Fluoride is Fine and We Can't Believe That Has to Be Said

Posted 1:39pm Sunday 10th September 2017

Conspiratorial people love to claim that the government adds fluoride to water and toothpaste in some dastardly plan to make us all sleepy slaves, helpless to resist their evil bidding. The truth, however, is far less scandalous and far more reassuring - fluoride is your friend, my friend, and Read more...

Ta Moko, A Revived Artform

Posted 11:41am Sunday 13th August 2017

Ta moko is the traditional art of Māori tattooing, initially pertained only to the face, legs and buttocks. Contemporary ta moko has expanded its borders to incorporate one’s arms, chest and back - most likely due to the stigma that being tattooed has in modern society. However, in Read more...

Science Tank | Supervolcanoes

Posted 2:02pm Sunday 6th August 2017

It was 75,000 years ago, and all was peaceful in the Sumatran jungle - birds were chirping and swishing through sunlight-dappled tree canopies, while insects chirruped busily on the jungle floor. Suddenly, a sonic boom pierced the air; rumbling shook the earth. All living things fell dead instantly Read more...

Science Tank | The Mighty Aurora

Posted 1:47pm Sunday 30th July 2017

Living far from the equator can be a bit of a bummer - we miss out on that awesome high concentration of sunshine and long sunny days. Instead we crawl sadly into our damp Dunedin caves at 4pm when we lose the sun in winter. We brave the cold Antarctic winds and surf in what feels like a frozen Read more...

Travel Trips From A Jerk

Posted 11:59am Sunday 30th July 2017

It all starts pretty innocently, over a few loose ones at Starters Bar with a couple of your mates from high school. You happily slur sweet nothings to each other, pointing your beer bottles at each other for emphasis, sealing the bromance with a few rogue splashes on each other’s Leavers Read more...

The Ultimate Rush

Posted 11:49am Sunday 30th July 2017

When I was thirteen years old in Bali on a family holiday, my dad decided, after a few too many beers, that parasailing on the beach was most definitely too good an opportunity to pass up at just USD$7 a pop. Before I knew it, I was strapped into a rusty old harness to be whisked into the sky, Read more...

Science Tank | Inhale, Exhale

Posted 2:32pm Sunday 23rd July 2017

Try to hold your breath as long as you can. How’d you go? 1 minute, 2? Pathetic. You’ve a long way to go, sport. The record for static apnea, also known as holding one’s breath, currently stands at a casual 11 minutes 54 seconds, and is held by Serbian Branko Petrović, who Read more...

Vapourium Presents Science Tank | Tardigrades

Posted 2:59pm Sunday 16th July 2017

For the last 500 million years, the micro-animal Hypsibius dujardini, otherwise known as tardigrades, have ruled our planet. If you’ve never even heard of these bad boys, then boy howdy it’s time to learn you. Measuring up to a whopping 1mm in length, their curious little three Read more...

Science Tank | Schrodinger’s cat & the double slit experiment

Posted 2:30pm Sunday 9th July 2017

In 1935, an Austrian physicist named Erwin Schrödinger published his “Schrödinger's Cat” thought experiment to explain superposition (a quantum mechanics principle stating that something exists in all possible states until it is directly observed or measured, at which point Read more...

Different Strokes: Interviews with fetishists

Posted 12:08pm Sunday 9th July 2017

It could be the well-dressed, polite woman serving you in the bank, or the elderly bus driver who ambushes the passengers with talkback radio at an aggressive volume. It could be your stern lecturer, or even your parents. The world is brimming with saucy people harbouring all manner of thrilling Read more...