Turning over new stones

An update on my plans for the coming year (5 minute read)

I’m probably not alone in looking towards 2025 with an anxious feeling of “what’s next?” There’s so much to worry about in both world and local events, I don’t know where to start. I’m also not sure exactly what my work circumstances will be next year, so I have a lot of personal uncertainty.

Despite all this, I have made some plans which I’d like to share with you.

Writing The Turnstone is one of the most rewarding things I do, and I’ll be continuing my focus on explaining the science behind important issues next year. There’s still more I’m learning about gene technology and I think it’s important that I continue to write about this topic. Proposed new regulations will be going through Parliament next year, and I aim to provide information to help people develop an informed opinion and contribute to the process if they wish to do so.

There are other topics I’m planning to write about – or new stones I’m planning to turn over as well – from food waste to artificial intelligence. I’d like to write more about topics covered in the One Health symposium I attended a couple of weeks ago – I spoke with several people there about doing interviews with them next year. There’s some fascinating work going on which relates to both human and animal health and I’m excited to bring that to you.

Desert near Hanksville, Utah (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

I’m also planning to write more about risk, since I’ll be putting together material for the course I’m teaching next year. I have plenty more to say about climate change, water and invasive species too.

These weekly articles about the science behind important issues will remain free. I believe in making science accessible and so making the articles available is part of that. I’ll also continue to illustrate as many of my articles as I can, because it’s another way of making science more accessible. I hope that you’ll see some improvements in my skills over the coming year.

For paying subscribers – I’ve largely run out of islands to write about, but there are many more amazing places that I’d love to share with you. So, I will be writing a series about places which mean something to me. Many of them are in New Zealand, including Mt Arthur and Lake Angelus in the Nelson Region, and Smith’s Bush in Auckland. However, there are a few overseas as well, including Kew Gardens in London and the state of Kerala in India.

I’d also like to offer you a little bit more, as I truly am grateful for your support. What I intend to do is share a few more sets of photographs based around a particular theme, as I did with the daisies a few weeks ago. I will be focusing on wonder and awe, mostly about nature, because that’s usually what inspires those feelings in me. I have a feeling that 2025 is going to be as tough, if not tougher, than 2024, and we all need something to lift our spirits. These will go out fortnightly, alternating with the articles about places.

Stones in the central Australian desert (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

At present my planned publishing schedule is that the free articles will continue to go out on a Sunday (Saturday in the USA), while the articles about places and sets of photos will go out on a Friday (Thursday in the USA). However, the alternative is that I send out free articles on the Friday, so that you have the weekend to read them. These are usually the longer articles, so I wonder what your thoughts are about this. Would you prefer the articles which arrive on a Sunday (or Saturday) to continue on that day, or would you prefer it earlier so you have more of the weekend to read it?

I’m also planning to run a couple of virtual field trips next year. During New Zealand’s first COVID-19 lockdown, I began doing these with my team. They became so popular that even once we were back in the office, we kept doing them. They’re pretty simple, just a Zoom call where someone has a selection of interesting photos from a particular place to share. They were informal and chatty, and I enjoyed the conversations. I still have plenty of pictures from places like the Maldives, so I thought I’d offer these and see how it goes.

On Christmas day, I will send out a short message, as I usually do at Christmas, and then I will take the following weekend off. I realise that I need more than a week’s break though, because I’ve been working long hours this year and I’m getting tired. So, for the first 2-3 weeks in January, I will just be sharing short articles and collections of photos. I’ll start the full articles again in late January.

I do need to let you know I will be reviewing my publishing schedule in June, because my work situation is still quite uncertain. I have a number of small jobs but I’m not sure that these will be enough.

I’ll be continuing with the Wellington Glean Report, which is a newsletter listing science and knowledge events. It lists in-person events in Wellington as well as virtual events from around New Zealand. I’ve put the link below in case you are interested.

Wellington events - Glean Report

I’ve mentioned the risk course already – once again, here is a link to information about the course. Please pass it along to anyone you think might be interested.

Demystifying risk: effective conversations about risks to health, the environment and society – Dark Times Academy

I’m working on a few other possibilities and will let you know if there’s anything significant.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on my plans. Would you prefer the articles on a Friday or would you rather I stayed with Sunday? Are there other topics you think I should look at? Do you know a scientist I should interview?

Let me know what you think either in the comments, or reply to this email.

Pūtangirua Pinnacles (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

Today’s pictures are all of stones, in keeping with my title. Next year, I’ll be writing about the places they came from – central Australia, the Utah Desert and the Pūtangirua Pinnacles in New Zealand.