North Slope of Alaska (click here) - The north shore is where the oil wells and rotting pipe lines exist.
Pools of melt water collected on Alaska’s North Slope in early July 2007. On July 6, 2007, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) flying on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these images. The top image shows the area in true color, similar to how human eyes would see it from the sky. The bottom image uses a combination of shortwave infrared, near infrared, and red light. In this false-color image, red-brown indicates bare ground, green indicates vegetation, light blue indicates ice, and deep blue-black indicates water. Water appears especially pronounced in this image, including the many melt ponds near the coast that give the coastline a spongy appearance.
New Zealand Herald
The big thaw
5:00AM Saturday July 14, 2007
By Catherine Masters
New Zealand scientist Grant Redvers with expedition dog Tiksi and boat the Tara. Redvers is leading a research expedition investigating climate change in the Arctic.
You might think you'd go a little stir crazy stuck on a boat in the middle of a creaking frozen ocean with nothing but white all around.
Or you might think it would be the perpetual darkness of winter or the 24-hour daylight of summer that would drive you bonkers.
You'd be wrong. Every day something unexpected happens out on the Arctic Ocean where the ice is so thick, explorers once searched in vain thinking they would find land.
It might be as simple as waking up to the thrill of finding polar bear tracks next to the boat, as Masterton scientist Grant Redvers did recently, and being reminded that, even though you feel you are the only ones alive on an alien planet, this empty chilly place is the home of other powerful beings.
Nature might treat you to a spectacular light show in the sky one day then whip up a storm the next, leaving you listening anxiously to the ice squeezing and grinding on the hull and hoping your boat will withstand the pressure.
Redvers has become used to this magical world, but because of climate change he might leave it far sooner than planned. The ice has thinned and an expedition expected to last two years may be over in little more than one.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10451418
Cruise passengers' flight home delayed by bomb scare
1:11PM Friday July 20, 2007
By Edward Gay
The Pacific Star cruise was abandoned in Vanuatu after the ship was damaged in last week's storm. Photo / Andrew Read
The last plane-load of Pacific Star cruise passengers returning home to Auckland had their chartered flight delayed by a bomb threat.
Fraser Gillies was one of 1200 passengers who sailed through gale force winds and 10 metre swells on the P&O cruise.
The company abandoned the cruise and has flown passengers back to Auckland.
But before take-off on Wednesday night, a passenger found a bomb threat scrawled on a sick-bag in the pocket in front of their seat.
Mr Gillies said the message was abusive and threatening and the plane was delayed while checks were carried out.
He said the plane was emptied and the threat was taken very seriously by the airline.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10452789
Collapse kills 20 in Mumbai
5:15AM Friday July 20, 2007
MUMBAI - At least 20 people were crushed to death and several more trapped when an old building collapsed in India's financial capital, police said yesterday, as rescuers used bulldozers and even bare hands to clear the debris.
The seven-storey building in a crowded northern suburb of Mumbai collapsed early yesterday, but rescue workers began pulling out most bodies hours later.
Police were unsure of how many people lived in the building, but said 25-40 people could still be trapped.
"We got calls from some people trapped under the debris, asking for help," said police officer Shivaji Bodke.
About 15 people had been removed alive, some with serious injuries.
Civic authorities blamed faulty repair work being carried out for the accident.
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452669
Auckland port deluged with calls about listing ship (+photos)
The ship seen from Okahu Bay. Photo / Richard Huljich
10:52AM Friday July 20, 2007
By Edward Gay
A ship leaning heavily at the stern in the Auckland Harbour is not in trouble, Ports of Auckland says.
Members of the public have called the ports authority and the harbour master's office, asking if the ship was in trouble.
Harbour Master John Lee Richards said the Nora Maersk is having a hull thruster repaired and will be bought back alongside the wharf at 5.30am.
Deputy harbour master Jim Dilley said: "I've been amazed at the number of people calling up."
The vessel is between Devonport and Mission Bay and Mr Dilley said it's in "no danger at all".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10452745
Three Pakistan suicide bombs kill 52 in one day
10:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
Pakistani policeman inspect the wreckage of a destroyed vehicle hit by a suicide bomber outside a police training centre in Hangu. Photo / Reuters
ISLAMABAD - Three suicide bomb attacks killed at least 52 people in Pakistan on Thursday, as a militant backlash intensified following the army's storming of a radical mosque in Islamabad.
A wave of bomb attacks has swept across Pakistan, killing more than 160, since the assault nine days ago on the Lal Masjid or Red Mosque complex, a militant stronghold.
At least 30 people were killed on Thursday when a car bomber, apparently targeting a vehicle carrying Chinese workers involved in mining activities, rammed into a police van escorting them in the southern town of Hub.
The Chinese were unhurt but all seven policemen in the van and 23 bystanders were killed. Twenty-eight people were wounded.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452752
Taleban stops bus and kidnap koreans - police
4:15PM Friday July 20, 2007
KABUL - Taleban insurgents stopped a bus in Afghanistan and kidnapped some of the passengers, including Korean citizens, a local police chief said on Friday.
The bus was travelling from the southern city of Kandahar to the capital Kabul on Thursday when Taleban rebels stopped it in the Qarabagh district of Ghazni province, the local police chief Khowaja Mohammad Sadeeq told Reuters.
It was not immediately clear how many passengers had been abducted. Local Taleban commander Mohammad Sharif took responsibility.
Taleban insurgents have kidnapped a number of foreign nationals as part of their campaign to overthrow the Afghan government and drive out its Western backers.
Two Germans and six Afghans were abducted southwest of Kabul on Wednesday and are still missing.
One German national was kidnapped in western Afghanistan this month, but was released unharmed after few days.
The Taleban kidnapped two French aid workers and three of their Afghan colleagues in southwestern Afghanistan in April but later released them unharmed.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452805
Colombians accuse banana firm of paramilitary links
2:30PM Friday July 20, 2007
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK - A group of Colombians has sued top banana producer Chiquita Brands International, alleging it supported paramilitary organisations in Colombia they said terrorized and killed their relatives.
The suit, filed in federal court in Newark, New Jersey, seeks class action status and unspecified damages against Chiquita for "funding, arming, and otherwise supporting terrorist organisations in Colombia, in order to maintain its profitable control of Colombia's banana-growing regions."
Between the early 1990s and 1997, Chiquita funded and helped arm violent guerrilla groups, including the paramilitary organisation Autodefensorias Unidas de Colombia, also known as the AUC, the suit said.
The unnamed Colombian plaintiffs, who include family members of trade unionists, banana workers and political organizers, said the AUC killed their relatives and thousands of others to control regions containing banana plantations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452780
Judge dismisses civil suit in CIA leak scandal
12:25PM Friday July 20, 2007
WASHINGTON - A US judge has thrown out former CIA analyst Valerie Plame's lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney and other Bush administration officials for disclosing her identity to the public.
Plame has said her career was destroyed when administration officials blew her cover in 2003 to retaliate against her husband, Iraq war critic Joseph Wilson.
The couple had sought money damages from the officials for violating their constitutional free speech, due process and privacy rights.
US District Court Judge John Bates dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds on Thursday local time.
Plame's lawyer said she would appeal.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452778
Russia expels 4 British diplomats as row escalates
7:53AM Friday July 20, 2007
By Dmitry Solovyov and Michael Stott
Russia's Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Mikhail Kamynin speaks to media. Photo / Reuters
MOSCOW - Russia expelled four British diplomats overnight and suspended cooperation with London on fighting terrorism, as a bitter row over Moscow's refusal to extradite a murder suspect escalated.
The Kremlin said Russia had been forced into a "proportionate response" after Britain threw out four Russian diplomats earlier this week.
Foreign Ministry chief spokesman Mikhail Kamynin told reporters the British ambassador had been summoned and handed a note about "the unfriendly actions of Britain towards Russia".
"Four British embassy staff in Moscow are now persona non grata and they should leave the territory of the Russian Federation within 10 days," Kamynin said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452733
Focus of Brazil air crash shifts away from runway
10:30AM Friday July 20, 2007
An aerial view where a TAM airlines Airbus A320 crashed into a building (foreground) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Photo / Reuters
SAO PAULO - Debate over the cause of Brazil's worst air crash has shifted from widespread claims of a faulty runway to potential pilot error or failure of the plane's braking systems.
Soon after the fiery accident at Sao Paulo's Congonhas airport, which killed all 186 people on board and more on the ground, many officials and aviation experts blamed the rain-soaked runway where the Airbus A320 skidded before slamming into a gas station and cargo terminal.
But Globo TV said the jet had been flying without one of its thrust reversers, which help slow the plane at landing. It reported the device was turned off after a malfunction last week and that the plane had difficulty braking on the same slippery runway one day before the crash.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452759
Dissidents in fear of Kremlin campaign
5:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
By Kim Sengupta and Anne Penketh
Has the Kremlin declared open season on the Russian dissident community in London?
Billionaire businessman Boris Berezovsky and the former Chechen rebel Akhmed Zakayev certainly think so. And it seems that British security officials share their fears.
Yesterday Berezovsky was taking no chances, after it emerged that a Russian man had been arrested and deported from Britain on suspicion of mounting a plot to kill him.
Berezovsky appeared at a news conference, held only 200m from Downing Street, accompanied by several bodyguards and a unit of London police, and accused Vladimir Putin of trying to kill him last month.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452658
Fiji moves soldiers into diplomatic positions
4:20PM Thursday July 19, 2007
Fiji's military government appears to be pressing ahead with moves to replace many of its overseas diplomats, with reports a top soldier will be moving to New York to take up a United Nations posting.
The move comes as Malaysia's oldest human rights group urges its country to distance itself from Fiji's regime, which is trying to appoint an army officer to be its envoy to Kuala Lumpur.
Radio Fiji today reported Lieutenant Colonel Mason Smith would be heading to New York in two weeks to take up a diplomatic posting for Fiji at the United Nations.
Recent reports said negotiations were underway between America and Fiji to allow Smith to enter the United States, which suspended all official visits by senior Fiji military officials after last year's military coup.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452570
Billionaire 'built hidden sex, drugs den'
5:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
By Leonard Doyle
Henry T. Nicholas III was, for a brief period, one of the richest men in America. A patron of the Orange County arts scene, he had a trophy wife and enjoyed playing Rod Stewart numbers at full volume from the steps of his mansion.
The 2.01m engineer founded the company Broadcom in 1991, making the innards of cable TV boxes at his Redondo Beach apartment.
When it floated in the go-go years of the internet boom, his shares went up in value 40 times and he soon acquired the trappings of the super rich:
* a private jet
* a Lamborghini
* a mansion in Laguna Hills with its own equestrian estate
and, court documents claim:
* his personal brothel, hidden in an underground grotto, called Ponderosa.
The grotto was reached by hidden doors with secret levers, leading to tunnels and a 185sq m sports bar called "Nick's Cafe".
According to claims in court papers, this was a "secret and convenient lair", to cater for "Mr Nicholas's manic obsession with prostitutes" and his "addiction to cocaine and Ecstasy". He used his private jet to pick up prostitutes as far away as New Orleans, Chicago, Las Vegas and Los Angeles "and bring them back to the Pond for his rock star friends", according to documents filed with Orange County Superior Court. "He provided his guests with transportation and cocaine, Ecstasy, methamphetamines, marijuana, mushrooms, and nitrous oxide [laughing gas]".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452664
Explosion rocks Manhattan (+photos, video)
3:40PM Thursday July 19, 2007
By Claudia Parsons and John Doran
NEW YORK - An 83-year-old steam pipe exploded underground in midtown Manhattan this morning, shaking buildings, creating a towering geyser of debris and sending people fleeing in scenes reminiscent of the September 11 attacks.
Officials in New York and Washington promptly ruled out terrorism. One person died of cardiac arrest and about 20 others were injured, some seriously, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a news conference.
Boiling, brownish water and steam gushed geyser-like at least 36 metres high out of a crater about 6 metres wide on Lexington Avenue at 41st Street, one of the busiest areas of New York City near the Grand Central transportation hub.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452534
New York cleans up after asbestos-tainted blast
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 3:05PM Friday July 20, 2007
By Christine Kearney
NEW YORK - Some New Yorkers doubted official assurances that the air surrounding a deadly steam pipe explosion in midtown Manhattan was safe to breathe despite the discovery of asbestos-tainted debris.
Workers began cleaning up the site of yesterday's blast, which shook buildings, unleashed a geyser of steam and boiling, brownish water and sent people fleeing in scenes reminiscent of the September 11 attacks in 2001.
A six-square-block area beside busy Grand Central Station was cordoned off by police wearing breathing masks after tests showed the debris contained asbestos -- widely used in the past as a flame retardant and insulator but now known to be a dangerous carcinogen.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452803
Israel begins freeing Palestinian prisoners
KITSIYOT, Israel - Israel released dozens of Palestinian prisoners on Friday as part of a U.S.-backed deal to bolster Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas following the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas Islamists last month.
Some of the 250 or so prisoners, mostly members of Abbas's secular Fatah faction, signed early release papers and, bound in handcuffs, boarded buses at Kitsiyot prison in southern Israel.
From there they will be driven to the West Bank city of Ramallah to be greeted by Abbas and reunited with families.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452845
Six UK cabinet ministers own up to smoking a joint
10:10AM Friday July 20, 2007
By Nigel Morris
Days after they backed toughening the law on cannabis, six British Cabinet Ministers have owned up to smoking the drug during their student years.
Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, admitted experimenting with pot while an undergraduate at Oxford.
She said: "I was wrong when I did it more than 25 years ago. I am not looking to excuse that."
Ms Smith added: "I've learned my lesson and I've got a responsibility as Home Secretary now to make sure we put in place the laws, the support, the information to make sure we carry on bringing cannabis use down."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452677
Costello's comments more bad news for Howard
5:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
CANBERRA - A new political biography has reopened leadership tensions between John Howard and his deputy, adding to the Australian Government's election woes.
In a new biography of the Prime Minister, Treasurer Peter Costello snipes at Howard's record as a former treasurer, while the book says Costello has never been invited to dine at an official prime ministerial residence in 11 years in office.
"It doesn't worry me, I am just as happy eating fish and chips on a beach," Costello told Australian radio yesterday as he played down the idea of new divisions over the leadership.
Elections are due in Australia within five months with opinion polls suggesting Howard would be defeated and could lose his own seat if an election were held now.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452678
Wandering seal 'happy as Larry' in Whangarei park
3:20PM Friday July 20, 2007
By Edward Gay
A seal has made its home at a public park, and despite concerns from some members of the public, conservation department staff say they have no plans to move it.
DoC's Whangarei bio-diversity manager Bryce Lumis said the seal was a young pup and enjoying feeding on mullet in a nearby stream.
"It's fine, as happy as Larry. It's a young seal trying to find it's way in the water system. It's probably been beaten up by older seals at some time," Mr Lumis said.
He said some members of the public were concerned because seals are territorial and bites can be toxic.
"But unless it's endangered or in an area where it could be threatened by cars then our policy is to leave it."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10452804
Hospital tests robot surgeon
8:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
A multi-purpose robot will soon give "cutting-edge" technology a whole new meaning as it begins surgeries at Mercy-Ascot Hospital in Hamilton.
Two of the hospital's surgeons, Mike MacKie and Chris Hawke, are trialling the country's first remote-controlled da Vinci surgical robot. They say the $2 million robot allows surgeons to accurately work in unaccommodating, tight parts of the body, such as the pelvis or chest. Such robots have been extensively used in the US to treat prostate cancer, and are now increasingly being used to help patients suffering from bladder cancer.
The robotic machinery allows doctors to sit at a console and manipulate instruments inside patients, while watching the action through a camera. The operations have fewer complications and are said to be less painful for patients.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10452718
High dollar bringing import bargains
5:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
By Maggie McNaughton
Consumers are in for some bargains as the New Zealand dollar soars to dizzying new heights.
Though crippling many exporters, the high dollar is bringing consumers a bonanza of cheaper imported goods.
The New Zealand dollar is continuing its rise towards US80c - a record since it was floated 22 years ago.
Big-ticket items such as major household appliances, furniture and cars could come down in price from around September if the dollar stays high, said ANZ National Bank chief economist Cameron Bagrie.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10452724
South claims NZ's first $1m suburb
5:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
Kelvin Heights in Queenstown is laying claim to the title of New Zealand's first million-dollar suburb.
The suburb, perched on the edge of Lake Wakatipu, is home to Queenstown's rich and famous, bathed in late-afternoon winter sun at this time of year and blessed with stunning views.
Quotable Value figures showed the average residential house value for Kelvin Heights was $1,022,000 at the last rateable assessment in September 2005.
Queenstown's QV rating was $908,000, Wanaka $597,000, Arrowtown $481,000, Sunshine Bay/Fernhill $563,000, Frankton (Shotover) $546,000 and Frankton Rd end $632,000.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10452708
Chirac interrogated over embezzlement of public money
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 11:00AM Friday July 20, 2007
By John Lichfield
PARIS - Former President Jacques Chirac was interrogated for four hours yesterday by a judge investigating the alleged embezzlement of public money to fund his political career in the 1980s and 1990s.
The meeting is likely to be the first of many encounters between the former president, 74, and judges investigating alleged illegal fund-raising at the Paris town hall while Chirac was mayor from 1977-1995.
No other former president in the nearly 50 year history of the Fifth Republic has been questioned by a judge investigating criminal activities.
Chirac was interviewed as a "temoin assiste" or material witness, half way between an ordinary witness and a suspect.
Convictions of officials of his former party have already proved that Chirac's rise to the Presidency was, at least partially, funded illegally.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452763
Food story made up
4:15AM Friday July 20, 2007
Beijing police have detained a television reporter for fabricating an investigative story about steamed buns stuffed with cardboard at a time when China's food safety is under intense international scrutiny.
A report directed by Beijing TV and played on China Central Television said an unlicensed snack vendor in Beijing was selling steamed dumplings stuffed with cardboard soaked in caustic soda and seasoned with pork flavouring.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10452676
The fine art of raising environmental awareness
5:00AM Wednesday July 18, 2007
By Grant McCool
Nguyen Lieu's paintings reflect the crisis those who rely on Vietnam's waterways are facing. Photo / Reuters
Nguyen Lieu's brightly coloured canvases warn his country that its coastal environment is in peril.
"Nha Trang is the most beautiful bay, recognised worldwide but exploitation there is chaotic," Lieu, 53, said at Galerie DEWI, where 15 of his oil paintings are exhibited.
His home town on Vietnam's south-central coast has smooth sandy beaches, islands and mountains, but it also reflects the ugly side of rapid development and tourism.
It is a story being repeated up and down the impoverished country's 3200km-long coastline.
Oil slicks, dead rivers and polluted air are part of an often-bleak environmental picture as Vietnam's 85 million people head toward industrialisation. Lieu's art is unusual in communist Vietnam in displaying a consciousness about a contemporary global issue. It shows a dire need to preserve and protect coral reefs and marine life for future generations.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10452139
The Green Test: Jaquie Brown
5:00AM Monday July 16, 2007
The Herald is asking high-profile people about their environmental friendliness.
This Week: TV3 Campbell Live reporter Jaquie Brown
What are you doing personally to make a difference?
I use the green bags when shopping instead of getting plastic bags, because plastic bags are evil.
Because I've only just started doing this I have a surplus of plastic bags at home so I'm recycling them and using them as rubbish bags as much as possible.
I've got five green bags and a big blue one for cold goods.
I'm trying to take the car less.
I turn off lights and power when I'm not using them. In the past I would have kept them on.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10451755
Coal-fired Huntly earns big black mark
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Monday July 16, 2007
By Wayne Thompson
Greenpeace ranks Genesis Energy the worst contributor to climate change.
In its updated Clean Energy Guide, Greenpeace said the company earned the ranking because it owns the Huntly coal-fired power station, the largest single source of carbon dioxide emissions.
Greenpeace climate campaigner Susannah Bailey said yesterday Genesis Energy plans involved fossil fuels, for example, the 240-megawatt Rodney gas-fired station for which it will seek consent this year.
Contact had taken second ranking because it owned gas power stations which contributed to climate change.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10451701
Invasive ladybird huge threat to British insects
5:00AM Monday July 16, 2007
By Michael McCarthy
The harlequin ladybird arrived in Britain less than three years ago.
An invasive ladybird is threatening hundreds of insect species and other organisms as it rapidly spreads across Britain.
Although it arrived in Britain only in September 2004, it has made a solid start on the process that entomologists have feared - ousting the native ladybird species.
Three weeks ago Britain's leading ladybird expert Professor Michael Majerus of Cambridge University surveyed three central London parks and found the harlequin (Harmonia axyridis) had already taken over to an astonishing degree.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10451667
Butterfly wins evolutionary race
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 5:00AM Monday July 16, 2007
By Steve Connor
Samoa's blue moon butterfly, faced with extinction by a parasite that preyed on only males, has bounced back within a year.
A butterfly found in Samoa has displayed the fastest known rate of evolution as a result of a dramatic "arms race" with a microscopic parasite that kills only males of the species.
Biologists have witnessed how the butterfly has fought back against the parasite by spreading a gene that confers resistance against a type of bacteria that kills male embryos before they hatch.
The scientists said the rapid spread of the gene is an example of the Red Queen principle of evolution - named after the character in Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking Glass who ran faster and faster only to stay in the same place.
Normally the sex ratio of the blue moon butterfly - hypolimnas bolina - on the Samoan islands of Savaii and Upolu is the usual 50:50, but because of attacks by the bacterial parasite the proportion of males fell to below 1 per cent, with females making up more than 99 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10451669
'Rich talk' from mothers improves children's memory
4:00PM Friday July 20, 2007
Researchers from the University of Otago say preschoolers' memory and language skills can be improved if their mothers speak to them in a detailed manner. Photo / Reuters
Preschoolers' memory and language skills can be significantly improved if their mothers talk to them in richer ways about past events, according to University of Otago research published today.
Associate Professor Elaine Reese, of the psychology department, said the findings had important implications for efforts to ensure children were well-prepared to learn once they reached school.
The study, published in the United States journal Child Development, found that training mothers to talk in a more detailed way helped their children's memory and narrative development by age 3 1/2.
Dr Reese and then-PhD student Rhiannon Newcombe carried out a year-long intervention study with 115 Dunedin mothers and their 1 1/2 to 3 1/2-year-old children.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10452797
Stockings too tiresome for busy British women
8:22AM Friday July 20, 2007
Modern women no longer have the time to bother with traditional stockings, a survey in Britain has revealed. Photo / New Zealand Herald
LONDON - They have been a symbol of glamour for decades, but it appears the bottom has now fallen out of stockings sales in Britain.
Once associated with sophistication, they are now considered tiresome and inconvenient by the modern, busy, working woman, a survey has shown.
Instead women are choosing leggings and tights, preferring the look of actress Sienna Miller and Kate Middleton, the former girlfriend of Prince William.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10452739
Bleach a key weapon in fighting bacterial infections
1:11PM Friday July 20, 2007
Bleach is a key weapon used by white blood cells to control bacterial infections in the body, New Zealand scientists have discovered.
Exactly how the hard-working white blood cells of the immune system control and kill invading bacteria has long been an area of controversy in medical research.
Now Otago University Associate Professor Tony Kettle and Professor Christine Winterbourn have detailed in international journals Biochemistry and The Journal of Biological Chemistry research which shows exactly how the cells use bleach to control infection.
The Christchurch-based medical scientists have been locked in debate with other international research teams, trying to explain how and why white blood cells, or neutrophils, are so effective in declaring war on bacteria.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10452790
Smoking may bring on early menopause
11:39AM Friday July 20, 2007
Women who smoke are more likely to begin menopause before the age of 45 years, which puts them at increased risk of osteoporosis and heart disease, Norwegian researchers report.
Among a group of 2,123 women aged 59 to 60 years old, those who currently smoked were 59 per cent more likely than non-smokers to have undergone early menopause, Dr Thea F Mikkelsen of the University of Oslo and her colleagues found.
For the heaviest smokers, the risk of early menopause was nearly doubled.
However, women who were smokers, but quit at least 10 years before menopause, were substantially less likely than current smokers to have stopped menstruating before age 45.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10452773
Downward dog could be the answer for PMS sufferers
9:00AM Wednesday July 18, 2007
Practising yoga may help alleviate the symptoms of PMS, an Indian researcher has found. Photo / Reuters
SYDNEY - Scientists have found the first proof that yoga can ease the pain of pre-menstrual tension.
Tests on women with the pre-period syndrome have found the ancient Indian art form can relieve their psychological and physical symptoms.
Furthermore, it appears yoga can actually lift levels of an antidepressant-like hormone, allopregnanolone, typically low in chronic sufferers.
But women's health specialists are sceptical about the findings and say most women with PMS need more than stretching and meditation to get relief.
Indian researcher Dr Ratna Sharma has told the World Congress of Neuroscience in Melbourne that she has the first scientific evidence that yoga helps PMS.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/6/story.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10452184
Video: Plants that phone their owners
1:40PM Thursday July 19, 2007
NEW YORK - Four New York University graduate students have merged telecommunications with the environment to create talking plants.
Plants make actual voice calls to owners to inform them of its needs. Owners can in turn call their plants to find out more about them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=218&objectid=10452560
Asia's concrete jungles go green
5:00AM Saturday June 30, 2007
By Clifford Coonan
Arthur van Langenberg waters his fruit trees. Photo / Reuters
A small balcony in one of Hong Kong's high-rise gardens boasts branches laden with lemon and lychees, although it would seem there are few more unlikely places for a fruit tree to thrive than 30 storeys off the ground.
Meanwhile, in crowded public housing estates in Singapore, cucumbers and lettuces are growing in rough wooden boxes in concrete yards under fluorescent light.
And Chinese schoolchildren enjoy an afternoon with their parents not far from the Great Wall near Beijing, planting some of the millions of trees keeping the desert at bay and making the air easier to breathe.
Asia's green-fingered enthusiasts are leading a revolution that sets out to combat CO2 emissions, provide a bit of colour, and bring the scent of flowers in people's lives.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=218&objectid=10448699
New Zealand Garden opened at Windsor Great Park
4:52PM Saturday April 28, 2007
One of the largest collections of native New Zealand plants outside the country was been unveiled at England's Windsor Great Park yesterday by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York.
The New Zealand Garden containing more than 3000 native plants is the latest addition to the world famous Savill Garden which this year marked it 75th anniversary.
The royal opening was accompanied by traditional Maori ceremonies provided by Manaia, a UK based Maori culture group.
The new garden has been developed and landscaped under the eye of the new head of Savill Garden, Harvey Stephens, working in conjunction with leading New Zealand landscape designer Sam Martin.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=218&objectid=10436670
Auckland and Wellington bars dominate awards
9:00AM Wednesday July 18, 2007
Galbraith's Alehouse in Mt Eden was named pub of the year at the Bartender Magazine Bar Awards. Photo / New Zealand Herald
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Auckland and Wellington have taken most of the honours at this year's New Zealand Bar Awards.
Wellington's Matterhorn picked up bar of the year for the second year in a row, as well as best drinks selection a second time around.
The capital's Hawthorn Lounge was named new bar of the year.
Auckland picked up a swag of awards, including pub of the year for Galbraith's Alehouse and new pub of the year with Living Room.
The city also boasts the nation's best bartender, Nick Ravenhall from Corner Bar.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=46&objectid=10452194
Curry ingredients may fight Alzheimer's
3:13PM Tuesday July 17, 2007
Scientists have discovered that a compound found in tumeric appears to help the immune system fight Alzheimer's symptoms. Photo / New Zealand Herald
WASHINGTON - An ingredient in curry may help stimulate immune system cells that gobble up the brain-clogging proteins that mark Alzheimer's disease, US researchers said yesterday.
They said they isolated a compound in turmeric, a yellow spice that gives Indian curry powder its distinctive colour, that appears to stimulate a specific response against Alzheimer's symptoms.
It may be possible to infuse this compound into patients and treat the incurable and fatal brain condition, Dr Milan Fiala of the University of California, Los Angeles and colleagues said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=1501145&objectid=10452041
People with moles on their skin live longer
10:17AM Wednesday July 11, 2007
By Jeremy Laurance
New research suggests moles may be an indicator of youthfulness. Photo / Reuters
People with a lot of moles on their skin are used to be told that they are at greater risk of cancer - but, for once, they have to reason to celebrate - it may be a sign of youthfulness.
"Moley" people can look forward to a longer life than their less pigmented peers, research suggests, despite the fact that they have a marginally higher risk of developing melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer.
A study comparing more than 1,800 twins has found that those with more moles on their skin have longer telomeres - a marker of biological ageing found in all cells.
The findings suggest that the risk of cancer is counteracted by the effects of the telomeres, which protect the chromosomes.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=1501145&objectid=10450883
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