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Say New Zealand and think 40 million sheep, 4 million people—and scenery fit for a film epic. But beyond the sheep and the "Lord of the Rings" geography, there's a big surprise. For a country with half the population of London, New Zealand punches way above its weight, with world-leading research in a range of fields including nanotechnology and materials science, fetal development, animal cloning, visual effects and volcanology, as well as the more traditional agricultural and farming. New Zealand's universities have a reputation for top-quality science and technology research. INSETS: LET'S GET VISUAL;UNDER THE VOLCANO.

At the end of April 2004, hidden away among the high-rise hotels and beaches of Australia's Gold Coast, 85 top biotechnology company bosses from all over Australia and New Zealand came together for the first time. Their mission: to work out how to hot-house the fledgling Australian biotechnology industry. The timing could hardly have been better. The week after the meeting, the CEOs heard the details of the federal government's revamped programme of aid for the sector. To the delight of the CEOs, and AusBiotech, the main industry body, the new cash on the table amounts to $5.3 billion to invest across the board in research and innovation. INSETS: THE POSEIDON MISADVENTURE;THE STATES VERSUS GM;HOW THEY LINE UP.

With a degree in microbiology and genetics under her belt, and on the hunt for a master's thesis subject, Adele Whyte's interest was drawn to the Maori oral history, being from that decent herself. She quickly realised that there are several conflicting stories. Some describe a single mass migration, others say that more than 100 canoes brought colonisers over a period spanning a few hundred years. Whyte's study is one of many in recent years that aims to unravel the mystery of New Zealand's earliest settlers, as well as those of the other Pacific islands.

The article informs that New Zealand's spending on science still lags behind that of other industrialized nations. However the private sector's share has been growing fast. In the period 2002 to 2004, industry spending rose 25 per cent, compared with an 8 per cent increase in government R&D funding. Researchers argue that as well as finding ways to boost industry funding, the government must also ratchet up its own contribution to R&D, not least to stem a worrying loss of talent when researchers decide to work abroad.