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Alana Alexander

@laninsky.bsky.social
225 followers 378 following 26 posts

I study critters using DNA! 🐳🐬🐋 Ngāpuhi (Te Hikutū), Pākehā. He māmā ahau ki ngā tamariki e toru ki tua o te ārai me te pōtiki kua noho tonu ki te ao nei

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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
As someone who has the privilege of studying ngā ika moana (whales and dolphins), and as someone who answers "one who made it home" when confronted with the dreaded "how many children do you have?" pātai, I just want to mihi to Mary Beth for this beautiful article
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Gwen C. Katz @gwenckatz.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Fuck ChatGPT flyers. The future is broadsheets.
A crowded broadsheet with way too many fonts. It says:
Forget ChatGPT Flyers
Say it with 
Broadsheets
Unlimited fonts
Stretch them
Or cram a really long sentence into one line for no good reason
No whitespace
Mix capital and lowercase
Pointing hands
(They're called manicules!)
Don't be left behind
Broadsheets are the future
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Anna Santure @annasanture.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
University of Auckland is looking for: Lead Technologist – Genomics - Te Kura Mātauranga Koiora | School of Biological Sciences in Auckland, New Zealand. jobs.smartrecruiters.com/TheUniversit...
jobs.smartrecruiters.com
Lead Technologist – Genomics - Te Kura Mātauranga Koiora | School of Biological Sciences
Company Description:  Waipapa Taumata Rau | The University of AucklandKo te whare Pūtaiao | The Faculty of Science at the University of Auckland is the largest and most highly...
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Jolisa Gracewood @nzdodo.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Obsessed with this clip. Chris Bishop utters ~95% of the words, but Kieran MacAnulty’s deadpan face throughout says EVERYTHING. Pure art, up there with Charlie Chaplin & Marcel Marceau. The sip of water at three minutes exactly. The newspaper as prop. Magnificent.👏 www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/13/w...
1news.co.nz
Watch: Chris Bishop grilled on National's leadership drama
National minister Chris Bishop said he backed Luxon, and emphasised that the meeting was called due to the leadership threat from Penk.
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Aotearoa's Electoral Orange Guy @poti-aotearoa.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
General Election 2026 Deadlines Deadline for enrolled voters to switch between General and Māori roll: 5 hours Days left to enrol for the first time: 80 days Enrol or update here: vote.nz/enrolling/enrol-or-update/e… Remind your Friends & Whanau #nzpol
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NativeBio Data Consortium @nativebio.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
NativeBio has a WorldWide presence and many of us are asked to speak at major events, wherever we are needed. Soon, Rotorua, Aotearoa (NZ) for the Genomics Standards Consortium and University of Otago. genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io/GSC26-Rotoru...
genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io
Online Agenda | GSC26. The 21st international meeting of the Genomic Standards Consortium.
AI‑readiness is becoming a defining requirement for genomic data standards, and this theme will run throughout the three days of GSC2026. The meeting will bring together researchers, data stewards, an...
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Evolution Students @ssegrad.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
1/4 In today's funding climate, every grant and fellowship matters. Based on feedback from our GSAC Community Check-In Survey, we're building a growing hub of graduate & postdoctoral funding opportunities and job boards to make them easier to find. 🧵
Funding and job board curated by Dieter Lukas and Pro Manna
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Dreadnought Holiday @dreadships.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
It's World Marine Aids to Navigation Day on the 1st July, so here's a quick thread on some aids to navigation. Now the first and most obvious aid to navigation is dry land. Dry land - pay attention at the back - is strongly suggestive that you can't go sailing here.
Cargo ship NCL Salten, enjoying a brief spell as a garden ornament in a Norwegian fjord.
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
The problem with treating science like a startup thespinoff.co.nz/politics/29-...
thespinoff.co.nz
The problem with treating science like a startup
Few New Zealanders spend much time thinking about volcanic monitoring but when a volcano erupts, we expect expertise to exist immediately.
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
Good news for you Ngāti Tūreiti (too late) types! Abstract submission for the QRW satellite, Environmental Omics on 3-4 Sep at Ōtautahi (ChCh), has been extended until the 1st July. Get one in: www.queenstownresearchweek.org/abstract-sub...
queenstownresearchweek.org
Abstract Submission & Poster Guidelines - Queenstown New Zealand
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Sebastian Alvarez-Costes @sebasalco.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Happy to share that the new Cetacean Genomes Project website is up and running! www.cetaceangenomesproject.org @philmor1964.bsky.social @laninsky.bsky.social @andrewfoote.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social @rockyrockyrocky.bsky.social
cetaceangenomesproject.org
CGP
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
Kia ora folks - tukuna your abstracts! We’d love to hear about the cool mahi you are doing!
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
The ‘Environmental Omics’ satellite of QRW2026, is happening at Te Pae, Ōtautahi, 3-4 Sep. Further information at: www.queenstownresearchweek.org/latest-advan.... Abstract submission (due June 24th): www.queenstownresearchweek.org/abstract-sub...
queenstownresearchweek.org
Environmental Omics Meeting - Queenstown New Zealand
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The 2026 Genomic Standards Consortium meeting is now open! genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io/GSC26-Rotoru.... Awesome line up of folks, particularly focussing on genomic standards in Indigenous contexts: genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io/GSC26-Rotoru... See ya in Rotovegas, NZ!
genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io
Registration details | GSC26. The 21st international meeting of the Genomic Standards Consortium.
# In person registration Registration is open !! ## Registration Fees **Early-bird** (until July 6) - Full registration $350 USD/600 NZD - Student registration $250 USD/450 NZD - Industry attendees re...
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Jessica Price @delafina777.bsky.social · 04/05/2026
Hey so if you’re a man with an XX partner or child that you care about, I need you to read this thread because shit is not going to change unless cis men start not being okay with this stuff.
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Danielle, Petty Hate Machine @dimsie.bsky.social · 25/04/2025
My usual Anzac Day post. George was Ngāi Tahu.
My great-grandfather, George "Sonny" Skerrett, Gallipoli survivor, interviewed for the occasion of his 100th birthday in 1992: "Ashore, it was frightful. Terrible.... The Turks applied for the armistice to bury the dead. I went out with four doctors, couldn't do much for them, just bandage them. There were 4000 Turks buried that day, I never saw anything like it in all my life. I cried all day, all afternoon, I couldn't stop. Six of my mates, we did everything together, swum and played tennis, they were all out there dead. I looked for them but never found them. Some of the bodies had been lying out there for over a month, and they just fell to pieces in the 100 degree heat.... We were shelled continuously, shrapnel shells falling on both sides. Why I never got hit I'll never know. I still remember the beach. There were a couple of thousand men lying there in all shapes and sizes and forms, all wounded and sick.... We could only treat a certain number of them. The badly wounded, they'd say, you go and find someone else to look after, and they just lay there and died.... I still think about Gallipoli quite a bit. It accomplished nothing.... War's terrible, everybody loses. The only ones who win are the people who make the bombs and shells and the bullets."
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beckydubs 🇳🇿 @beckydubs.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
Here we go fam. Time to beat this oppressive, nasty, racist, divisive, Tiriti bashing bullshit AGAIN 😡 Sign up as a claimant supporting. #nzpol #ToituTeTiriti forms.office.com/pages/respon...
forms.office.com
Microsoft Forms
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 23/04/2026
The 2026 Genomic Standards Consortium meeting is now open! genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io/GSC26-Rotoru.... Awesome line up of folks, particularly focussing on genomic standards in Indigenous contexts: genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io/GSC26-Rotoru... See ya in Rotovegas, NZ!
genomicsstandardsconsortium.github.io
Registration details | GSC26. The 21st international meeting of the Genomic Standards Consortium.
# In person registration Registration is open !! ## Registration Fees **Early-bird** (until July 6) - Full registration $350 USD/600 NZD - Student registration $250 USD/450 NZD - Industry attendees re...
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Mothmanosphere @hadyn.nz · 06/01/2026
Pretty textbook on how not to do crisis communication for this type of attack. So here’s a little thread on what to do instead. 🧵 If you don’t know, I’m Hadyn Green, Principal Communications advisor at @first.org and my job is to go around the world teaching people how to do to cybersecurity comms
rnz.co.nz
Manage My Health CEO: 'Trust us even though we've dropped the ball'
The chief executive of beleaguered patient portal says he is open to standing down if required.
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Dr Lucy Tel-Bar @lucytelbar.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Now that it's public: RIP FluTracking, which I understand only cost $50k per year to administer, yet provided incredibly valuable and irreplaceable information on levels of influenza-like-illness. What an utterly dim decision.
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
SING Aotearoa is on! SING Aotearoa 2026 - Ōtepoti (Dunedin) - 8-13 February 2026 Applications for SING Aotearoa 2026 are now OPEN, head to www.singaotearoa.nz. Applications close 15 December. Please share share share with your networks, group chats and socials across the motu.
singaotearoa.nz
SING Aotearoa
Summer Internship for INdigenous peoples in Genomics
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Mick Westbury @mick2474.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
Only one week left to apply
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Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️ @napaaqtuk.bsky.social · 17/10/2025
In case you are looking for Indigenous thrillers/horror stories this October. Fricking love libraries that put together lists like this. pima.bibliocommons.com/v2/list/disp...?
pima.bibliocommons.com
Indigenous-Authored Chills and Thrills — a staff-created list from Pima County Public Library
The Many Nations team collected spooky titles by Indigenous authors to celebrate 2024's yíiyáh season. "Yíiyáh" is a Navajo expression that ranges in meaning from "scary" to "dangerous." Dive into the...
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Paul_BarlowNZ @paulbarlownz.bsky.social · 11/10/2025
One final bit of good news - 234600 people across the motu voted to remove Māori wards, 245800 to keep them - 51.1% of all votes were to keep them, 48.9% not to. The majority of the country that voted were in favour so suck it coalition!
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Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 24/09/2025
I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA 10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 23/09/2025
led by wahine toa Tara, I'm lucky enough to be beside a rōpū of awesome Māori and Pacific "earliesh" career researchers on this one - our advice to the rangatira o āpōpō who are entering into STEM research training (ki a au, he reta aroha nā ngā tuākana tēnei): www.journal.mai.ac.nz/system/files...
journal.mai.ac.nz
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Theta Salmon @thetasalmon.bsky.social · 20/09/2025
This TikTok should be titled: “The Right Wing Explained” Well worth 90s of your time, & very applicable to the incoherent hypocrisy & gaslighting we see from Seymour, Peters & the Luxo-pool Noodle. This will get worse the longer NACT hold power here in NZ as it will feed their tantrum. #nzpol
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Richard McElreath 🐈‍⬛ @rmcelreath.bsky.social · 10/09/2025
“Overall, the message from this survey is positive; evolutionary biologists are readily employable outside of academia, generally well-prepared for those jobs, and report high levels of satisfaction” www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
biorxiv.org
Leaving Academia: Insights from Evolutionary Biologists on Their Career Transitions and Job Satisfaction
Many who have obtained PhDs in evolutionary biology will ultimately pursue careers that fall outside a narrow definition of an academic career. At the same time, PhD students and supervisors of PhD st...
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Gary Chiles 🚲 🍄 ☕ 🦚 🐱 𝟜 𝟚𝟘 @testtubeone.bsky.social · 08/08/2025
@taniawaikatolawyer.bsky.social has posted these on Facebook so I'm sharing the joy here because we all felt Ellen Tamati's mamae. All of the mana, all of the time.✊✌️🥰 #ToitūTeTiriti #OneTermGovernment #nzpol
Toitū Te Tiriti billboard featuring Ellen Tamati wearing a big smile

Billboard says:
MY MANA
MY VOICE
MY MANDATE
VOTE YES TO MĀORI WARDSToitū Te Tiriti billboard featuring Ellen Tamati visible from Parliament

Billboard says:
MY MANA
MY VOICE
MY MANDATE
VOTE YES TO MĀORI WARDS
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
@sebasalco.bsky.social doing an awesome job repping the team on the research we were lucky enough to conduct on these taonga.
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University of Otago - Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka @universityofotago.bsky.social · 08/07/2025
With fewer than 100 Māui dolphins left, and Hector’s also endangered, these rare subspecies are hard to find and even harder to study. But Otago researchers have cracked their DNA, revealing just how vulnerable they are and what it will take to protect them.💙🐬 Read more here🔗:
otago.ac.nz
Smart solution delivers on dolphin DNA
Creating genomes from DNA is hugely important for managing threatened species –understanding their past and how they have adapted to their environment helps conservationists protect them.
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Rochelle Constantine @rconstantine.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
🧪 Great work on Hector’s & Māui genomes with @laninsky.bsky.social @emma-carroll.bsky.social phys.org/news/2025-07...
phys.org
Innovative DNA assembly process produces high-quality reference genomes for endangered dolphins
Creating genomes from DNA is hugely important for managing threatened species—understanding their past and how they have adapted to their environment helps conservationists protect them.
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 27/06/2025
Tēnā koe e te whānau - ka kimihia tētahi tumuaki hou ki tō Te Koha Waimarie (tō taku pēpi) kohanga - tēnā, horahia tēnei pānui ki ngā tāngata e hīkaka ana ki tēnei wero! www.seek.co.nz/job/85125985...
seek.co.nz
Head Teacher/Kaiako Kaiārahi Job in North Dunedin, Otago - SEEK
Become Kaiako kaiārahi at Otago's only bilingual early childhood centre. Where the team enjoys strong whānau support while providing early learning.
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Jane @janerefreshed.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
That's appalling & Otago should protect & defend this esteemed & honourable thinker, scholar & Māori academic. I was honoured to learn from Anaru & look to his example at as a Social Worker, Academic Mana Tanē. Anaru has more mana & heart & mind in his little finger! He's obviously hit a nerve?
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Dr Lucy Stewart @lcsnz.bsky.social · 04/06/2025
Our problem is not a lack of young people who want a career in science, our problem is a lack of careers in science
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Deborah Russell MP @beefaerie.bsky.social · 26/05/2025
Submissions are open on the Regulatory Standards bill. The Chair of the Finance and Expenditure Committee has opened them until 23 June, ie just over four weeks, instead of the more usual six weeks for a bill with a standard six month report back date. www.parliament.nz/en/pb/sc/mak...
parliament.nz
Regulatory Standards Bill - New Zealand Parliament
Public submissions are now being invited on this Bill
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Paul Brislen @brislen.nz · 07/05/2025
The good people behind the flu tracker study are searching for new participants, particularly young ones. It takes about two minutes once a week to tell them whether you've had the snuffles or COVID or anything in between. Easy as, plus you're helping SCIENCE. www.flutracking.net/Join/NZ/inv2...
flutracking.net
Flutracking.net | Tracking respiratory illness across Australia and New Zealand
Flutracking is an online health surveillance system used to detect epidemics of influenza across Australia and New Zealand,
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Dr. Stephanie @punkrockscience.bsky.social · 04/05/2025
As a little kid, I was in an elevator at Boston’s Museum of Science, excitedly telling my grandparents about squid chromatophores. The older man with us turned to me and told me that it *was* amazing, and that that kind of excitement is the mark of a great explorer. Sir Edmund Hilary, folks.
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 20/04/2025
A Fulbright is what enabled me to travel to the states to study conservation genetics of sperm whales for my PhD, giving me lasting scientific skills, friendships, and understanding of a place that was not my own 💔
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Marty Kardos @martykardos.bsky.social · 17/04/2025
📢 📢📢📢📢 Every biologist who cares about biodiversity should provide public comment on this rule proposed by the Trump administration that would REMOVE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTIONS for endangered species! This is extremely bad. www.federalregister.gov/documents/20...
federalregister.gov
Rescinding the Definition of “Harm” Under the Endangered Species Act
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively referred to as the Services or we) are proposing to rescind the regulatory definition of "harm" ...
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Whale Scientists @whalescientists.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
Scientists have assembled the first high-quality genomes of New Zealand’s Hector’s + critically endangered Māui dolphins using degraded DNA—an unprecedented breakthrough that offers insights for conservation and a new path forward for endangered species worldwide. whalescientists.com/new-zealand-...
whalescientists.com
New Genome Assembly Approach Unlocks Secrets of Critically Endangered Dolphins in New Zealand
Despite working with degraded DNA, scientists assembled high-quality genomes of New Zealand's dolphins, with insights for conservation.
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Whale Scientists @whalescientists.bsky.social · 07/04/2025
The recap of the study by Sebastian Alvarez-Costes on his new study! Super fascinating and inspiring work 🐬✨
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 08/04/2025
Really proud of @sebasalco.bsky.social's mahi on this one, and grateful to the iwi and hapū who entrusted us with their ngā ika moana taonga. @royalsocietynz.bsky.social, University of Otago, Genomics Aotearoa and ORG.one provided funding, and thanks to all incl coauthors who provided tautoko!
org.one
ORG.one
Our goal is to support rapid sequencing of any critically endangered species, anywhere, by anyone.
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Janel Comeau 🍁 @verybadllama.bsky.social · 03/04/2025
I have tariffed the penguins that are on Heard Island and which you were probably assuming did not export goods forgive me they were taking advantage of us so cunning and so cold
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Sarah Pallett @sarah4ilam.bsky.social · 28/03/2025
When the website for submission collapsed under the weight of our collective anger we were told that we could still bring our fury to the committee by hand, on paper. But that was not true. Those words are unread, those voices unheard. Thanks to @duncanwebbmp.bsky.social for fighting this. #nzpol
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
Kua kōrero pū tēnei tuhinga ki tōku ngākau, nā te mea, he tangata tahiti o tōku ake marae, ā, ka mōhio pū ki ngā pīki whera o te hono anō ki tō ake hapū. Waihoki, e mōhio pū ana ki te tautoko mai a Mauraka, a Kāti Huirapa hoki ki ērā e whai ai i te reo i Ōtepoti ❤️ e-tangata.co.nz/reflections/...
e-tangata.co.nz
Finding my way back, over and over | E-Tangata
“Not everyone knows their iwi. It’s only recently that my son has started talking about being from Puketeraki. You need to see places to feel like you know them, I reckon.” — Emma Hislop.
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Alana Alexander @laninsky.bsky.social · 26/03/2025
Stoked to see this wonderful story about @plutoxliu.bsky.social, a wonderful PhD student based in @ceridwenfraser.bsky.social's lab who I've had the pleasure to co-supervise: www.otago.ac.nz/news/newsroo...
otago.ac.nz
Antarctic trip a dream come true for marine science student
Marine Science doctorate student Pluto Liu recently joined the National Geographic Explorer ship to the Antarctic Peninsula and Patagonia as a visiting scientist.
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