Contents

COVER PHOTO HEADLINE : THEY'RE BIGGER THAN CARS but until recently we barely knew they were here
CONTENTS : Departments : UP FRONT EDITORIAL -- IN THE FIELD -- VIEWFINDER Andy MacDonald documents Nelson-ased speedway driver Morgan Dumelow -- GeoNEWS Scientists find a city of icefish nests 240 kilometres wide, learn that humpback eat twice as much as we thought they did, and investigate the impact of kuri, the white,furred Polynesian dogs that accompanied humans to Aotearoa -- PROFILE Architectural designer Jade Kake on reinventing the shape of our cities -- JUST SO Introducing a new department exploring human evolution - one topic at a time. Upfirst: how taste works.
REFLECTION CULTURE A new book unravels the threads of Auckland's history through its landscapes, and MetService experts attemp to explain the weather -- HISTORY When bubonic plague struck New Zealand, it revolutionised our health care system.
CONTENTS : Features :
CATCHING RAYS Manta rays are so immense in size that it's hard to believe they went largely unnoticed in New Zealand waters until recently. But, as researchers discover, manta rays are elusive as well as massive.
THE ISLAND THAT BLEW UP When the submarine volcano Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha'apai erupted on January 15, it was one of the most explosive in history, It changed scientists' understanding of volcanology and tsunamis.
TOO TASTY FOR ITS OWN GOOD Ngutukaka, a plant with flowers shaped like parrot beaks, is so delicious that it's been eaten to near-extinction in the wild. Now, there are so few that most of the remaining plants have names : Bluff, Whiteslip, Te Heru and ... Gareth
MINERALS IN THE DEEP The ocean floor around the Cook Islands is studded with lumps of precious metals called polymetallic nodules - and now, mining companies are lining up to extract this wealth. The question is whether the tiny Pacific nation will allow them to.