User Profile

Farah Hancock

Farah Hancock is a Newsroom reporter based in Auckland who writes on conservation, technology and health.

Te reo in taxonomy

Latin or te reo? A new article looks at how indigenous language has made its way into scientific names and how local scientists can collaborate with iwi in names for endemic flora, fauna and fungi.

Dec 05 2019

Farah Hancock

health & science

Requests for national MMR campaign ignored

Auckland DHBs made repeated calls for a national MMR vaccine catch-up campaign, which might have stopped the deadly export of measles to Samoa. Farah Hancock reports.

Dec 05 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

Zombie swamp trees’ race against time

Threatened by myrtle rust and habitat loss, the swamp maire’s soggy seeds are proving a challenge to preserve, even with the help of liquid nitrogen.

Dec 03 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

A long road to protecting species

A policy which will force councils to consistently identify significant natural areas in their boundaries is hoped to improve the outlook for New Zealand’s 4000 threatened species.

Nov 27 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

Questions over Westport rat 1080 results

Test results from an unnamed mysterious laboratory on rats and other wildlife which washed up on a Westport beach have puzzled toxicologists.

Nov 27 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

Greenpeace’s OMV oil leak concerns

Greenpeace has been going to extreme lengths to stop OMV’s oil drilling, citing concerns for the climate and the environment. Farah Hancock reports.

Nov 26 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

What killed the Westport rats?

In what’s become the curious incident of the rats on the beach, opinions are divided over the most plausible scenario leading to 680 dead rats.

Nov 22 2019

Farah Hancock

health & science

Old weather records could predict snow in Auckland

Machines will transcribe handwritten weather records from as far back as 1860 to help predict future weather patterns.

Nov 21 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

RMA oversight unit ‘not fit for purpose’

Two investigators with a meal allowance are hoped to address nationwide inconsistencies with council RMA monitoring and enforcement.

Nov 19 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

EPA’s inappropriate reaction to student

A surprise speech made by a high school student at an EPA event led to an apology letter labelled inappropriate and unnecessary.

Nov 13 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

When hormones can be deadly

A little-known hormone-related condition affecting up to 8 percent of people with periods is sometimes mistaken for bipolar disorder and incorrectly treated.

Nov 12 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

Pharmacies flout homeopathy rule

Eighteen months after it was introduced, pharmacies are still ignoring a rule requiring them to let a customer know if a product lacks evidence it works.

Nov 06 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

Foulden Maar for public good, not pig food

A site described as Dunedin’s Pompeii appears to be safe from the risk of mining after the Dunedin City Council announces its desire to buy Foulden Maar.

Nov 05 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

Court to council: sort out dam, fast

An Environment Court judge has stern words for local and central government departments who failed to monitor the impact of an illegally-constructed dam

Nov 04 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

‘Arrogant’ withholding of Māui review

Environmental NGOs want a review into whether costs to protect dolphins from fishing nets were correctly calculated released.

Nov 04 2019

Farah Hancock

Week in Review

The flurry and futility of 5G protests

From Nelson to Mangawhai, Facebook groups opposed to 5G in their community are springing up but local options to stop 5G appear limited.

Oct 30 2019

Farah Hancock

health & science

Programme slashes MRI waiting times

Wait times of three weeks dropped to five days during a “common-sense” pilot programme which allowed GPs to refer ACC patients for MRI scans.

Oct 30 2019

Farah Hancock

environment

Could RMA reform spark joy?

A proposal for an extreme spring clean of the RMA and associated legislation that would embed climate change mitigation into the system.

Oct 24 2019

Farah Hancock

health & science

Uptake of free life-saving vaccine ‘dismal’

The uptake rate of a free whooping cough vaccine during pregnancy to protect newborns is described as dismal.

Oct 22 2019

Farah Hancock

health & science

NZ ‘could have protected’ Samoa from measles

A measles outbreak in Samoa suspected to be responsible for the death of a one-year-old was “inevitable”, according to an expert who thinks NZ could have prevented it.

Oct 18 2019

Farah Hancock