Miramar surprise hideaway in imaginative retelling of Marie Curie
In 1912, Marie Curie – the first female professor at the University of Paris, first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize, and first person to be awarded two Nobels – decided to disappear for a while. She was one of the most famous women in the world; her public
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1News
07-08-2025
- 1News
New mRNA vaccines saved millions — so why is the US pulling funding?
So-called mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives during the Covid-19 pandemic — and now scientists are using that Nobel Prize-winning technology to try to develop vaccines and treatments against a long list of diseases including cancer and cystic fibrosis. But this week, US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, cancelled US$500 million (NZ$842 million) in government-funded research projects to create new mRNA vaccines against respiratory illnesses that might trigger another health emergency. That dismays infectious disease experts who note that mRNA allows faster production of shots than older vaccine-production methods, buying precious time if another pandemic were to emerge. Using older technology to target a pandemic flu strain would take 18 months to 'make enough vaccine to vaccinate only about one-fourth of the world", said Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota, an expert on pandemic preparation. But using mRNA technology 'could change that dramatically, such that by the end of the first year, we could vaccinate the world'. How mRNA technology works ADVERTISEMENT Traditionally, making vaccines required growing viruses or pieces of viruses called proteins — often in giant vats of cells or, like most flu shots, in chicken eggs — and then purifying them. Injecting a small dose as a vaccine trains the body how to recognize when a real infection hits so it's ready to fight back. But that technology takes a long time. Using mRNA is a faster process. The 'm' stands for messenger, meaning mRNA carries instructions for our bodies to make proteins. Scientists figured out how to harness that natural process by making mRNA in a lab. They take a snippet of that genetic code that carries instructions for making the protein they want the vaccine to target. Injecting that snippet instructs the body to become its own mini-vaccine factory, making enough copies of the protein for the immune system to recognise and react. The morning's headlines in 90 seconds, including a cold weekend on the way, Israel reveals a new plan in Gaza, and what not do when driving over a rail crossing. (Source: 1News) The Covid-19 vaccines aren't perfect Years of research show protection from Covid-19 vaccines — both the types made with mRNA and a type made with traditional technology — does wane over time. The vaccinations provide the strongest protection against severe infection and death, even if people still become infected. ADVERTISEMENT But that's a common feature with both the coronavirus and flu because both viruses continually mutate. That's the reason we're told to get a flu vaccine every year — using vaccines made with traditional methods, not mRNA. Today's Covid-19 vaccines made with mRNA by Pfizer and Moderna can be updated more quickly each year than traditional types, an advantage that now has multiple companies developing other vaccines using the technology. Traditional vaccines aren't the only use for mRNA Osterholm counts about 15 infectious disease vaccines that could benefit from mRNA technology, but that's not the only potential. Many disease therapies take aim at proteins, making mRNA a potential technique for developing new treatments. Researchers already are testing an mRNA-based therapeutic vaccine for pancreatic cancer. Genetic diseases are another target, such as an experimental inhaled therapy for cystic fibrosis.
The Spinoff
18-07-2025
- The Spinoff
The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending July 18
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books' stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington. AUCKLAND 1 Better the Blood by Michael Bennett (Simon & Schuster, $27) Aotearoa writer Michael Bennett's 2023 crime novel boosted his profile overseas with the likes of Val McDermid blurbing it. Curious to see it back up on top this week (and unseating the former prime minister's memoir!). 2 Wonderland by Tracy Farr (Cuba Press, $38) Wellington novelist Tracy Farr cracks Auckland's bestseller list! Here's the blurb: 'Te Motu Kairangi Miramar Peninsula, Wellington 1912. Doctor Matti Loverock spends her days and nights bringing babies into the world, which means her daughters – seven-year-old triplets Ada, Oona and Hanna – have grown up at Wonderland, the once-thriving amusement park owned by their father, Charlie. Then a grieving woman arrives to stay from the other side of the world, in pain and incognito, fleeing scandal. She ignites the triplets' curiosity and brings work for Matti, diverting them all from what is really happening at Wonderland. In a bold reimagining, Marie Curie – famous for her work on radioactivity – comes to Aotearoa and discovers both solace and wonder.' 3 Polkinghorne: Inside the Trial of the Century by Steve Braunias (Allen & Unwin, $38) Australian might be obsessed with the mushroom lady, but we're still hung up on Polk. 4 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) Unseated! 5 My Three Rivers by Shirley Metcalfe (Cuba Press, $38) Charming memoir of rural life. 6 Tackling the Hens by Mary McCallum (Cuba Press, $25) Another Wellingtonian! Local hero Mary McCallum's poetry is witty, sharp and warm. 7 Strange Pictures by Uketsu (Pushkin Press, $37) The latest blockbuster to come out of Japan – a chilling murder mystery that readers can't put down. 8 Butter by Asako Yuzuki (4th Estate, $35) The book that paved the way for Strange Pictures, above. 9 The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb (Simon & Schuster, $40) What is the river waiting for? 10 1985 by Dominic Hoey (Penguin, $38) The Spinoff's Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Claire Mabey had a chat about how much they liked this novel, and why. Here's a snippet: 'I [Lyric] love the love for Grey Lynn that runs through the book as well. He writes about that suburb with so much care, like you know Obi has haunted every street corner and still wholeheartedly believes this is the only place on Earth that feels like home. I can smell the vinegar factory and mildew on the pages. I kind of wonder whether these characters and their shameless habits might be a bit garish for a reader who wants to read some kind of underdog story, where Obi does find the treasure and suddenly everything is fixed, or dad gets his shit together and publishes his poems. But, like Grey Lynn, some things mostly just stay the same forever.' WELLINGTON 1 A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardern (Penguin, $60) 2 A Voice for the Silenced by Harry Walker ($35) A powerful collection of writing by incarcerated people. 3 M ātauranga Māori by Hirini Moko Mead (Huia, $45) An essential book for anyone keen to understand what mātauranga means and how it operates. 4 Stone & Sky #10 Rivers Of London by Ben Aaronvitch (Orion Books, $38) A brand new novel in the bestselling detective series. 5 The Book of Guilt by Catherine Chidgey (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38) A propulsive novel that asks major questions about our very souls – a guaranteed great read. 6 Tūmahi Māori: A Pathway to Understanding Māori Verbs by Hone Waengarangi Morris (Massey University Press, $45) Grammar! A new essential resource for te reo Māori learners. 7 The Safe Keep by Yael van der Wouden (Penguin, $26) Wonderful historical novel about how houses hold histories, and people, too. 8 James by Percival Everett (Picador, $38) This retelling of Huckleberry Finn is one of the biggest novels of the decade. 9 No, I Don't Get Danger Money: Confessions of an Accidental War Correspondent by Lisette Reymer (Allen & Unwin, $38) Absolutely thrilling memoir from Aotearoa's Lisette Reymer. You can get a whiff of it by reading Reymer's edition of My Life in TV right here on The Spinoff. 10 Oceans Between Us: Pacific Peoples and Racism in Aotearoa edited by Sereana Naepi (Auckland University Press, $40) 'Through ten essays rooted in the va – the relational space of story, dialogue and environment – each chapter builds on the next, weaving together lived experiences and sharp Between Us is both a testimony and a call to action. It documents the struggles of Pacific peoples and envisions a world beyond now. A rallying cry for justice, a demand for equity and a catalyst for change, this book is not about survival alone – it' s about thriving.'
Otago Daily Times
06-06-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Cave of Denis, bounty of archaeological discovery
Michael Shunkov (front left) and Maxim Kozlikin (back right) — the main excavators at Denisova Cave, with Tom Higham in the centre and Katerina Douka back left. The first issue of the journal Nature was published on November 4, 1869, costing fourpence. It has since been the standard bearer of scientific research, reflected in such iconic papers as "A structure for deoxyribose nucleic acid", published in 1953 — a paper that led to Crick and Watson's Nobel Prize for identifying the structure of DNA. This past week has seen another notable article published, in Nature Communications, that describes the discovery of a new human species that was only possible because of the surviving ancient DNA in a tiny human finger bone. The scene is Denisova cave in the remote Altai Mountains of Siberia. In the cave, once occupied by a monk called Denis, the cultural deposits go down metres in depth and thousands of years in time. Painstaking excavations by Russian archaeologists have traced the prehistoric occupation of the cave through the stone tools and fragments of bone — fragments because most had been crunched by hyaenas. The project was joined by international scientists, including my son Tom and his wife Katerina, both specialists in dating. In 2008, a tiny finger bone found its way to the Max Plank Institute, in Leipzig, for DNA analysis and it turned the evolution of the human past on its head, for it came from a unknown species that the excavation team named Denisovan. This has led to a hunt for more Denisovan bones, made the more significant by the fact that modern people from Tibet to New Guinea count Denisovans among their ancestors. There is a new analytical technique that can identify a bone fragment by extracting its collagen, and Tom and Katerina took bags of bone chips back to Oxford from Denisova Cave. After analysing more than 1000, their graduate student Samantha Brown struck gold: a fragment of human bone. Off to Leipzig it went, followed by a long and anxious wait for the DNA results to come through. The stunning result was a world first: the bone came from a young girl whose mother was a Neanderthal, and father a Denisovan, who lived about 90,000 years ago. Not only was this unique discovery the world's first known human hybrid, but it featured on the front cover of Nature. Since then, the search for more Denisovans has reached the highlands of Tibet and tropical Laos and the seas off Taiwan. It seems Denisovans and Neanderthals once had a common ancestor about 390,000 years ago and placing both in the jigsaw of human evolution is continuing apace. For the full story, read Tom Highams' The World Before Us: How Science is Revealing a New Story of Our Human Origins.
