John Gibb

The University of Otago will confer an honorary doctor of science degree on Sir Alan Mark, one of New Zealand's leading plant ecologists and conservationists, this weekend.

The ''people power'' that has resulted in legal highs being banned can also help cut this country's unacceptably high workplace death toll, Dunedin South MP Clare Curran says.

Neglect and vandalism have left the Southern Cemetery grave of an important Dunedin early settler, Charles Kettle, in a ''totally shameful'' condition, heritage advocate Stewart Harvey says.

Sister Mary Winefride's 100th birthday is actually today, Anzac Day, but many friends and family celebrated her birthday at the Little Sisters of the Poor Home and Hospital, in Dunedin, yesterday.

Dunedin ACC campaigner Dr Denise Powell feels ''great'' satisfaction that a United Nations committee is raising with the Government several disability-related issues highlighted by Otago ACC claimants.

Otago Museum plans to stage a major mid-year exhibition at the opening of a big new museum in Shanghai have been postponed because of construction delays in China.

Establishing an independent ombudsman to deal with ACC issues would help avoid privacy-related problems involving a consent form that was used illegally, Dunedin claimant Dr Denise Powell says.

A massive slip at the Macraes mine on Saturday is not expected to shorten the projected life of the mine, and gold extraction will continue using stockpiled ore.

A district court judge has upheld an appeal by Dunedin ACC claimant Dr Denise Powell against being required to sign an ACC consent form in a case with ''serious ramifications'' for ACC.

Police have impounded a vehicle for forensic and electrical testing from a logging site in the Manuka Gorge area, after the death of a 7-year-old boy.

Members of Dunedin's Solomon Islands community are gathering relief supplies, including food and blankets, to help their people after their islands were recently hard hit by flooding.

Itwould be ''fairer'' for the Otago Museum, the Toitu Otago Settlers Museum and the Dunedin Public Art Gallery to receive the same Dunedin City Council levy rise later this year, Otago Museum says.

A revolutionary new $1 million microscope will allow University of Otago medical scientists to peer into living brain cells for the first time, and to study the development of neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's.

The onus is on ACC to rectify big privacy-related problems resulting from a consent form the corporation has used unlawfully, Dunedin ACC lawyer Peter Sara says.

University of Otago botanist Associate Prof Paul Guy is urging farmers to consider growing quinoa as a lucrative alternative crop, and says Dunedin residents can also grow this hardy plant in their gardens.

Research involving University of Otago scientists has shed new light on a ''surprisingly flexible'' immune system which has enabled bacteria to survive a multibillion-year-long arms race with viruses.