The History of Astronomy: A Primer
In The Beginning Humanity has always had a strong fascination with the objects that inhabit the sky over our heads. They were quickly ascribed an elevated status, due to their perceived orientation above everything, and the idea that they were watching over and had influence on the Earth. Early religions centered around Sun and Moon worship, and celestial objects were believed to have a strong impact on seasonal changes such as… Read more »
Features
R&D: More than rolling the dice
Budget ‘09 has left a bittersweet taste in the mouths of those involved with science, research and technology in New Zealand. The canning of Labour’s Research and Development (R&D) tax break while Australia made theirs more generous has been a sticking point for many. Moana Mackey, Labour’s spokesperson on Science and Technology, and Research and Development, said that with the R&D tax break the former government was “genuinely trying to break… Read more »
Can Bill English say “tertiary eduction”?
Right kids, it’s time for a quick recap. So far in Salient’s amazing awesome super epic series about tertiary education funding in New Zealand we’ve looked at how tertiary education used to be funded and how it changed over the 1990s, what reforms the Labour government implemented and what we can expect in terms of tertiary education funding from the current National government. Where to from here? New Zealand’s universities are… Read more »
Science in fiction: please stop doing it wrong
Don’t you hate it when you’re totally absorbed in a TV show, movie or book, and a character says something so annoyingly stupid that you’re ripped right out of the story and back into reality, fuming at the writer? This is particularly a hazard when it comes to sci fi. You’ve got intergalactic space travel, robots, time travel, and aliens who travel through time and space to fight aliens, cyborgs, and time-travelling… Read more »
