Cafe Scientifique

The recent destructive earthquakes in Canterbury have brought the hazard of earthquakes in New Zealand into sharp focus. What can seismologists tell us about why and how this earthquake sequence happened?

Sleep disorders and how they change during our lives

Do you want to boost your resilience so you “bounce back” even when life is hectic and the demands on you are high?

Urban air pollution is an issue that affects many people, often unknowingly, when we breathe airborne chemicals, particulate matter or biological organisms carried in the air.

Do the Egyptian Pyramids Provide a Clue?
Portland cement manufacture contributes the second-greatest greenhouse gas burden after thermal power generation. The hunt is on for more environmentally-friendly substitutes (“green concretes”). Inorganic polymers (geopolymers) could provide a solution.

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope is the most exciting and significant scientific project currently underway in the world. Australia and New Zealand have been shortlisted as potential sites to host the SKA with a site decision due in early 2012.

Cafe Scientifique - Nuclear Energy; what's hot & what's not?
Nuclear reactor meltdowns, radiation contamination and particle drift are all issues concerning many people at the moment. Historically, Three Mile Island and Chernobyl have had catastrophic events affecting large areas.

Medicine Mondiale strives for:

• the development of innovative affordable products that make a measurable difference to improving access to quality healthcare on a global scale
• combat global poverty and health issues for the most vulnerable and neglected societies

At a time when Tunisians and Egyptians are taking to the streets to overthrow governments these citizens see as corrupt or dictatorial or undemocratic, New Zealand citizen protest and activism is in decline and has been for several decades now.

Pearls in a Sea of Nonsense