SMC Heads-Up: Budget 2013, bird flu briefing and media award

SMC Heads-Up: Budget 2013, bird flu briefing and media awards

Issue 230 10 - 16 May 2013

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Budget 2013 and outlook for science

Budget 2013 will be delivered in the House next Thursday, but there are unlikely to be surprises for the science sector, with a significant budget allocation pre-announced last week.

The Budget will include $73.5 million in additional science funding that has been allocated to the National Science Challenges over the next four years (in addition to $60 million previously committed).

At the launch of the National Science Challenges in Auckland last week, the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor, Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, said the funding injection constituted the fifth consecutive year of increases in science funding.

Elsewhere, public health researchers have welcomed a $21.3 million boost in funding to combat rheumatic fever.

Free drop-in clinics will carry out sore throat testing and treatment in some of the areas most heavily-affected by the disease.

"The vaccine programme is an exciting opportunity, but no quick fix," University of Auckland paediatrics expert Professor Diana Lennon told the Science Media Centre this week.

"It's an important investment for the future and for New Zealand science. But it may take 5 - 10 years time to do the research, complete the trials and begin using it.

"We've got a long way to go with access to health care for disadvantaged kids and housing. These things don't happen overnight and we are starting from nothing. There's been an awful lot left undone for a very long time. We've really got no excuse."

Read a Science Media Centre round-up of expert reaction to the news here.

On the science radar this week...

Smartphone weather sensors, 3D printed guns, spider bite vaccine and mapping Britain's 'Atlantis'

The lowdown on avian influenza

Fears of an avian flu pandemic led the US Government to this week to authorize emergency use of diagnostic kits for the virus, fast-tracking the usual lengthy Food and Drug Administration approval process.

The move reflects the level of concern the H7N9 influenza strain, that has killed several people in China, has caused among scientists. As New Scientist reported this week, H7N9 provokes a weaker immune response than most flu, making vaccines hard to produce:

"H7 flu is poor at stimulating immunity. Virologists at the European Flu Summit in Brussels last week told New Scientist that early results show 13 times more H7N9 virus is needed to elicit a protective immune response than is needed for ordinary flu. That's bad news: the more virus a vaccine requires, the fewer doses that can be grown in a given time."

H7N9 is not transmissible between humans but is easier to catch than other strains of bird flu.

Last week, scientists in the UK gathered at the Science Media Centre to update the media on the avian flu's characteristics and the efforts to contain and monitor it in China and elsewhere.

You can listen back to the audio of the briefing, which includes some of Britain's foremost experts on influenza here.

SAVVY workshop for Wellington

The Science Media SAVVY media training programme comes to Wellington in June, with applications now open for the intensive two-day media skills building workshop.

Science Media SAVVY is a two-day course designed to give scientists and researchers the confidence and skills they need to engage effectively with the wider public through broadcast, print and social media.

Participants gain practical techniques to improve their communication, deal with nerves, adapt their message to their audience, capture attention, influence headlines, and respond effectively when an interview becomes challenging.

The SMC is pleased to announce the Wellington workshop will be held at the Royal Society buildings on the 20-22, June.

Find out more about the workshop and what past participants have to say about it here.

Help us spread the word by downloading an information flyer (PDF) and highlighting this opportunity to colleagues and peers.

And for those who are interested in becoming science media SAVVY...

APPLY HERE

Firstline features SAVVY Alumna

Science Media SAVVY attendee Dr Michelle Dickinson will be putting her new media skills to good use as one of several correspondents on a weekly science slot for TV3's Firstline.

The show's Wednesday morning 'what's making science news this week?' segment features New Zealand scientists discussing some of the big headlines in the world of science.

Dr Dickinsen, a materials scientist who took part in the two day SAVVY workshop in Auckland in March, will do her first slot on the show this coming Wednesday.

Firstline has already featured several other scientists who will be appearing in front of the camera on a once-a-month rotation.

Dr Steve Pointing, director of AUT's Earth and Oceanic Sciences Research Institute discussed the Mars One mission and recent climate research.

University of Otago's Prof Allan Blackman explained the chemistry of explosives in the wake of the Boston bombings and the West, Texas fertiliser plant blast.

This week, Massey University biosciences lecturer Dr Heather Hendrickson looked at bird flu in China and the health importance of gut bacteria.

Catch Michelle on Firstline this Wednesday.

You can also follow Michelle's blog, Matter Chatter, here.

Quoted: New Zealand Herald

"It will be visible, if the weather lets us see".


Northland Astronomical Society President Terry Hickey, on today's solar eclipse.

The print media's big night out

New Zealand's print media celebrates its best and brightest tonight at the Canon Media Awards in Auckland tonight.

Among those up for awards are a number of nominees selected for their work in science and environment writing including:

Newspaper feature writer
Chris Barton - The New Zealand Herald
Jamie Mason - The New Zealand Herald
Russell Blackstock - Herald on Sunday

Newspaper reporter
Jamie Morton - The New Zealand Herald
Marty Sharpe - The Dominion Post
Paul Gorman - The Press

Magazine feature writer business & science
Donna Chisholm - North & South
Mike White - North & South
Rebecca Macfie - NZ Listener

Good luck to all nominees - SMC Manager Peter Griffin, a judge in the online and multimedia categories, will be live tweeting from the awards dinner @smcnz

New from the SMC

Experts Respond:

Irradiated tomatoes: Experts respond to claims in the media that irradiation of food to kill pests also depletes vitamins.

Peppers prevent Parkinson's?: UK experts are not convinced by a study suggesting eating plants from the Solanaceae family may protect against Parkinson's disease.

Rheumatic fever funding: Public health researchers respond to new funding targeted to combat rheumatic fever announced this week.
Briefings:

Bird flu in China: Hear the latest from UK experts n the emerging H7N9 flu strain in China.

Sciblogs highlights

Some of the highlights from this week's posts:

A tale of two storms - Tasman District Council hydrologist Martin Doyle takes an analytical peek at Nelson's recent flooding.
Waiology

A beggar's market? - Which religion cares the most about the homeless? Ken Perrott highlights a US 'experiment' seeking to find out.
Open Parachute

See-through creatures - Alison Campbell looks at (or rather, looks through) an amazing transparent frog.
BioBlog

Research highlights

Please note: hyperlinks point, where possible, to the relevant abstract or paper.

Old words: Researchers from New Zealand and the UK have used statistical models to analyse how languages change over time, determining that seven language families of Eurasia form a linguistic super-family that evolved from a common ancestor around 15,000 years ago. They identify certain words that have changed little over time offering clues about the roots of modern languages, including English.
PNAS

A 'Red List' for ecosystems: An international team of researchers, including a New Zealander, have developed a set of criteria to assess ecosystems with a view to creating a 'Red List' of ecosystems akin to the that for endangered species. They say their new protocol provides a consistent, practical and theoretically grounded framework for establishing a systematic Red List of the world's ecosystems.
PLOS ONE

Dog-sized dino a real bone-head: Scientists have named a new species of bone-headed dinosaur, Acrotholus audeti. The species was identified from both recently discovered and historically collected fossils. Approximately six feet long and weighing about 40 kgs in life, the newly identified plant-eating dinosaur represents the oldest bone-headed dinosaur in North America, and possibly the world.
Nature Communications

Do markets erode morals? When researchers asked volunteers whether they would forego 10 Euros in profit to -- actually -- save the life of a real, healthy mouse, the introduction of market-like conditions (participants could bargain with other participants) dramatically increased the proportion willing to see the creature killed in exchange for the money. Science

Hungry shoppers buy more calories: Research have combined experimental data and real data from shops to show that hungry shoppers don't buy more food, but they do buy higher calorie food. The research included a laboratory. "Even short-term food deprivation can lead to a shift in choices such that people choose less low-calorie, and relatively more high-calorie, food options," say the authors.
JAMA Internal Medicine

Policy updates

Some of the policy highlights from this week:

Biocontrol submissions: The Environmental Protection Authority is calling for submissions on an application to release white admiral butterflies (Limenitis glorifica) to control the weed Japanese honeysuckle.

Animal Welfare Strategy: Minister for Primary Industries Nathan Guy has introduced a Bill to update and strengthen animal welfare in New Zealand. This follows last weeks launch of the NZ Animal Welfare Strategy, setting out a high level framework for how we treat animals.

Upcoming sci-tech events

• Human wellbeing and the challenges facing us - Nobel laureate Prof Peter Doherty - 14 May, Palmerston North.
For these and more upcoming events, and more details about them, visit the SMC's Events Calendar.

ENDS

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