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Which is really the best performed Olympic country?
Over at Statistics New Zealand the folks have done a great job in producing an alternative medals table for the London Olympics. They are showing the number of medals won per million population. They...
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New Zealand surges to Silver
On the seventh day they did rest – I think not. Aotearoa a land of couch potatoes – absolutely; sitting down wins medals! Super cyclists and outrageous rowers took New Zealand’s medal tally to six on...
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North Korea leads the Olympics – Medals per dollar of GDP
Do richer countries perform better than poorer? Is sporting prowess more important to a country’s leaders than feeding their population? Or does this table reflect real sporting prowess. You be the...
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A bronze puts New Zealand in Gold medal position
The weekend success of a New Zealand rowing pair put them in gold medal position on the medals per capita table. They have now sneaked ahead of Slovenia. Denmark are in bronze medal position with...
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Grenada grabs gold, NZ relegated to Silver
As expected, a country with a small population has grabbed the top medal position when Grenada (population, 104,000) grabbed a gold. WIth a medals per million score of 9.6 they are only likely to be...
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Should governments fund science?
Just heard Julia Lane - an expat Kiwi and science economist speaking on Radio NZ about science and the economy. She’s in Christchurch for a debate “Is Science Good for the Economy?” which can be heard...
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Deadly ignorance
How many deaths does it take? We hear that question asked time and again following a tragic event. We also hear it with calls for changes to our public health priorities. Well, I am now asking it...
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Cooking up a new kidney
The Boston Kidney Recipe Take an unwanted kidney. Disconnect from plumbing. Wash away cells (use plenty of detergent). Take resultant scaffold and reseed with a few cells obtained from someone needing...
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Two new Health Research Council grants worth crowing about
This week’s announcement by the HRC of Feasibility Study and Emerging Researcher grants have many great projects. Two in particular are worth crowing about (because they have some relationship to...
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The physics of maiming a child
Dear driver, When you backed out of a driveway and did not even see how I swerved around behind your car to avoid T-boning you, how dare you have the temerity to tell me you were careful! I was 7 feet...
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Science New Zealand
I’ve started a new Flipboard magazine called “Science New Zealand.” Does anyone want to be a co-curator so we can collect news & commentary about NZ science & scientists in one place? See...
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Significantly p’d
I may be a pee scientist, but today is brought to you by the letter “P” not the product. “P” is something all journalists, all lay readers of science articles, teachers, medical practitioners, and all...
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Too little pee
This week’s post is really about the coloured stuff & why too little of it is dangerous. Note, I say coloured stuff because it aint just yellow – check out this herald article if you don’t believe...
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Open letter for a professional association regarding impact factors
Dr John Pickering Department of Medicine University of Otago Christchurch Christchurch New Zealand Dr Peter Kerr Editor Nephrology Journal of the Asia Pacific Society of Nephrology 3 July 2013 Re:...
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The legend of Chris Martin: Part I
His innings may be over, but the legend lives on. Chris Martin retired this week from international cricket. He was a legend with ball and he was a legend with bat, for quite different reasons. His...
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The legend of Chris Martin: Part II
Chris Martin was Not-out a remarkable 50% of the time. That is, 52 times out of 104 innings. Is this a record? I don’t know an answer, so I sent off an email to the gurus at Cricinfo to see if they...
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Totally Underwhelming
What do you get when you cross dozens of New Zealand’s best scientists with a myriad of Ministry officials? The answer is the underwhelming reports from the 10 June workshops of the National Science...
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My 10 Commandments of a Data Culture
Thou shalt have no data but ethical data. Thou shalt protect the identity of thy subjects with all thy heart, soul, mind and body. Thou shalt back-up. Thou shalt honour thy data and tell its story, not...
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A new entity is born: CDaR
Have you ever been told the blood test is positive and the disease in question is shocking – Cancer, an STD (but you don’t sleep around!), MS? Have you every wondered why it is that some drugs get...
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Don’t call this scientist soft!
I’m a soft money scientist, not because I’m cuddly (I am), or because I’m an easy mark for a fiver (I’m not), but because my job and my scientific output depend on my ability/luck at raising money. As...
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