The Spinoff

Building a new science audience - partnering with The Spinoff

We have partnered with The Spinoff online magazine and news site to create a science page, which features lively-written science stories.

The partnership provides a public platform for dozens of articles on science each year, on subject areas ranging from climate change to women in science, to nanotechnology and genetic modification.

The Spinoff audience is skewed towards a younger demographic and our partnership allows us to share science discoveries and knowledge with this group. The accessible and often long-form articles cover subjects not commonly understood by New Zealanders, such as hi-tech materials science and innovation.

The partnership also means we gain meaningful coverage of important discussions at events, such as our one-day symposium ‘Materialise: a sustainable future’, in October 2018.

The Spinoff was launched back in 2014 and is New Zealand’s fastest growing online media brand producing content that’s smart, funny and provocative. It has broken some of the country’s biggest stories, changed the way journalism works on the internet, and provided a fresh voice on what New Zealand could or should look like.

Spinoff articles

• Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s millions of tiny bits of plastic above our heads - The Spinoff, October 21, 2021
• How electronic noses could help us sniff our way out of the Covid crisis - The Spinoff, September 27, 2021
• The free camp that encourages Māori and Pacific students to consider careers in science - The Spinoff, August 24, 2021
• How high-tech recycling could stop waste batteries becoming the next plastic crisis - The Spinoff, November 10, 2020
• Zincovery: The award-winning startup tackling waste from galvanised steel - The Spinoff, September 9, 2020
• DiscoveryCamp could be the cure for low numbers of Māori and Pasifika in science - The Spinoff, August 7, 2020
• Deep tech and the Māori economy can be the backbone of NZ’s recovery - The Spinoff, June 4, 2020
• Covid-19: The maths that explains why we’re locking down - The Spinoff, 1 April, 2020
• How to reduce the carbon cost of building our world with steel - The Spinoff, January 28, 2020
• Not-so-modest proposals for Tiwai - The Spinoff, December 9, 2019
• How to make solar electricity cheap? Move light sideways - The Spinoff, November 5, 2019
• After decades of service, the lithium-ion battery has won a Nobel Prize - The Spinoff, October 30, 2019
• The camp where young Māori and Pasifika explore the wonders of science - The Spinoff, August 7, 2019
• Converting nitrates: science’s alternative solution for clean drinking water - The Spinoff, June 20, 2019
• The cure for climate change could be in our own backyard - The Spinoff, May 4, 2019
• WTF is molybdenum disulfide? An expert on why this nano-material matters - The Spinoff, April 4, 2019
• A mother-daughter science experience with Michelle Dickinson at AMN9 - The Spinoff, February 25, 2019
• A bio-fertiliser with dramatic implications for New Zealand’s environment presented at the AMN9 conference - The Spinoff, February 25, 2019
• Single use plastic is piling up. Is pyrolysis the answer? - The Spinoff, February 19, 2019
• Feeling the force of fungi to stop it killing our forests - The Spinoff, November 20, 2018
• 'I literally covered my wall in Post-it notes': meet NZ’s new chief scientist - The Spinoff, November 13, 2018
• There’s no renewable energy future without lithium - The Spinoff, October 30, 2018
• Computers have grown into energy gluttons, and it can’t go on like this - The Spinoff, October 22, 2018
• Western theory isn’t the only way: celebrating Māori and Pasifika science - The Spinoff, August 21, 2018
• How to cool down your data - The Spinoff, July 19. 2018
• The Spinoff profiles MacDiarmid Principal Investigator Associate Professor Nicola Gaston in her new role as Co-Director - The Spinoff, June 28, 2018
• A brilliant woman is our new chief scientist, and the timing couldn’t be better - The Spinoff, June 13, 2018
• The bionic leaf: how artificial plant life could wipe out poverty - The Spinoff, February, 23, 2018
• MacDiarmid Professor Shane Telfer helps easing life for asthmatics - The Spinoff, December 12, 2017
• Discover yourself on DiscoveryCamp - The Spinoff, August 10, 2017
• Nanodiamonds may replace common techniques to administer drugs - The Spinoff, April 2, 2017
• AMN8: Perovskite solar cells might surpass current silicon technology - The Spinoff, March 22, 2017
• AMN8 Queenstown: Women in Science panel - The Spinoff, February 16, 2017
• AMN8: Science for kids - The Spinoff, February 15, 2017
• AMN8: From science to spinoff companies -  The Spinoff, February 15, 2017
• AMN8: Unfolding of proteins -  The Spinoff, February 14, 2017
• Searching for high temperature superconductors -  The Spinoff, February 13, 2017
• AMN8: Silver nano particles in gel solution to fight tooth decay -  The Spinoff, February 13, 2017
• AMN8: Conductive polymers may serve as power source -  The Spinoff, February 12, 2017
• Nanoparticles may be used as drug carriers within the human body -  The Spinoff, January 27, 2017
• AMN8: Molecular machines -  The Spinoff, January 24, 2017
• The MacDiarmid Institute faciliates the New Zealand nano-revolution - The Spinoff, December 19, 2016

Annual Report pages

• Supporting science communication at The Spinoff - Annual Report 2020
• Supporting science communication at The Spinoff - Annual Report 2019
• Partnering with The Spinoff - Annual Report 2018
• 3.7 Partnering with The Spinoff - Annual Report 2017
• Building a new science audience - partnering with The Spinoff - Annual Report 2016