Nau mai hoki mai and welcome.

We’ve become used to requests to help fund a stranger’s medical treatment, usually accompanied by a compelling story of hardship or desperate need. Crowdfunding sites like New Zealand’s Givealittle and especially its giant US equivalent GoFundMe have become what our lead story today describes as an “entrepreneurial safety net” – an option when state healthcare or insurance aren’t enough.

But as Tom Baker and his fellow authors explain, crowdfunding very often reflects the very inequalities that force people to resort to it in the first place. In the highly competitive crowdfunding universe, people are seen as more or less deserving depending on their disability or illness, as well as their age, gender and ethnic appearance. Ultimately, it says as much about the crowd as the person being funded.

There is plenty more to read in this newsletter and on our homepage, thanks as always for your support and readership. Until next time, mā te wā and all the best.

Finlay Macdonald

New Zealand Senior Editor & NZ Editor: Politics, Business + Arts
Shutterstock/fizkes

How crowdfunding campaigners market illness to capture the attention of potential donors

Tom Baker, University of Auckland; Ann E. Bartos, University of Auckland; Caitlin Neuwelt-Kearns, University of Auckland; Octavia Calder-Dawe, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Susan E Wardell

Crowdfunding campaigners appeal to potential donors by describing the recipient as the subject of misfortune, rather than personal irresponsibility, and therefore deserving of the their sympathy.
Shutterstock/Celiafoto

No one is mourning the end of district health boards, but rebuilding trust in the system won’t be easy

Tim Tenbensel, University of Auckland

With great expectations come great challenges, and one of the biggest facing the new Health NZ agency will be rebuilding a collaborative ethos in the sector.
Shutterstock/Inthon Maitrisamphan

With closer ties to GPs, NZ’s new central health agency could revolutionise treatment of major diseases

Verna Smith, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

By borrowing from the British NHS system of working closely with general practitioners, this radical shake-up of New Zealand's health system can greatly improve primary healthcare.
Getty Images/Hagen Hopkins

New authority could transform Māori health, but only if it’s a leader, not a partner

Dominic O'Sullivan, Charles Sturt University; Heather Came, Auckland University of Technology

The announcement of a new Māori health authority could radically transform health outcomes for Māori, but its success depends on how independent and accountable it will be.
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If we want to improve NZ’s freshwater quality, first we need to improve the quality of our democracy

Nicolas Pirsoul, University of Auckland; Maria Armoudian, University of Auckland

New Zealanders pay the costs of poor environmental and infrastructural governance, but have little opportunity to influence policy in the first place. Here's how that could change.
Getty Images/Mark Tantrum

Why strict border control remains crucial if we want to keep the travel bubble safe

Nicholas Steyn, University of Auckland; Michael Plank, University of Canterbury

Although most border workers are now vaccinated, regular testing remains essential to guard against the risk of a major outbreak in the community.
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Solidarity and difference — how Anzac Day reflects an ever-changing New Zealand

Rowan Light, University of Auckland

As trans-Tasman borders re-open and in the wake of the Christchurch attacks, Anzac Day gains new meaning and presents new challenges – just as it has always done.
Royal New Zealand Returned and Services' Association Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, NZ (Tiaki reference number 1/4-009458-G)

Endless itching: how Anzacs treated lice in the trenches with poetry and their own brand of medicine

Georgia McWhinney, Macquarie University

Anzac soldiers wrote poetry about body lice, shared treatment tips and experimented with new ways of bathing.

From our foreign editions

Census results shift political power in Congress, presidential elections

Dudley L. Poston Jr., Texas A&M University

The US Census Bureau has announced which states will gain and lose representation in Congress as a result of the 2020 census. Here's how it makes the calculations.

Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boost

Mario Borunda, Oklahoma State University

If humanity wants to travel between stars, people are going to need to travel faster than light. New research suggests that it might be possible to build warp drives and beat the galactic speed limit.

High-tech contact lenses are straight out of science fiction — and may replace smart phones

Bishakh Rout, McGill University

Contact lens technology is reaching the point where science fiction meets reality. From interfaces to pressure monitors and drug release features, the contact lens industry is about to be disrupted.

What triangular patterns on rocks may reveal about human ancestors

Charles Helm, Nelson Mandela University

It appears that the South African Cape south coast's dunes and beaches formed a vast canvas of sand on which our ancestors could leave their mark.

Why some people don’t experience vaccine side-effects, and why it’s not a problem

Veenu Manoharan, Cardiff Metropolitan University

There are many reasons your immune system might react differently to vaccines.

COVID-19 in India: an unfolding humanitarian crisis

Michael Head, University of Southampton

Stories of reaching herd immunity were certainly premature.

How lobed brain corals are helping solve the mystery of what general anaesthesia does to the brain

Adam David Hines, The University of Queensland; Bruno van Swinderen, The University of Queensland

Scientists still still don't fully understand how general anaesthesia affects the brain and body. A molecule found in bioluminescent stony coral may shed some light.

‘Minari’: Part of a wave of 2nd-generation storytelling about what it means to participate in America

Natalie Jesionka, University of Toronto

Second-generation storytellers are being candid about challenges and benefits of creative careers in the face of family hopes or fears, or societal resistance to hearing marginalized narratives.