōtepoti (Dunedin) - 8-13 February 2026

Applications for SING Aotearoa 2026 are now OPEN, head to www.singaotearoa.nz. Applications close 15 December.

Please share share share with your networks, group chats and socials across the motu.

Only one week left to apply

In case you are looking for Indigenous thrillers/horror stories this October. Fricking love libraries that put together lists like this.

pima.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/disp...?

One final bit of good news - 234600 people across the motu voted to remove Māori wards, 245800 to keep them - 51.1% of all votes were to keep them, 48.9% not to. The majority of the country that voted were in favour so suck it coalition!

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

led by wahine toa Tara, I'm lucky enough to be beside a rōpū of awesome Māori and Pacific "earliesh" career researchers on this one - our advice to the rangatira o āpōpō who are entering into STEM research training (ki a au, he reta aroha nā ngā tuākana tēnei): www.journal.mai.ac.nz/system/files...

This TikTok should be titled:
“The Right Wing Explained”

Well worth 90s of your time, & very applicable to the incoherent hypocrisy & gaslighting we see from Seymour, Peters & the Luxo-pool Noodle.

This will get worse the longer NACT hold power here in NZ as it will feed their tantrum.

#nzpol

Leaving Academia: Insights from Evolutionary Biologists on Their Career Transitions and Job Satisfaction Many who have obtained PhDs in evolutionary biology will ultimately pursue careers that fall outside a narrow definition of an academic career. At the same time, PhD students and supervisors of PhD st...

“Overall, the message from this survey is positive; evolutionary biologists are readily employable outside of academia, generally well-prepared for those jobs, and report high levels of satisfaction” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Toitū Te Tiriti billboard featuring Ellen Tamati wearing a big smile Billboard says: MY MANA MY VOICE MY MANDATE VOTE YES TO MĀORI WARDS

Toitū Te Tiriti billboard featuring Ellen Tamati visible from Parliament Billboard says: MY MANA MY VOICE MY MANDATE VOTE YES TO MĀORI WARDS

@taniawaikatolawyer.bsky.social has posted these on Facebook so I'm sharing the joy here because we all felt Ellen Tamati's mamae.
All of the mana, all of the time.✊✌️🥰
#ToitūTeTiriti
#OneTermGovernment
#nzpol

@sebasalco.bsky.social doing an awesome job repping the team on the research we were lucky enough to conduct on these taonga.

Smart solution delivers on dolphin DNA Creating genomes from DNA is hugely important for managing threatened species –understanding their past and how they have adapted to their environment helps conservationists protect them.

With fewer than 100 Māui dolphins left, and Hector’s also endangered, these rare subspecies are hard to find and even harder to study. But Otago researchers have cracked their DNA, revealing just how vulnerable they are and what it will take to protect them.💙🐬
Read more here🔗:

Innovative DNA assembly process produces high-quality reference genomes for endangered dolphins Creating genomes from DNA is hugely important for managing threatened species—understanding their past and how they have adapted to their environment helps conservationists protect them.

🧪 Great work on Hector’s & Māui genomes with @laninsky.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social

phys.org/news/2025-07...

Head Teacher/Kaiako Kaiārahi Job in North Dunedin, Otago - SEEK Become Kaiako kaiārahi at Otago's only bilingual early childhood centre. Where the team enjoys strong whānau support while providing early learning.

Tēnā koe e te whānau - ka kimihia tētahi tumuaki hou ki tō Te Koha Waimarie (tō taku pēpi) kohanga - tēnā, horahia tēnei pānui ki ngā tāngata e hīkaka ana ki tēnei wero! www.seek.co.nz/job/85125985...

That's appalling & Otago should protect & defend this esteemed & honourable thinker, scholar & Māori academic. I was honoured to learn from Anaru & look to his example at as a Social Worker, Academic Mana Tanē. Anaru has more mana & heart & mind in his little finger! He's obviously hit a nerve?

Our problem is not a lack of young people who want a career in science, our problem is a lack of careers in science

Regulatory Standards Bill - New Zealand Parliament Public submissions are now being invited on this Bill

Submissions are open on the Regulatory Standards bill. The Chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee has opened them until 23 June, ie just over four weeks, instead of the more usual six weeks for a bill with a standard six month report back date.

www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/mak...

The good people behind the flu tracker study are searching for new participants, particularly young ones. It takes about two minutes once a week to tell them whether you've had the snuffles or COVID or anything in between. Easy as, plus you're helping SCIENCE.

www.flutracking.net/Join/NZ/inv2...

As a little kid, I was in an elevator at Boston’s Museum of Science, excitedly telling my grandparents about squid chromatophores.

The older man with us turned to me and told me that it *was* amazing, and that that kind of excitement is the mark of a great explorer.

Sir Edmund Hilary, folks.

A Fulbright is what enabled me to travel to the states to study conservation genetics of sperm whales for my PhD, giving me lasting scientific skills, friendships, and understanding of a place that was not my own 💔

Rescinding the Definition of “Harm” Under the Endangered Species Act The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively referred to as the Services or we) are proposing to rescind the regulatory definition of "harm" ...

📢 📢📢📢📢
Every biologist who cares about biodiversity should provide public comment on this rule proposed by the Trump administration that would REMOVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS for endangered species! This is extremely bad.

www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...

Thanks heaps Rob ❤️

New Genome Assembly Approach Unlocks Secrets of Critically Endangered Dolphins in New Zealand Despite working with degraded DNA, scientists assembled high-quality genomes of New Zealand's dolphins, with insights for conservation.

Scientists have assembled the first high-quality genomes of New Zealand’s Hector’s + critically endangered Māui dolphins using degraded DNA—an unprecedented breakthrough that offers insights for conservation and a new path forward for endangered species worldwide.
whalescientists.com/new-zealand-...

The recap of the study by Sebastian Alvarez-Costes on his new study! Super fascinating and inspiring work 🐬✨

Really proud of @sebasalco.bsky.social's mahi on this one, and grateful to the iwi and hapū who entrusted us with their ngā ika moana taonga. @royalsocietynz.bsky.social, University of Otago, Genomics Aotearoa and ORG.one provided funding, and thanks to all incl coauthors who provided tautoko!

I have tariffed
the penguins
that are on
Heard Island

and which
you were probably
assuming
did not export goods

forgive me
they were taking advantage of us
so cunning
and so cold