We know that some animals make amazing long-distance journeys called migrations. This article explores some of the technology scientists use to track the animals and their journeys. Rights: ...
Could we be seeing the end of some of the great animal migrations? Fishing, fences and development are fast-tracking extinctions. This article has been republished from The Conversation under ...
One of the requirements for heavier-than-air flying machines is a structure that combines strength with light weight. This is true for birds as well as planes. Birds have many physical features ...
A bird is designed for flight. The combination of light weight, strength and shape, as well as precision control, is largely responsible for giving birds their special ability for sustained ...
Bar-tailed godwits can fly about 12,000 km at one time – further than any other known bird. This recent discovery excited ornithologists around the world. Dr Phil Battley from Massey University’s ...
The ocean has a complex circulation system, moving water, heat, salt and nutrients around the world. Surface currents in the top 400 m are driven mainly by wind. Deeper currents are driven by ...
Have you ever wanted to fly? To soar above valleys and mountains, cities and oceans, feeling the wind whipping against your face? Flight has fascinated humans for as long as we have looked ...
As humans, we’re curious about ourselves. Where did we come from? How did we evolve? From a number of hominins to one Tom Higham talks about what we know about the journey from a number of ...
Choose a mission and then successfully build and launch a satellite that can help gather the data required. Select here for additional information on using this interactive simulation.
In this activity, students explore the importance of wing shape and size and how this determines the flight capabilities of birds and planes. By the end of this activity, students should be able ...
Different wing sizes and shapes allow fliers to have specific flight capabilities. Match birds and aircraft with similar capabilities.
Help scientists establish valuable baseline data about the numbers, locations, habits and health of penguins in a range of Southern Ocean sites. This information will enable better understanding ...
The Science Learning Hub has a selection of resources that have been translated into te reo Māori and a number of resources that feature both te reo Māori and English. Our webinar Opportunities ...
Gliders and kites both have wings to generate lift. A glider’s wings are aerofoils. Well made kites are also aerofoil wings, which gives them lift. Gliders Gliders are planes without a motor ...
Professor Keith Hunter, of the University of Otago, explains how the ocean links several Earth systems, and is like a vast biological, chemical and geological factory. Huge currents act like ...
Research on godwit migration involves tracking or following the flight path of the birds. Scientists like Dr Phil Battley and Dr Jesse Conklin from Massey University do this by putting a tracking ...
Around 3,500 years ago the earliest ancestors of many Pacific people and Māori – the people provisionally named Lapita – appeared in Oceania. Records of the Lapita people and the way in which ...
In this activity, students explore the incredible flight of a special bird known as E7 to learn about the migratory flight of bar-tailed godwits from New Zealand. Rights: Adrian Riegen Flight ...
An inquiry approach is a method often used in science education. The question bank provides an initial list of questions on flight and places where their answers can be found. The article ...
Rangi Te Kanawa, a textile conservator at The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, faces the problem of rapid deterioration in dyed harakeke artefacts such as garments and mats. In order to ...
Dr Phil Battley, a senior lecturer at Massey University, explains the wing structure and feathers on godwits in terms of flight ability. He describes the flight feathers, how the wing is similar ...
New technologies can extend our scientific understanding. They can also mean we have to throw out earlier ideas. Prior to the 1950s and the ‘radiocarbon revolution’, archaeology relied on forms ...
Massey University’s Dr Phil Battley describes godwits in flight including flapping ability, speed, flying altitudes, streamlining, time taken for non-stop flight and V-formation flight Point of ...
The toroa/northern royal albatross is one of the largest seabirds in the world! They are referred to as graceful giants of the ocean, and with a wingspan of over 3 metres, it is easy to see why ...
