Science

Liquid gypsum is used today to improve the quality of clay soil, but in Roman times, it had a quite different application.

Autumn has arrived in Middlemarch.

Every now and then an astronomer finds themselves asking a question that sounds faintly ridiculous but is, in fact, perfectly reasonable.

As I am writing this it is International Women’s Day, and how appropriate to look back on the many contributions that women have made to understanding our human past.

On calm nights in Middlemarch, when the wind drops and the paddocks fall quiet, my usual practice is to step outside before bed and gaze upwards.

In a recent "Faith and Reason" column, David Tombs wrote about Gravedigger Bob, a Brazilian dog that so missed its master that it camped out in his cemetery and was ultimately buried there.

On Tuesday evening, as the last light fades over Otago Harbour and the first stars appear, something rather wonderful will begin.

When I tell colleagues I am involved in a research project at Shangri-La, they think I am teasing.

On Tuesday night, just after dinner, step outside and look east.

The recent Waitangi Day celebrations remind me of how a copy of the Treaty came to Otago.

Out here in the Strath Taieri, the nights have started to feel like autumn again — colder, steadier: the sort of air that makes the stars look as though someone has polished them.

Out at Middlemarch, the night has a way of settling in properly.

Gold is in the news, with opinion divided over the proposed Bendigo mine near Tarras.

It was 10 years ago, on a balmy warm evening in Greece, that I yarned with Mike Petraglia during a gathering to celebrate our son Tom and Katerina’s wedding.

Space weather, I’ve learned, behaves very much like normal weather.

The moon has been keeping me company again this week, lifting itself into the evening sky with a calm, unhurried assurance.

King Nestor features prominently in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, as his drama of the Trojan wars unfolded.

Overcast, humid weather favours sandflies, which are starting to be reported.

The western horizon from my Middlemarch place has improved markedly of late.

The Shanghai Archaeological Forum is held biannually and I have been fortunate to have attended all six.