Environment – Views & Research

A new way to measure the age of dolphins opens a window onto the lives of these iconic animals

Evi Hanninger, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University; Emma Betty, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University; Karen A Stockin, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University; Katharina J. Peters, University of Wollongong, and Livia Gerber, CSIRO

The government’s dismantling of climate laws breaks years of cross-party agreement

Barry Barton, University of Waikato and Jennifer Campion, University of Waikato

A deadly hornet has reached NZ – we can all help stop its spread

Phil Lester, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

An Asian hornet (right) hunting honeybees as they emerge from the hive.

COP30: NZ’s lack of climate ambition undermines global goals and free-trade agreements

Nathan Cooper, University of Waikato

Climate change minister Simon Watts at a media briefing.

Spiders inspired biologists to create artificial webs to capture airborne DNA for biodiversity monitoring

Angela (Ang) McGaughran, University of Waikato and Manpreet K Dhami, Bioeconomy Science Institute

Read NZ's best experts in science, health, business and more

Get our free NZ Weekly newsletter

Underwater kelp forests at the Goat Island marine reserve.

NZ’s first marine reserve is turning 50 – the lessons from its recovery are invaluable

Conrad Pilditch, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau and Simon Francis Thrush, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

An adult male regent bowerbird with outstretched wings, showing bright yellow plumage

A tiny fossil suggests bowerbirds once lived in ancient New Zealand – new research

Elizabeth Steell, University of Cambridge; Alan Tennyson, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa; Nic Rawlence, University of Otago, and Pascale Lubbe, University of Otago

Low-angle view of a plane flying into a sunset

NZ’s government wants tourism to drive economic growth – but how will it deal with aviation emissions?

Robert McLachlan, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa – Massey University

Reform of NZ’s protected lands is overdue – but the public should decide about economic activities

Valentina Dinica, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Aerial view of native forest and a river

A ‘lack of ambition’ over livestock emissions targets now threatens NZ’s reputation and trade

James Renwick, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

New Zealand's Minister of Climate Change Simon Watts at a media stand-up.

Jane Goodall, the gentle disrupter whose research on chimpanzees redefined what it meant to be human

Mireya Mayor, Florida International University

Why does NZ’s new energy plan sideline renewables and ignore progress made already?

Barry Barton, University of Waikato

Protected areas in the Hauraki Gulf nearly triple under a new law – but it comes with a catch

Conrad Pilditch, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau and Simon Francis Thrush, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Aerial view of Browns Island, Motukorea, in the Hauraki Gulf looking towards Auckland's eastern suburbs.

‘Spooky action at a distance’ – a beginner’s guide to quantum entanglement and why it matters in the real world

Michele Governale, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington and Ulrich Zuelicke, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

An abstract visualisation of a futuristic quantum circuit with glowing nodes and connections

Close relatives of emperor penguins lived in NZ some 3 million years ago. What caused their extinction?

Daniel Thomas, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau; Alan Tennyson, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and Felix Georg Marx, Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Emperor penguins, marching in single file, on the Antarctic Peninsula.

We’ve been sending animals into space for 7 decades – yet there are still no rules to protect them from harm

Anna Marie Brennan, University of Waikato

Ham, the chimpanzee, in his capsule, with his minders.