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 ...
The ocean has a complex circulation system, moving water, heat, salt and nutrients around the world. Surface currents in the top 400m are driven mainly by wind. Deeper currents are driven by ...
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 ...
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? Hominins Like all living things, early humans are classified using the Linnean classification system. ‘Hominin ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Research on godwit migration involves tracking or following the flight path of the birds. Scientists like Dr Phil Battley and Jesse Conklin from Massey University do this by putting a tracking ...
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 ...
Professor Tom Higham from Oxford University explains some of the physiology of Homo neanderthalensis – an evolutionary ancestor of modern humans today.
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. By the end of this activity ...
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 ...
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 ...
Professor Keith Hunter, of the University of Otago, describes how the North Atlantic current, and others like it, flush out and ventilate the world’s oceans. Because of the size of the ocean, and ...
Genomics has opened up our understanding of ancient hominins and human evolution. Genomics is an area within genetics that concerns the sequencing and analysis of an organism’s genome. The genome ...
Different wing sizes and shapes allow fliers to have specific flight capabilities. Match birds and aircraft with similar capabilities.
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 ...
Project Hotspot is a Taranaki-based citizen science project and one of the Participatory Science Platform (PSP) projects supported by the New Zealand Government. The Ngā Motu Marine Reserve ...
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. Seasonal ...
Massey University senior lecturer Dr Phil Battley shares his amazing discovery that godwits make the longest non-stop flight of any migrating bird in the world. He also shares his concerns for ...
