Our Changing World: Recent Episodes
RNZ
Getting out in the field and the lab to bring you New Zealand stories about science, nature and the environment.
There’s a lot of chat about solar panels for our rooftops, but where else might it make sense to put them? Claire Concannon visits the University of Canterbury’s Electric Power Engineering Centre to learn about their involvement in a big European project exploring the use of solar panels on vehicles and in car parks. Plus, she speaks to one researcher who is focused on planning for global catastrophes.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
At the Robinson Research Institute in Wellington, researchers are developing powerful superconducting magnets for space, fusion and MRI applications. Claire Concannon visits the labs to learn about a small magnet’s trip to the International Space Station, and how much bigger magnets are powering nuclear fusion research. She also meets the team working on a hydrogen-based way to make iron from New Zealand iron sand, removing carbon dioxide emissions from the first step of steelmaking.
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In this episode:
00:00 Professor Nick Long on watching the Hēki magnet arrive at the International Space Station
04:20 Dr Nick Strickland on making superconducting magnets robust and useful
08:38 Fusion magnets and future research questions for Open Star Technologies
11:05 Professor Chris Bumby on why steelmaking produces carbon dioxide
15:20 Ben Rumsey on hydrogen reactors and producing direct reduced iron
19:50 Cullbeck Limited and plans to scale up the process
23:10 How the New Zealand Institute for Advanced Technology works…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
To get electric passenger planes in the skies requires powerful electric motors, but they must also be small and light. Some kiwi scientists think they could have a solution. Claire Concannon heads to a warehouse in Petone to learn about the promise of high temperature superconducting magnets to make electric motors for airplanes.
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In this episode:
00:00 - Where are our electric planes?
01:00 - The challenge of aviation electrification.
02:48 - The history of the Robinson Research Institute and useful properties of superconductors.
07:00 - The establishment of the New Zealand Institute of Advanced Technology
08:30 - The advantage of superconducting motors for aviation.
11:15 - Airbus’ plans for a future electric plane
12:05 - Warehouse tour and levitation bearings for future motors
14:04 - Basic motor design and characterising AC losses in superconductors.
21:26 - Testing a superconducting generator with Air New Zealand…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Join a group of young explorers as they journey to Antarctica to return a copy of The Count of Monte Cristo to Discovery Hut. Along the way they visit other historic huts to learn about triumphs and tragedies of the 'Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration'. This is an edit of the Antarctic Heritage Trust's '77 Degrees South' podcast.
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Learn more:
- The full Antarctic Heritage Trust 77 Degrees South podcast can be found on their website.
- The AHT also previously made a podcast about restoring Scott's Terra Nova Hut, and an edit of that was also aired on Our Changing World.
Guests:
Producer: Maia Ingoe
Narrator: Jake Bailey
Sound design and music: Calum Turner
Inspiring explorers: Kitiona Pelasio, Louise Piggin, Lucy Hayes-Stevenson, Ngaiwai Clendon, Daniel Bornstein
Guest contributor: Al Fastier
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Every 90 minutes a New Zealander dies from heart disease. Liz Garton meets the team at the Institute of Biomedical Technologies is developing new products to help monitor heart health in the home to try to change those terrible statistics.
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Learn more:
- The Detail recently looked into the deadly heart disease that creeps up on you.
- In March, Guyon Espiner spoke with Dr Philip Shirely about how an annual flu vaccine can reduce the risk of heart issues.
- Kate Green’s investigation into health insurance in May, showed heart disease is one of the biggest drivers of claims.
- Dr Claire Concannon visited the CoRE Pūtahi Manawa to find out what they’re doing to address heart health inequities, in 2022.
Guests:
Professor Andrew Lowe, Dr Tet Chuan Lee, Matin Khalili, Institute of Biomedical Technologies, Auckland University of Technology.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Out of all of New Zealand’s natural hazards, landslides have resulted in the greatest loss of life since written records began. Pulling in data from decades of landslide research, a team at Earth Sciences New Zealand are now developing national models of landslide risk for both slow- and fast-moving landslides, to help New Zealand plan for, and respond to, major landslide events.
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- Other researchers at Earth Sciences New Zealand are also investigating underwater landslides, which have the potential to cause tsunami hazards.
- In January In-Depth reporter Kirsty Johnston investigated the gap between what New Zealand spends on disaster recovery and climate preparation.
- Jesse Mulligan revisited the Abbotsford disaster in 2019 with Sarah Johnston from Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision.
- Landslides are one of the threats that are monitored 24/7 by the National Geohazard Monitoring Centre.
Guests:
Dr Chris Massey, Dr Saskia deVilder, Dr Sam McColl, Earth Sciences New Zealand.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A team that developed a brain cooling treatment for oxygen-deprived babies, a young scientist who created a helpful backseat driver app, a Māori kaiako encouraging her students to weave traditional design and contemporary materials, a paleobiologist communicating about the issues around de-extinction and a researcher investigating how much climate change contributes to extreme weather events: We meet the 2025 Prime Minister's Science Prize winners!
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New Zealand is a land formed by volcanoes, including some still active. Claire Concannon meets a researcher analysing ash deposits to determine if a future eruption might have dangerous levels of hazardous chemicals. Plus, she learns about a voyage to Vanuatu and the Solomen Islands to study the gases and ash of an active volcanic chain there.
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Learn more:
- Researchers continue to study New Zealand’s active volcanoes like Whakaari and Ruapehu to try to understand their patterns of eruptions.
- When Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha‘apai, just north of Tonga’s main island, erupted in 2022 it caused a worldwide tsunami. Ellen Rykers dug into the science behind the phenomenon.
- The work of the National Geohazard Monitoring Centre is to keep on eye on earthquake, volcano, landslide and tsunami hazards 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Auckland is built on a network of volcanoes, and underground lava caves.
Guests:
- Dr Jenni Hopkins, Victoria University of Wellington
- Dr Ian Schipper, Volcano Waka Lab
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Phase two of Predator Free Wellington’s groundbreaking project to rid our capital of rats is well underway. They’ve learned a lot from their work on the Miramar Peninsula, but with this new chapter comes new challenges – not just backyards, but a hospital, and even a zoo! Charlie Dreaver meets some of the team out fighting this battle on multiple interesting fronts.
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Learn more:
- The target for Wellington to become New Zealand’s first predator-free city was announced by Conservation Minister Tama Potaka in March, as part of a Predator Free 2050 strategy update.
- In November last year the government added feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 list of targeted predators, likely in response to RNZ’s In-Depth team’s reporting about the destruction they cause, and a pre-election promise.
- Learn more about other large predator removal projects such as Predator Free Rakiura and Predator Free South Westland, and the plan to make Auckland Island predator free.
Guests:
- Zara Koorey, Predator Free Wellington
- James Wilcocks, Predator Free Wellington
- Chirs Jerram, Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo
- Sally Bain, Predator Free Wellington
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Scientists had long been exploring RNA technology as a way to make vaccines before it had it’s breakout appearance during the Covid-19 pandemic. Since then, interest in the potential uses of RNA to make vaccines and disease treatments has bloomed. In late 2023 a government-funded platform began work to enhance New Zealand’s capacity to design and make RNA. Three years in, how is the platform going?
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Learn more:
- RNA interference (RNAi) technology is being investigated to help honey bees fight off the varroa mite.
- US based Dyne Therapeutics conducted a clinical trial study of their RNA-based therapeutic for myotonic dystrophy in New Zealand.
- Our Changing World covered how the new RNA vaccine tech works in 2021.
- Dr Lisa Connor spoke to RNZ’s health reporter Ruth Hill last August after the US made funding cuts to their RNA vaccine research.
Guests:
- Dr Lisa Connor, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
- Dr Rebecca McKenzie, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
One peninsula to the north of the Bay of Islands is home to an estimated three thousand Northland brown kiwi. The Pest Free Purerua-Mataroa project aims to reduce predators numbers on the peninsula and defend its narrow neck from re-invasion. Working across a patchwork of landuse and landowners, the team are using AI traps and technology to help catch the remaining pests. But one feral cat continues to elude them, and the ongoing threat to kiwi from pet dogs is proving tricky to solve.
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Learn more:
- Northland kiwi are a genetically distinct subspecies of the North Island brown kiwi, whose numbers are doing pretty good in recent years, due in large part to Operation Nest Egg facilities like the National Kiwi Hatchery.
- Predator Free South Westland is also working across different land types and usages in their bid to remove pests from a huge area.
- Wellington is set to be New Zealand’s first predator-free city, with an ambitious target of ten years.
- RNZ’s Northland reporter Peter de Graaf has been following the situation of dog attacks on kiwi on the Purerua peninsula and kiwi deaths due to cars.
Guests:
- Andy Mentor, Pest Free Purerua
- Zane Wright, Pest Free Purerua
- Mariao Hohaia, Ngāti Rēhia, Tapuaetahi Incorporation
- Grace Walsh, Onekura road trappers
- Tiwai Rawiri, Ngāti Torehina, Pēwhairangi Whānui
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Could the answer to the current fuel crisis be right under our noses? On Our Changing World this week, Sharon Brettkelly talks to some of the scientists analysing ultramafic rocks in places like Lake Pupuke on Auckland’s North Shore and gases from various hotspots around the country, in the hopes that one day hydrogen could power local communities.
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- New Zealand already has hydrogen trucks on our roads and active hydrogen refueling stations. However, some critics say battery technology is a better way to decarbonise. After delays from an international supplier, diesel trucks are being converted to hydrogen in New Zealand.
- Professor Allan Blackman looks at how the Hindenburg disaster has haunted the development of hydrogen technology and why that might be changing.
- And Jesse talks with Dr. Linda Wright from the New Zealand Hydrogen Council about if hydrogen could displace diesel.
Guests:
- Kevin Faure, Senior minerals geologist and Team lead National Isotope Centre, Earth Sciences New Zealand
- Paul Viskovic, Geomodeller, Earth Sciences New Zealand
- Thijs van Soest, Isotope Hydrogeologist, Earth Sciences New Zealand
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The World Health Organisation has set an ambitious goal to eliminate cervical cancer. New Zealand health experts are optimistic we can do it, but suggest there are challenges to achieving that aim.
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Learn more:
- Listen to The Panel Plus with Wallace Chapman, discussing the release of the Cancer Society's election manifesto and treatment options for cancer.
- Read about the Matariki Fund's plans to eliminate cervical cancer across the Pacific.
- RNZ's Māori issues reporter Pokere Paewai wrote this article on the need to extend free cervical screening.
- The efficacy of the HPV vaccine was discussed on Morning Report, following a study which showed a 60% reduction in cervical cancer.
Guests:
- Professor Bev Lawton (Ngāti Porou), is founder/director of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine (the National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa) at Victoria University of Wellington
- Nicola Coom, Chief Executive of the Cancer Society
- Alice Hyatt, cancer survivor
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Today kākāpō breed on three remote islands, each bird wears a transmitter and they are carefully monitored and minded. But the ultimate goal of the kākāpō recovery programme is to restore the mauri of the kākāpō – to have them back in our forests as wild, nameless birds. What are the steps to get there, and how can science help keep kākāpō safe through this transition?
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- Kākāpō need new habitat, could fenced ecosanctuaries be an option? That’s why kākāpō were released into Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in July 2023, to start a trial of how they would do in this new, mainland, North Island habitat. A year later, there had already been a lot of lessons learned.
- One of the possible future habitats mentioned by Deirdre Vercoe is South Westland, where a massive effort is underway to clear stoats, possums and rats from a huge area.
- For all the details about this record-breaking breeding season, listen to the Kākāpō Files podcast.
Guests:
- Deirdre Vercoe, Kākāpō and Takahē recovery programme operations manager, Department of Conservation
- Dr Andrew Digby, Kākāpō and Takahē recovery programme science and technical advisor, Department of Conservation
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
So far, 2026 has been the biggest kākāpō breeding season of all time, with more chicks hatched than ever before. The current challenge is to keep them all healthy as they grow into juveniles, and get added to the adult population. But what comes after that? Claire Concannon reports on the future of kākāpō from one of the breeding islands.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The food you see on the supermarket shelves doesn't end up there by accident. It's often been rigorously tested for likeability. This week on Our Changing World, Liz Garton finds out about the science behind those decisions, given that individual taste can be very varied.
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- Export markets are a key consumer group. Look at who’s eating our food with this story from RNZ’s Farah Hancock.
- Our Changing World looked at how science can help pair foods with the School of Chemical Science at the University of Auckland
- Finding a Psa-V-tolerant golden kiwifruit was one of the success stories from the Consumer and Health sciences team. Claire Concannon looked at the ongoing efforts to prevent the disease from getting to the South Island.
Guests:
- Christina Roigard, Science Team Leader – Sensory & Consumer Health, New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited
- David Jin, Scientist, Health and Consumer Science Team - New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited
- Dr Roger Harker, Principal scientist - Health and Consumer Science Team - New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In 2010 the Psa-V bacterial disease was found in a Bay of Plenty kiwifruit orchard. This was the beginning of a terrible ordeal for many kiwifruit growers. It devastated crops, resulting in the loss of hundreds of jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars. But though it spread to some other areas in the North Island, it never made it across the Cook Strait. Claire Concannon learns about the science behind keeping this microbe out of Te Waipounamu.
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Learn more:
- The Plant and Food Research (today the Bioeconomy Science Institute) team who worked on science to help with the kiwifruit Psa crisis won the Prime Minister’s Science Prize in 2017.
- In 2012 Alison Ballance reported on the hunt for resistance genes so kiwifruit plants could be more resilient in the face of this bacteria.
- As In-Depth reporter Farah Hancock detailed earlier this year, 95% of the kiwifruit grown here are actually exported - an earner of $4.5 billion in 2025.
Guests:
- Falk Kalamorz
- Rebecca Manners, Bioeconomy Science Institute
- Dr Ed Morgan, Bioeconomy Science Institute
- Leanne Stewart, Kiwifruit Vine Health
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Ketamine was first developed as an anaesthetic, and today is taken by some as a party drug. But since 2000, research has emerged showing it is also helpful as a medication for some people with treatment-resistant depression. While initial studies used ketamine injections, recent research has shown the advantages of taking it in oral form. Now clinical trials are underway to determine if a New Zealand-developed ketamine pill is safe and effective enough to get the regulatory tick.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In the Auckland suburb of Mt Albert there's a particular brand of doomsday prepping going on. Our Changing World visits the Bioeconomy Science Institute to meet some scientists figuring out how to build an army of Samurai Wasps just in case Aotearoa is invaded by Brown Marmorated Stink Bugs.
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Learn more:
- MPI's website has more detail on the Brown Marmorated Stink Bug and what to do if you find one.
- From December 2025 a new biosecurity inflight video about being vigilant is being played to incoming visitors.
- Our Changing World did a deep dive into the impact BMSB would have on New Zealand, back in 2019.
Guests:
- Dr Gonzalo Avila, Senior Scientist - Biological Control, New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited
- Karina Santos, Senior Research Associate, New Zealand Institute for Bioeconomy Science Limited
- Dr Scott Sinclair, Manager, Operational Readiness - Plant & Environment, Biosecurity New Zealand
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Our Changing Word heads to Whangārei to speak to a Northland Regional Council scientist whose been using stormwater drains to estimate the scale of our plastic pollution problem. Plus, just outside Christchurch, one of New Zealand’s biggest lakes is home to the ‘canary in the coalmine’ of wetlands. The secretive and elusive Australasian bittern seems to be in trouble - how can we help?
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Learn more:
- Join Alison Ballance on a kayak across a lake to listen to some booming bittern crooners.
- Listen to the nine to noon interview with John Sumich about the 2025 Matuku muster.
- The research into microplastics was part of the AIM2 project, which was reported on in 2021 as part of the OCW episode ‘Unwelcome visitors’.
- Another source of microplastics is textile waste, but an international project is looking to a future where our clothes are fully biodegradable.
Guests:
- Richard Griffiths, Northland Regional Council
- Peter Langlands, Bittern Conservation – New Zealand
- Harry Caley, Department of Conservation
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In Dunedin the local tree crop association has been looking after a heritage apple orchard, but some mixed up labels meant they weren’t quite sure what varieties they had. A chance encounter at a public open day sets one young researcher on a scientific quest to ID them all. Plus, in a nursery in Rotorua, a propagation scientist is figuring out the best way to grow a native tree from cuttings.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Take a (very) large egg, some insects (plus specially developed food), and a safe place to put on weight for a while. This is how you grow a kiwi, and improve wild survival rates from 5% to 65%. With over 2,600 hatches across their 30 year history, the National Kiwi Hatchery have a lot of experience under their belt, but there's always more to learn from our iconic national bird. Our Changing World visits the hatchery to learn how they combine conservation and eco-tourism to help grow kiwi numbers.
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- Operation Nest Egg has also been a great success for the rowi kiwi, the only remaining wild population of which lives in Ōkārito on the South Island’s West Coast.
- In July 2025 little spotted kiwi were found on New Zealand’s mainland for the first time in 50 years. Two chicks and eggs were subsequently brought to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch to allow them to get to stoat-proof weight.
- With a lot of help, and stoat trapping, brown kiwi are returning to the wilds of Wellington.
- Candling is also used to track kākāpō embryo development and egg fertility, learn more in episode 12 of the Kākāpō Files II podcast.
Guests:
- Emma Bean, manager of the National Kiwi Hatchery
- Carole Dean, kiwi keeper, National Kiwi Hatchery
- Rebeca Bothamley, tour guide, National Kiwi Hatchery
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In the Kaimai Mamuku ranges iwi-led conservation projects are tackling pests, removing weeds and planting natives to restore their whenua. Ngāti Hinerangi’s Wairere Mahi project has been trapping around the Wairere falls, and restoring a nearby system of lakes. The projects were born from the Jobs for Nature fund established by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic. But with that fund now finished where will the money to support future conservation work come from? The Manaaki Kaimai Mamuku Trust supporting these projects has some ideas.
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- Jobs for Nature also supported an iwi-led wetland restoration project just outside Dunedin.
- In 2024 The Detail spoke to a number of Jobs for Nature supported projects that were nearing the end of their funding.
- The Turning Point video series followed some of the kaimahi working on different Jobs for Nature projects across Aotearoa.
- Country Life’s Dollars for Nature episode covered the government announcement about voluntary nature credits market.
Guests:
- Louise Saunders, CEO of Manaaki Kaimai Mamuku Trust
- Mohi Korohina, Wairere Mahi project manager
- Hera Denton, GoEco
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A native species is taking over a jewel-in-the crown marine reserve. But what can be done? Centrostephanus, the long-spined urchin, is munching its way through the world-renowned rock walls and kelp beds of the Poor Knights Islands. DOC, University of Auckland scientists and a local hapū are running removal trials to investigate whether this might be a way to manage its march.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
New Zealand is third in the world for the number of orbital rocket launches from our shores, sitting just behind the US and China. Phil Vine discovers some of the challenges raised by our push into the unknown and how it is changing the final frontier.
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- Through a science experiment on the ISS, New Zealand researchers have been taking advantage of the unique conditions in low earth orbit to investigate commercial opportunities.
- While New Zealand is well known as a place from which to launch rockets, we do not have a lot of our own hardware in space (the University of Auckland does have TPA-1 CubeSat). But that might be about to change.
- Tech bros turned space bros like Elon Musk are making big waves out in orbit. The latest news is that Musk is hoping to harness the sun through satellites to power AI data centres.
- The New Zealand government's biggest investment in an international space mission ended in failure last year after MethaneSAT, a satellite built to detect methane emissions around the world, lost contact.
- While there are challenges inherent in humans and their technology being in space, that’s not all that is going on. Scientists are keeping a close eye on an active black hole and bright lights have Northland locals turning their eyes to the skies.
Guests:
- Mark Rocket, CEO Kea Aerospace
- Dr Priyanka Dhopade, senior lecturer in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, University of Auckland
- Dr Tuana Yazici, space law expert
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
We know there are issues with sustainability within the fashion industry - can science help create a better future? Claire Concannon visits the Bioeconomy Science Institute in Rotorua to learn how New Zealand scientists are contributing to a massive multi-national project aimed at shaping the textile industry of tomorrow.
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Learn more:
- UPWEARS has their own research project page if you want to learn more.
- Learn more about how the Bioeconomy Science Institute (formally Scion) is figuring out how to make new materials and products using bio-waste products rather than fossil fuels.
- The rise of synthetic fibres impacted the wool industry here in New Zealand, although some entrepreneurs and weavers are making it work for them.
Guests:
- Dr Yi Chen, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
- Dr Robert Abbel, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
- Sean Taylor, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
- Louise Le Gall, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
- Dr Kate Parker, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Since 2018 there's been a massive effort underway to clear over 110,000 hectares of South Westland of possums, rats and stoats. As the pest numbers have dropped the native flora and fauna seem to have flourished. The eradication stage is now nearing completion, and the focus is switching to maintenance. What will it take to keep the pests out long-term? And what can be learned from this large-scale project that could be used elsewhere in Aotearoa?
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Learn more:
- Read/Listen to the rest of the reports from Tess Brunton’s reporting trip to the West Coast, about the eradication project, the work of species dogs, the feedback from tour operators and how rowi, New Zealand’s rarest kiwi, has been helped come back from the brink.
- For more on the use of AI in pest management project, listen to how the Southern Lakes Sanctuary team have been making use of it at Wye Creek.
Guests:
- Chad Cottle, Predator Free South Westland
- Ethan Perry, Predator Free South Westland
- Nate St Hill, Predator Free South Westland
- Pouri Rakete-Stones, Predator Free South Westland
- Dion Arnold, White Heron Sanctuary Tours
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Some insects communicate using a secret language that we can’t sense – a language of vibrations. Now researchers at the Bioeconomy Science Institute are starting to decode what insects are saying to each other. They hope to harness this knowledge to develop new, chemical-free methods of pest control to help farmers and growers.
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- Insects can also be recruited to help. For example, insects can be released into New Zealand for biocontrol in the effort to combat invasive weeds.
- While we often talk about the impact of invasive mammals on New Zealand’s bird life, they are also a problem for native insects too.
- We’ve got some invasive pest spiders here too, but researchers are trying to figure out if they can trap them by developing a special spider perfume.
Guests:
- Dr Mark MacDougall, Bioeconomy Science Institute
- Dr Lloyd Stringer, Bioeconomy Science Institute
- Pete Mundy, Castle Rock Orchards
- Dr Rachael Horner, Bioeconomy Science Institute
- Dr Bethan Shaw, Bioeconomy Science Institute
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
When do humans begin to interact with the world, and develop our sense of self? When we are born? Or might it start even earlier than that? Our visual systems are a key way that we perceive the world. New findings from the University of Waikato have shown that light can enter the womb and that we might already be learning about the world before we arrive in it.
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- Listen to Our musical minds to learn why, to psychologists, humans’ musical ability is just weird.
- Like our sense of vision, our ability to hear also involves physical inputs from the world around us combined with the processing and prior knowledge of our brains. But sometimes things can go a bit awry, such as happens for those with tinnitus.
- Our visual system is evolved for daylight, but what about those creatures that live in the deep darkness, such as squid.
- Professor Vincent Reid’s early research in this area was covered by RNZ podcast ‘This Way Up’ in 2017.
- Hear more from William Ray in the award-winning Black Sheep podcast series, or in a recent Our Changing World episode about the Flowers of the Underworld.
Guests:
- Professor Vincent Reid, University of Waikato
- Associate Professor Jacob Heerikhuisen, University of Waikato
- William Ray, Janella Espinas, James Espinas Ray
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
A Southland company is growing red seaweed as a supplement that’s been shown to significantly reduce methane emissions in beef and dairy cattle. In our last summer science series episode, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes of the Country Life team heads to Bluff to learn more.
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Learn more:
- You can read Cosmo Kentish-Barnes' story about this topic, Red seaweed cuts methane emissions from cattle, scientists say.
- Cosmo signed off from the Country Life team earlier this year, after 17 years as the show's South Island producer. You can listen to his final episode.
- There are also pāua and whitebait farms operating out of the Ocean Beach Aquaculture Hub in Bluff. Kate Evans visited both ventures in a 2024 episode of Voice of Tangaroa, Fish out of water.
Guest:
- Brent Jackson, production scientist
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Why do we spend more than we need to? Is it mood, FOMO, the desire to impress? Or maybe some tricky behavioural triggers we're not even aware of? Our summer science series continues with an episode of the RNZ podcast Thrift, in which Katy Gosset gets to the heart of the matter with a consumer behaviourist, and shares some tips to stop us spending.
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Learn more:
- You can read about the psychology of spending in RNZ's story: Why do we spend more than we need to?
- Thrift is an upbeat podcast that offers wise ways to beat the cost of living crisis and get the best from your money. Listen to more episodes of Thrift.
Guest:
- Ekant Veer, consumer behaviourist
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
We’d all like to know how to live long healthy lives, and Kim Hill is no different. In this episode of Kim Hill Wants To Know, she talks to geneticist Dame Linda Partridge about the scientific breakthroughs that could mean the end to aging as we know it.
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Learn more:
- In 2023, Our Changing World spoke to researchers about what happens to our muscles as we grow and age.
- Kim Hill Wants To Know sees Kim back asking questions in her inimitable style. She has conversations with guests from around the world about topics that spark her interest and will do the same for you. Listen to more episodes of Kim Hill Wants To Know.
Guest:
- Dame Linda Partridge, geneticist
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
We all love a good crunchy apple – but how do they stay like that for months after being picked? The Our Changing World summer science series continues with an episode of Here Now. Kadambari Raghukumar travels to Hawke's Bay to find out from South African-born scientist Nicolette Neiman. For plant physiologists like Nicolette, the thrill is in finding ways to make that possible – delivering a crunchy fruit fix to the world almost any time of the year.
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Learn more:
- Read Kadambari Raghukumar's article, How do New Zealand apples stay crisp from tree to table?
- Here Now is an RNZ podcast about the journeys people make to New Zealand, their identities and perspectives, all of which shape their life here. Listen to more episodes of Here Now.
Guest
- Nicolette Neiman, plant physiologist
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week on the summer science series we play an episode of Country Life called Dollars for Nature. Can biodiversity credits fix New Zealand's conservation woes? In June, the government announced they were supporting the expansion of a voluntary credits nature market through pilot projects across New Zealand. Sally Round found out more.
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Learn more:
- You can read more about biodiversity credits in Sally Round's story, Dollars for nature - can biodiversity credits fix NZ's conservation woes?
- Earlier this year Our Changing World visited the Eastern Whio Link conservation project, which set up its own biodiversity credits scheme - you can listen to that episode here.
- Country Life is an RNZ podcast that takes you all over the motu to hear the extraordinary stories of everyday rural New Zealand. Listen to more Country Life episodes.
Guests:
- Sean Weaver, chief executive at business consultancy Ekos
- Hayden Johnston, general manager for the natural environment at the Ministry for the Environment
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Nobody knows how many feral cats roam New Zealand, but estimates are in the millions and they’re a major threat to our native species. They've infiltrated almost every landscape, from coasts, to farms, to National Parks like Fiordland. Plus they’re wily and trap-shy, making them a tricky predator to tackle. RNZ's In-Depth reporter Farah Hancock speaks to some people on the front lines of the battle against feral cats.
Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
In this episode:
00:00 – 00:59 Introduction to bonus episode
01:00 – 03:24 Background to feral cat problem
03:40 – 10:30Playing ‘poos clues’ & trapping cats with hunter Victor Tinsdale
10:40 – 15:00 Daniel Cocker on how cats are threatening the dotterels on Rakiura
15:20 - 16:20Farah explains how secondary poisoning works
16:30 – 19:42Objections to 1080 use on Rakiura, and efforts to address these
20:18 – 24:08 Brad Windust with cat poo smelling dog Wero
24:09 – 24:44 Credits
Learn more:
- Read the series of articles and see photos on the RNZ Feral webpage.
- In 2023 OCW spoke to ‘Dotterel Dan’ about the plight of the pukunui, and a tagging study aimed at identifying exactly where they nest on Rakiura.
- In the Catlins, Forest and Bird pest control officer Gavin Whiteis also battling trap-smart feral cats. While in the Wye valley near Queenstown, the Southern Lakes Sanctuary is hoping that new AI tech will help in the battle.
- Kākāpō were moved fromRakiura because of predation by feral cats. As the numbers of these manu grow, hopes are that achieving Predator Free Rakiura goals, including eradication of feral cats, will allow them to return.
Guests:
- Victor Tindale, hunter
- Daniel Cocker, Department of Conservation ranger
- Brad Windust, trapper
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
On three small predator-free islands off the coasts of Fiordland and Southland, preparations are underway for what many hope will be the biggest breeding season ever for the kākāpō. Alison Ballance returns to report on New Zealand’s most famous parrot in the Kākāpō Files Season II. She chats to Claire about why this season of the podcast is shaping up to be quite different to the first. Plus, analysts from the Science Media Centre summarise the massive science sector changes that have happened this year, and what is on the horizon for science in 2026.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The wetlands and surrounding forests of Te Awarua o Porirua, or Porirua Harbour, were once rich food baskets for Ngāti Toa Rangatira. But decades of development throughout the catchment - large-scale deforestation, road and rail building and urban growth - have brought sediment and pollution into the harbour, damaging the habitat. Veronika Meduna meets some of the team working to restore the harbour to its former plenty.
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Learn more:
- Julian Wilcox recently spoke to artists Jasmine Arthur and Te Rauparaha Horomona about Ngati Toa in Porirua and the opening of a new exhibition Mutumutu ki Mukukai Freshwater to Salt Water.
- Ngāti Toa Rangatira celebrated the return of their sacred maunga, Whitireia, to iwi ownership earlier this year.
- Alison Ballance visited both Porirua and Wairarapa in 2018 to explore how environmental impacts travel from the hills to the sea and what communities are willing to do to make their waterways cleaner and healthier again.
Guests:
- Kaumatua Te Taku Parai, Ashleigh Sagar, Robert McLean and Jaida Howard of Ngāti Toa Rangatira
- Brian Thomas, Porirua City Council
- Bryce and Jacqueline Watkins
- Lisa Casasanto and Jon Bluemel, Kahotea stream Restoration Group
- John McKoy and Simon Glover, Guardians of Pauatahanui Inlet
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
What does a ‘good day’ look like for you? Researchers are using wearable sensors and wellbeing surveys to understand how lifestyle patterns impact life satisfaction. Perhaps this can help us plan for more ‘good days’. Plus, with the help of an EEG study, one neuroscientist graduate considers how social media use might be impacting his brain.
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Learn more:
- Sleep is a fundamental process for us humans, we just don’t function well without enough of it. But what if your job requires long working hours across time zones?
- Exercise is good for our bodies and mental health and, research suggests, can also help our brains maintain and grow nerve cells.
- Recently, a report by the Education Review Office suggested the mobile phone ban in New Zealand schools is working, and that social media should be banned next.
- Australia’s social media ban for those under 16 comes into effect on the 10th of December, while debate continues here as to whether New Zealand should follow.
Guests:
- Professor Scott Duncan, Auckland University of Technology
- Dr Anantha Narayanan, Auckland University of Technology
- Tom Bolus, University of Otago
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This upcoming summer is likely to be the biggest ever kākāpō breeding season, and RNZ will be following the twists and turns as they happen. The kākāpō files with Alison Ballance return for a second season.
New Kākāpō Files II episodes will appear when news breaks on the Wild Sounds and Kākāpō Files podcast feeds. Don't miss out. Find and follow them now.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Our freshwater ecosystems are facing numerous challenges. Many of New Zealand’s lakes have lost much of their native underwater plant life. At the Ruakura ‘tank farm’ in Hamilton, researchers have been working on a project to help restore the freshwater forests.
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Learn more:
- Listen to Invasive: the story of Stewart Smith from the Black Sheep podcast to learn more about New Zealand’s pest fish issue.
- Read more about the koi carp bow hunting that removed tonnes of pest fish.
- While the announcement of the eradication of lagarosiphon from Lake Ngatu was welcome it came on the heels of the disappointing news about finding this invasive weed in two South Island hydro lakes.
- It’s not just invasive plants that are an issue, invasive critters like the gold clam can also cause issues. Contained to the Waikato for the last two years, it has recently been found in a Taranaki lake.
- Restoring freshwater lakes and wetlands is a catchment wide effort, but groups around the motu are working on this.
Guests:
Mary de Winton, Earth Sciences New Zealand
References:
NIWA’s RotoTurf webpage.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Oil and water don’t mix — unless surfactants step in. At Auckland University of Technology, a team of chemists has created a new kind of surfactant made from wood pulp rather than fossil fuels or palm oil. They hope that the cosmetic industry will be interested in this greener way to make smooth creams and lotions. Plus, what do geothermal spring microbes have to do with smelly wine?
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Learn more:
- Dr Jack Chen has been on RNZ several times to talk about the chemistry of dishwashing, oven cleaning and laundry detergents.
- Soap is also a surfactant, which is what makes it good at washing oils off our hands, as well as busting open viruses.
- The cosmetic industry is not new, and during the Renaissance there were some ‘interesting’ recipes about, but did they have some good ideas?
- Listen to episodes exploring the use of chemistry in reconstructing past lives, honey fingerprinting, reducing the carbon cost of producing ammonia and creating a perfume to trap invasive spiders.
Guests:
- Dr Jack Chen, Dr Mohinder Naiya, Dr Victor Yim and Josh Van Dongen of Dot Ingredients.
- Sarah Manners, University of Canterbury
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Until late 2024, nobody had seen te pua o Te Rēinga “the flower of the underworld” in the Wellington region for more than a hundred years. A chance discovery of a small struggling population has kick started a race to protect the plants and help them return.
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Learn more:
- First Up interviewed Avi Holzapfel about Te Pua o Te Rēinga in 2024
- In 2020, OCW looked at efforts to resurrect a transplanted population of Te Pua o Te Rēinga at Zealandia.
- Graeme Atkins is also one of the driving forces behind an effort to help the ngutukākā plant return to the wild, plus the 1769 Garden – a living library of rare local East Coast native plant species.
Guests:
- Graeme Atkins (Ngāti Purou, Rongomawahine)
- Barrett Pistoll – Greater Wellington Regional Council
- Avi Holzapfel – Department of Conservation
- Rhys Mills - Ngā Manu Nature Reserve
- Bart Cox – Wellington City Council
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
An invasive species has taken hold in the Waikato River, and it’s multiplying fast. Gold clams, tiny but relentless, are now found along a large stretch of the awa, where they threaten water infrastructure, and native species. Where might it invade next, and can we control it?
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Learn more:
- Among their other conservation activities, the team at Kids Greening Taupō have taken on the challenge of speaking to every class about the gold clam to raise awareness.
- MPI’s John Walsh spoke to Paddy Gower on Nine to Noon after last year’s gold clam survey, and more recently to Kathryn Ryan about following the rules to prevent the clam’s spread this trout fishing season.
- In Auckland, efforts are underway to protect the native kākahi from the threats of introduced fish.
Guests:
- Dr Michele Melchior, Earth Sciences New Zealand
- Karl Safi, Earth Sciences New Zealand
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
New Zealand’s marine search and rescue region stretches from Antarctica to north of Samoa. If someone goes missing without any means of communication, that’s a lot of ocean to search. Now researchers and the New Zealand Defence Force have teamed up to develop and test a low-tech, no-battery device that can be picked up by radar – including that beamed down by satellites orbiting Earth.
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In this episode:
01:30 At Mission Bay Beach Dr Tom Dowling demonstrates the device
03:40 In the University of Auckland’s Space Institute lab the team explain the device design, and how it works.
10:00 Dr Tom Dowling talks about the radar reflector trials in Campbell Island and Omaha beach
13:00 Dr David Galligan, director of Defence Science and Technology on why DST is interested in the device
19:00 The satellites are the second side of the equation. Dr Tom Dowling explains how that works.
20:50 Back at Mission Bay Beach Dr Tom Dowling explains how the radar reflector would be an additional part of a kit on a boat and how it would work to narrow down the search area…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
It’s been 30 years since a dramatic series of eruptions at Mount Ruapehu. In that time, there have been great advances in monitoring and modelling volcanoes – but we still can’t look inside a volcano to see exactly what’s going on. Claire Concannon heads to Wairakei, near Taupō, to meet researchers working on the next best thing: recreating Ruapehu’s eruptions in the lab.
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In this episode:…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Two years ago, the Australasian crested grebe, the pūteketeke, took out the title of New Zealand’s Bird of the Century. But when the Paris billboard got swapped out, and 'Lord of the Wings' ads no longer peppered Wellington's bus stops, who stuck around? Claire Concannon meets two dedicated grebe supporters battling different challenges at two Central Otago lakes.
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In this episode:
00:06 – John Oliver’s pūteketeke campaign
01:15 – Richard Bowman at Lake Hayes
16:45 – Markus Hermanns at Lake Wānaka
Learn more:
- Read more about the pūteketeke and the people helping them in this RNZ story, What happened when the pūteketeke's fame faded?
- In 2016 Alison Ballance visited Lake Wānaka to speak to John Darby about the grebes.
- It’s not news that New Zealand’s freshwater lakes and wetlands are generally in trouble, but there are many groups around the motu trying to improve their patch – whether that’s the Taiari river catchment, lakes in Auckland that are home to the kākahi, or a wetland area in the Waikato battling an unusual pest problem.
- This year’s Bird of the Year is the karearea, learn about the New Zealand falcon in this 2018 episode.
Guests:
- Richard Bowman, Friends of Lake Hayes
- Markus Hermanns, The Lake Wānaka Grebe Project
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
From the public service sector to businesses to individuals, AI’s uptake across New Zealand has been rapid. And it’s not just large language models. Claire Concannon meets researchers who are harnessing different kinds of artificial intelligence to boost aquaculture, prepare for a measles outbreak and assist in urban conservation. But alongside the benefits sit potential harms. How can we try to minimise them in our AI future?
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In this episode:
01:00 – Introduction to Dr Andrew Lensen and about AI
06:00 – Professor Bing Xue and applied AI for aquaculture
09:15 – Dr Fiona Callaghan models measle outbreak scenarios
13:30 – Dr Andrew Lensen and the kākā project
18:30 – Social and ethical issues of AI…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
This week, an underwater mystery connecting New Zealand and Ireland - the puzzle of the disappearing sponges of Lough Hyne. In the late 1990s/early 2000s James Bell was doing PhD research on the sponge communities that coated the underwater cliffs of this small sea inlet in West Cork. When he returned 15 years later, they had vanished. Why did they disappear, are they starting to recover, and can they be helped to return? Now a Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, these are the key questions that James, and PhD candidates from his lab, have been working to answer.
Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more. See more photos on the webpage for this story.
In this episode:
00:00 – Divers return, introduction to Lough Hyne and its scientific history.
02:50 – James Bell on his early research at Lough Hyne and the surprising disappearance of sponge communities.
05:15 – Gabi Wood and Kea Witting get ready to dive at Whirlpool Cliffs.
06:30 – James Bell explains the unique tidal regime of Lough Hyne that means it has many diverse habitats.
09:00 – Gabi Wood is collecting water samples to study sponge feeding and nutrient levels.
11:00 – What caused the sponges to disappear.
14:00 – Kea Witting is investigating sponge community recovery.
21:00 – Experiments to help the sponges return…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Need a nature fix? RNZ now has a podcast feed dedicated to our beautifully produced series telling stories from te taiao nature. Check out the Wild Sounds feed – now playing Voices from Antarctica, featuring Alison Ballance reporting from the frozen deep south.
Find and follow Wild Sounds on your favourite podcast platform, or listen on RNZ
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In March 2024, a satellite built to detect the potent greenhouse gas methane launched into orbit – backed by New Zealand to a final total of $32 million. MethaneSAT aimed to pinpoint large leaks from oil and gas fields, since plugging these is considered an easy climate win. But an add-on mission was investigating whether the satellite could pick up the smaller, more diffuse methane emissions from agriculture. Our Changing World joined the New Zealand-based team testing this capability – before disaster struck. With MethaneSAT uncontactable and lost in space, what did the mission deliver?
This episode was updated on 6 October to include the correct total figure of the New Zealand's contribution to MethaneSAT of $32 million.
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In this episode:
00:00 – 03:08: Introduction
03:08 – 05:38: A methane-measuring device takes off from the airfield
05:38 – 16:32: Ground-based methane measurements with the EM-27
16:32 – 25:29: What went wrong, and what data MethaneSAT did collect…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In March 2024, a rocket launched from Florida carrying New Zealand’s first science payload to the International Space Station. The small cube, named Lucy, is a protein crystallisation lab developed by Dr Sarah Kessans from the University of Canterbury. Protein crystallisation is often the key first step in figuring out a protein structure, and the unique fluid conditions of microgravity in low Earth orbit helps the process. Working with several collaborators, Sarah is trying to develop a commercially viable crystallisation lab in space. Plus, Dr Brian Russell is creating AI tools to help space companies make critical decisions around astronaut health and safety.
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Guests:
- Associate Professor Sarah Kessans, University of Canterbury
- Dr Brian Russell, Auckland Bioengineering Institute and AUT
Learn more:
- Read more: New Zealand in the low Earth orbit economy.
- Researchers in the Paihau Robinson Research institute are also working on developing plasma rockets for travel in space. They launched a superconducting magnet for testing on board the ISS yesterday.
- In 2017, the same year that RocketLab did their first ‘It’s a test’ launch, William Ray had a look at New Zealand in space.
- Listen to Dr Sarah Kessans on Morning Report in 2023.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
An elaborate game of carbon ‘I spy’ is happening on the streets of Wellington. With their brand-new mobile carbon lab, Earth Sciences New Zealand (formerly GNS) can detect things like carbon dioxide and methane as they drive around. This allows them to pinpoint where emissions are coming from. Plus, with radiocarbon measurements, they can understand what amount of the carbon they detect is coming from fossil fuels. It all helps to ground-truth our estimates of what’s happening in our urban environments.
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Guests:
- Dr Jocelyn Turnbull, Earth Sciences New Zealand
- Hayden Young, Earth Sciences New Zealand
Learn more:
- Read this week's article: Playing 'I-spy' with urban emissions.
- Carbon Watch NZ is an ongoing project to measure how much carbon is being produced across New Zealand. Alison Ballance covered this project in 2020, including learning about Baring Head atmospheric research station, and about a project also by Dr Jocelyn Turnbull using grass to measure urban emissions.
- The mobile carbon lab uses glass-blown flasks to collect radiocarbon. Learn about scientific glassblowing in this 2010 OCW episode.
- The People, Cities and Nature project is investigating how to return biodiversity to our towns and cities, such as the gullies in Kirikiriroa Hamilton. Such green areas would act as urban carbon sinks.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Takahē were believed to be extinct not once, but twice. Today their population is just over 500 – still not a huge number, but big enough that new homes are needed for these flightless manu. The latest area to welcome takahē is the upper Whakatipu – in particular, the stunning Rees Valley. But threats remain and keeping on top of predator numbers is key for this comeback bird to survive and thrive in their new home.
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Guests:
- Chrissy Becker-Fifield, Southern Lakes Sanctuary.
- Additional thanks to Glen Greaves of DOC’s takahē recovery programme for background information.
- Also mentioned: the Routeburn Dart Wildlife Trust.
Learn more:
- Read this episode's article: Backcountry takahē make a comeback.
- November 2023 marked the 75th anniversary of the second time takahē were ‘rediscovered’. We spoke to Alison Ballance about her book about takahē, and her years of reporting on these birds.
- RNZ reported on DOC’s efforts to catch the stoat culprits that killed a number of takahē in the Greenstone valley.
- After decades of careful monitoring, DOC are stepping back from the Murchison Mountain’s population of takahē.
- Takahē have been spotted by trampers around the Shelter Rock hut deep in the Rees valley.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Gas shortages, a reversal of the ban of offshore oil and gas exploration, and a government plan to double geothermal energy in the next 15 years… There’s been a lot in the news recently about New Zealand’s energy supply now and in the future. Claire Concannon speaks to researcher Dr Jen Purdie about our ongoing electrification of industry and transport, about our ‘dry year problem’, and what the future of supply and demand might look like in a changing climate.
*This episode was updated with some additional clarifications on 15th September 2025
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Guests:
- Dr Jen Purdie, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Sustainability, University of Otago.
- Kirsty Johnston, RNZ In-Depth journalist
Learn more:
- Could nuclear fusion-generated energy be a way to help us power the future? Learn how New Zealand company OpenStar Technologies are trying to crack this.
- Read or listen to Kirsty’s recent reporting about what has changed in climate policies underpinning the Zero Carbon Act 2019.
- The coalition government has stated they want to use New Zealand’s Emissions Trading Scheme (rather than the GIDI fund) to help drive the transition from fossil fuels to other forms of energy, but as climate change journalist Eloise Gibson reports, there are issues with this plan.
References
- The 2025 Energy in New Zealand report came out in August 2025.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
New Zealand’s youth vaping rates are among the highest in the world. How did we get here and what will this mean for the future of our rangatahi? A 2018 court case paved the way for a loose regulatory start for vaping in New Zealand, and rapid uptake by those aged 14–24 in the years since has led to concerns that a new generation is now addicted to nicotine. New Zealand researchers are investigating how vaping affects our lungs, and the harms young people are experiencing in terms of social connections and mental health.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
More and more of us are reaching for low or no-alcohol beers. As the market grows, the options are also expanding – but brewing beer without alcohol fermentation presents a tricky puzzle. In traditional beer brewing the conversion of sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide through yeast fermentation is a key part of the process. How can you get the same flavour into beer without it? A team at Victoria University of Wellington, including the head of research and development at Garage Project, have begun an interdisciplinary research project to address this. They’re hoping to develop a brand-new yeast strain, one that will recreate delicious beer flavours, but without the alcohol.
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Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Project Tongariro was established as a living memorial for five people who died in a tragic helicopter accident. Last November, the project turned 40 years old. Over those four decades, activities have expanded beyond Tongariro National Park and into the wider area, including urban restoration through tree planting and predator trapping. Claire Concannon visits the Taupō-based projects that Project Tongariro is supporting as they prepare for Greening Taupō Day – their biggest planting day of the year.
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Guests:
- Kiri Te Wano, CEO Project Tongariro
- Robyn Ellis, Greening Taupō and Predator Free Taupō
- Rachel Thompson, Kids Greening Taupō
- Heidi Pritchard, Kids Greening Taupō
- Celia Bocket, Wicked Weeders
- Zara, Jack, Taylor and Emily, students of Taupō Intermediate School
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: 40 years of Project Tongariro
- Project Tongariro are also involved in a number of restoration projects near Tūrangi, including removing willows from a wetland area.
- In Kirikiriroa Hamilton, a team are also focused on urban greening as part of the People, Nature and Cities project.
- Just outside Dunedin, the Halo Project has been working to provide a safe space for birds around the Orokonui fenced ecosanctuary, as the Country Life team learned last year.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
The battle on the frontlines of conservation continues around the motu. This week we head to the central North Island to join some of the staff and volunteers of Project Tongariro. Ecologist Nick Singers is coordinating the fight against the invasive grey willow that’s taking over a wetland area, while Shirley Potter is applying a ‘let’s get it done’ attitude to reforesting a patch of public conservation land near her home in Tauranga-Taupō.
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Guests:
- Kiri Te Wano, CEO of Project Tongariro
- Shirley Potter
- Nick Singers
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: 40 years of Project Tongariro
- Willow is an issue in many wetland areas where it binds up waterways and transforms the land. Just outside Dunedin, a team are using drone spraying to combat it near the Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau wetland complex.
- In the Rotopiko wetland complex, near Hamilton, the pest battle is a bit unusual: conservationists are concerned about the half a million sparrows and starlings that roost at night.
- The fight for the forest also continues on multiple pest fronts in the Catlins area in Otago.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
During World War II, sonar operators discovered a ‘false seabed’ that appeared to move upwards during the nighttime. In fact, the sound waves were bouncing off huge numbers of small critters. This daily movement is the largest animal migration on the planet, consisting of deep-water animals that hide in the ocean’s twilight then move to the surface after sunset to feed. By far the most abundant fish in this crowd are the lanternfishes. New Zealand researchers are investigating what impact lanternfish migration has on the life cycle of fish we like to eat, and how it may also play a huge role in the Earth’s carbon cycle.
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Guests:
- Professor Jeff Shima, Victoria University of Wellington
- Alisha Gill, Victoria University of Wellington
- Niamh Smith, Victoria University of Wellington
Learn more:
- Read the article for this episode: Lanternfish: small fish, big impact
- Below the twilight zone, in the deepest parts of the worlds’ oceans, including in New Zealand waters, scientists continue to discover new critters.
- The deep ocean makes up the majority of the living space on our planet, where life down there has evolved to cope with the pressure, cold and darkness.
- The Southern Ocean absorbs a huge amount of carbon, but scientists are concerned that may change as the planet warms.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
For a long time, nuclear fusion was viewed as a powerful, but unachievable, energy source, because the technological challenges were just too great. But recent advances, particularly in the development of powerful magnets, have reignited the race to create the world’s first efficient nuclear fusion powerplant. Claire Concannon visits one private company just outside Wellington who have joined the nuclear fusion effort, with a unique approach they believe might be the key.
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Guests:
- Dr Ratu Mataira, Founder and CEO of OpenStar Technologies
- Emily Hunter, Lead Engineer Cryogenics and Docking, OpenStar
- Thomas Berry, Deputy Direct of Plasma Science, OpenStar
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: Could a Kiwi company crack nuclear fusion?
- Kim Hill had a lengthy and fascinating interview with Dr Ratu Mataira in 2023 on RNZ’s Saturday Morning show. He also spoke with Alexa Cook on Morning Report in 2024 after OpenStar achieved ‘first plasma’.
- In 2023 Our Changing World played an episode of the ABC’s Strange Frontiers that went inside the nuclear fusion reactor ITER.
- Learn more about the simplest element, Hydrogen, from RNZ’s 2019 Elemental podcast.
- The Royal Society of New Zealand has a series of videos on Ernest Rutherford’s scientific discoveries including radioactive decay and half-life, and splitting the atom.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
In May 2024, 100 strange rocky structures were installed along Tauranga's harbour shoreline. These flower-shaped artificial rockpools, nicknamed 'sea pods', provide prime waterfront real estate for marine life – from colourful sea slugs to sneezing sponges. Justine Murray finds out how 'living sea walls' are bringing back biodiversity to urban harbours around the world, and joins a marine scientist to check out what creatures have moved into Tauranga's sea pods.
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In this episode:
00:49 – What is a sea pod?
06:27 – Living sea walls in Sydney with Dr Aria Lee
10:25 – Sea pods around the world and in Tauranga
13:06 – Monitoring marine life in the sea pods with David Culliford
20:50 – Port of Tauranga
21:48 – Looking for critters in the sea pods
…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Speckled, pencil-thin and sporting an underbite: the lowland longjaw galaxias is New Zealand’s rarest freshwater fish species. With just seven known populations, this species is considered nationally endangered. Join producer Karthic SS at a spring-fed stream in the wild Mackenzie Basin to meet the tiny fish, hear from a researcher studying trout-proof barriers, and chat to a ranger who for 20 years has cared for the little fish he calls 'Jaws'.
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Guests:
- Dean Nelson, Senior Ranger, Biodiversity, Department of Conservation
- Martha Jolly, PhD candidate, University of Canterbury
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: Looking after New Zealand's rarest freshwater fish.
- Otago farmers are looking out for another species of rare non-migratory galaxiid.
- In Auckland’s Lake Rototoa, introduced perch are the problem for the native kākahi.
- Karthic produces the Tune Into Nature podcast about New Zealand’s unique wildlife.
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Since the 1800s, tuberculosis (TB) has been responsible for an estimated 1 billion deaths. In New Zealand today, we don’t get many cases of TB, but worldwide it is the leading infectious disease killer. In the early 1900s a TB vaccine was developed. Called the BCG vaccine, it’s still used today. While it is the best TB vaccine we have, it’s not actually great at preventing TB infection, only providing some protection for the youngest of patients. However, scientists have discovered that the BCG vaccine can boost people’s immune systems in other ways. Now researchers at the Malaghan Institute in Wellington are investigating these findings further.
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Guests:
- Dr Kerry Hilligan, Malaghan Institute
- Rebecca Palmer, Malaghan Institute
Learn more:
- In 2017, Alison Ballance reported on the looming antimicrobial resistance crisis, with drug-resistant TB part of the problem.
- Other Our Changing World episodes about research at the Malaghan Institute include this 2024 episode on a new way to target rising stomach cancer rates, and this 2022 episode on next-generation cancer therapies.
- In 2021, Claire Concannon covered mRNA vaccine technology.
- The What if...? Genomics in Aotearoa series explores the different ways genomics is transforming different sectors, including infectious disease medicine.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
2020 saw the start of two global pandemics. Covid-19, of course, but also H5N1 bird flu. The latter has swept around the world leaving millions of dead wild birds and marine mammals in its wake. It has reached everywhere – except Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Alison Ballance has been finding out why this strain of bird flu is so deadly, and what we are doing to get ready for its possible arrival on our shores.
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Guests:
- Dr Kate McInnes, Department of Conservation
- Dr Megan Jolly, Wildbase Hospital, Massey University
- Dr Mary van Andel, Ministry for Primary Industries
- Rob Schuckard, Birds New Zealand
- David Melville, Birds New Zealand
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: A deadly bird flu strain is coming. Are we ready?
- Find out about Biosecurity NZ’s bird flu surveillance work and what New Zealand is doing to prepare for the possible arrival of avian influenza.
- The Exotic Pest and Disease Hotline for reporting suspected bird flu is 0800 80 99 66.
- The Department of Conservation is preparing for the possible arrival of H5N1 bird flu in New Zealand.
- Claire Concannon spoke about viruses, including H5N1 bird flu, with virologist Professor Jemma Geoghegan, winner of the 2024 Prime Minister's Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao Science Communication Prize.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
If you like Our Changing World, you should find and follow Wild Sounds: RNZ's new podcast feed dedicated to incredible natural science stories from New Zealand!
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In late 2024 a cluster of sick green sea turtles washed up around the Rangaunu Harbour on the east coast of the Far North. It was just another mystery in a long line of all the things we don’t know about these ocean taonga. But a new telemetry study, using these very turtles, could change all that. The study has officially kicked off with the release of five satellite-tagged honu. Liz Garton finds out what secrets the researchers hope to uncover.
From now on Our Changing World will appear on Tuesdays in your podcast feed!
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Guests:
- Dr Karen Middlemiss, Department of Conservation
- Dr James Chatterton, Auckland Zoo
- Celine Campana, Auckland Zoo
- Kim Evans, SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’s
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: Solving green sea turtle mysteries.
- Find out more about the honu that visit our shores.
- RNZ’s Peter de Graaf describes the release of the first lot of satellite-tagged turtles in Northland.
- Learn more about the international effort to protect leatherback turtles
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
One from the archives! By the 1990s Chatham Island tūī had all but disappeared from the main island. Slightly different to their mainland counterparts, these songbirds had survived on nearby Pitt and Rangatira islands. So a local conservation group decided to try bring them back. In this episode from 2010, Alison Ballance joins the ‘tūī team’ tasked with moving 40 birds from Rangatira island back to the main island.
From now on Our Changing World will arrive in your podcast feed first thing on a Tuesday morning!
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In this episode:
00:00 – 02:30 Introduction and background info
02:30 – 12:14 Catching tūī on Rangatira Island
12:15 – 12:24 Team has caught 40 birds
12:25 – 24:46 Moving the birds to main Chatham Island
24:47 – 25:55 Update on the birds…
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Smoke explosions. Fire tornadoes. Burning couches. It all happens in the fire lab: a purpose-built facility where researchers can safely set stuff on fire and study how it burns, for science. New Zealand experiences 4,500 wildfires every year, with the risk ramping up due to climate change. We visit the fire lab to watch a large gorse bush go up in flames and learn how this helps us prepare for future wildfires.
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In this episode:
01:54–09:39 – Watching a gorse bush burn in the fire lab
10:45–12:43 – Burning couches, smoke explosions and fire tornadoes
12:44–19:08 – Mini burn experiments and how research is preparing for wildfires of the future
19:08–23:32 – Kate's experience as a wildland firefighter in Canada…
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How do you go about dissecting the world’s rarest whale? In December 2024, images from a concrete room in Mosgiel, just south of Dunedin, spread around the world as a team of people spent a week doing a scientific dissection on a spade-toothed whale that had washed up five months before. Claire Concannon joins them to find out what’s involved, what they have learned, and how the arrangements between local iwi and visiting scientists enabled knowledge sharing.
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For nearly 30 years, researchers have been banding black petrel fledglings before they make their maiden migration to Ecuador. Only a handful of birds have ever come back. RNZ’s In Depth reporter Kate Newton travels to Aotea-Great Barrier Island to meet the birds, and the dedicated team trying to figure out the mystery of where they go.
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Each year, five Prime Minister’s Science Prizes are awarded in the most prestigious New Zealand science awards. We explore the AgResearch science that got the top recognition this year and catch up with two of the other winners. Science Communication prizewinner Professor Jemma Geoghegan talks about the hundreds of interviews she’s done about viruses, and Future Scientist prizewinner Rena Misra explains her project exploring how a plant-fungus combination could have the potential to help clean up stormwater.
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Guests:
- Professor Jemma Geoghegan, University of Otago
- Rena Misra, Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in Auckland
- Dr Linda Johnson, Endophyte Discovery Team, AgResearch
In this episode:
00:06–02:05: The main science prize was awarded to a group who have discovered a way to protect pasture ryegrass from pests.
02:06–02:57: The winners of the Science Teacher Prize and the MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize.
02:58–19:33: Interview with Science Communication prizewinner Professor Jemma Geoghegan of the University of Otago about viruses and pandemics.
19:34–26:10: Interview with Future Scientist prizewinner Rena Misra of Epsom Girls' Grammar School in Auckland about a fungus-plant symbiosis that might help clean up stormwater…
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With its steep sides, forested slopes and heavy rainfall, Fiordland has interesting ecosystems both above and below the water. Below the surface of the inner fiords, a variety of sponges, corals, and other filter-feeding animals cling to the cliff-like reefs. Claire Concannon heads to Doubtful Sound with a research team who are habitat-mapping the fiords to better understand what’s there, and how things are changing over time. They are also investigating the resilience of its iconic black corals to local landslides and marine heatwaves.
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Guests:
- Professor James Bell, Victoria University of Wellington
- Miriam Pierotti, Victoria University of Wellington
- Amber Kirk, Victoria University of Wellington
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: Studying Fiordland's iconic black corals
- Our Changing World visited Professor James Bell at the Coastal Ecology Lab in 2023 to learn more about sponges.
- The 2022 marine heatwave mentioned here led to one of the largest ever recorded sponge mass bleaching events.
- In Antarctica giant glass sponges also live in quite shallow waters, under the sea ice.
- Eva Ramey and Dr Alice Rogers are also involved in a project to study the movement of sharks in Fiordland.
- Professor James Bell has investigated ‘middle’ light zone habitats around Aoteaora. Learn more and check out some videos in his recent article on The Conversation.
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Cooper’s orchid is New Zealand’s rarest and most elusive, with fewer than 250 plants left in the wild. It belongs to the group of potato orchids, which grow mostly underground as tubers – except for a brief period every few years when they push out a leafless stick with a few flowers. This largely subterranean lifestyle already presents a challenge, but saving this species is even harder because, like all orchids, the Cooper’s orchid can only produce seedlings with the help of the right soil fungus. After years of lab experiments to produce in vitro seedlings, botanists are now ready to boost dwindling wild populations.
Guests:
- Dr Carlos Lehnebach, botany curator, Te Papa Tongarewa
- Dr Karin van der Walt, conservation advisor, Ōtari Wilton’s Bush
- Jennifer Alderton-Moss, plant conservation researcher, Wellington City Council
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: Rare orchids reintroduced into the wild.
- Alison Ballance talked to Carlos Lehnebach about why some orchids smell like mushrooms and how that helps them to fool insects.
- This Critter of the Week episode focuses on the helmet orchid (Corybas dienemus), another rare native orchid that likes cold, damp and windy places.
- In this interview, Jesse Mulligan talks to Fred Clarke, a Californian orchid breeder who created the acclaimed black orchid After Dark.
- This Critter of the Week episode discusses the copper beard orchid (Calochilus herbaceous), which is threatened by habitat loss and climate change.
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Kākahi are a keystone species in lake and river ecosystems, keeping the water clean by filtering one litre of water every hour. These native mussels once blanketed lakebeds across Auckland – but recent surveys found an alarming decline and disappearance across many lakes. A team of scientists and divers have mounted a rescue mission for one of the last remaining kākahi populations, trying to keep the mussels safe from invasive fish through all the steps of their complicated – and fascinating – life cycle.
Guests:
- Madison Jones, Senior Healthy Waters Specialist, Auckland Council
- Belinda Studholme, Senior Biosecurity Advisor – Freshwater, Auckland Council
- Ebi Hussain, Submerged Environmental and Aotearoa Lakes
- Andrew Simpson, Global Dive
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: A rescue mission saving rare freshwater mussels.
- Meet the bullies – the native freshwater fish that host the kākahi in their parasitic stage – in this 2023 episode recorded by Claire at Zealandia, where the fish have been translocated.
- Alison Ballance covered the translocation of kākahi into Zealandia back in 2018.
- Wondering how the perch and other pests ended up in Lake Rototoa? Black Sheep has the details in the episode Invasive: the story of Stewart Smith.
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Claire Concannon spoke to RNZ's climate correspondent Eloise Gibson for the last episode of the Voice of the Sea Ice series. Listen to the full interview between Eloise and Claire in which they talk about the Paris Agreement, New Zealand's international climate commitments, and what we can do as individuals.
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Guests:
- Eloise Gibson, RNZ climate correspondent
Learn more:
- Read Eloise’s recent analysis about New Zealand’s international climate targets, or New Zealand's glacier loss.
- Eloise has also recently fact checked Winston Peters on climate accord, reported on our 2035 Paris Agreement target and delved into the recent uptake of solar demand in New Zealand.
- The Climate Action Tracker website keeps tabs on the targets and pledges of different countries and monitors whether they are on track to keep the world below 2 oC of warming (compared to pre-industrial temperatures).
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Human-induced climate change is impacting Earth’s global systems, including ice melt in Antarctica. What is the world doing to combat it? Signed in 2016, the Paris Agreement is the current global plan to tackle it. Countries pledge different emission reduction targets and then produce their workings and homework about how they are going about it. Where does New Zealand fit in? Are we doing our bit as a nation? And should we be bothering with individual actions or is that simply a bait-and-switch tactic by those who want to delay real change?
Guests:
- Eloise Gibson, RNZ climate correspondent
- Dr Jess Berentson-Saw, Director of Narrative Research and Strategy, The Workshop
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: Is New Zealand doing its bit in combating climate change?
- Read Eloise’s recent analysis about New Zealand’s international climate targets, or listen to this episode of The Detail.
- Eloise has also recently fact checked Winston Peters on climate accord, reported on our 2035 Paris Agreement target, and delved into the recent uptake of solar demand in New Zealand.
- The Climate Action Tracker website keeps tabs onthe targets and pledges of different countries and monitors whether they are on track to keep the world below 2 °C of warming (compared to pre-industrial temperatures).
- The Workshop have published a cheat sheet on ‘How to talk about climate change’.
This series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.…
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In February 2025, the world hit a new low for global sea ice extent. Arctic sea ice has been declining for several decades now, but Antarctic sea ice had been holding steady, until recently. With low summer sea ice extents for four years in a row, it appears that Earth’s warming has kicked Antarctic sea ice into a new regime. Claire Concannon speaks to scientists to understand what this means for Antarctica, what this means for us, and how they feel about it.
Guests:
- Dr Natalie Robinson, NIWA
- Dr Jacqui Stuart, Victoria University of Wellington
- Dr Greg Leonard, University of Otago
- Dr Daniel Price, University of Canterbury and Kea Aerospace
- Dr Inga Smith, University of Otago
- Dr Michelle LaRue, University of Canterbury
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: A time of change for Antarctic sea ice.
- Read about the recent State of the Global Climate Report.
- The world’s biggest iceberg recently ran aground, but to get up close and personal, listen to the Voice of the Iceberg miniseries.
- The world is also experiencing ice loss from its glaciers. New Zealand’s glaciers have shrunk by 29% since 2000. Listen to The annual snowline survey to learn how our glaciers are monitored.
This series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.
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Penguins that return to the ice in the middle of winter to lay their eggs. Seals that use cracks in the ice to keep their pups safe. And fish that have antifreeze proteins to survive in the icy cold waters... Antarctic life is tough, and full of surprises. Scientists are keen to piece together the Antarctic food web puzzle to better understand the interconnections, and to enable smart conservation decisions.
Guests:
- Arek Aspinwall, University of Canterbury
- Dr Michelle LaRue, University of Canterbury
- Professor Steve Wing, University of Otago
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: How Antarctic seals and penguins rely on sea ice.
- Meet other seals and penguins with Peregrin Hyde on his journey to South Georgia Island as part of an Inspiring Explorers expedition.
- In ‘Best Journey in the World’ from the Voices from Antarctica series, Alison Ballance travelled to Cape Crozier with a team from NIWA studying the emperor penguins.
This series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.
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What’s it like to live and work on the frozen ocean? A team of researchers is camping out on the sea ice to investigate the small critters that live on the bottom of the ice, and among the sloshy platelet ice layer just below it. From microalgae to krill, these tiny organisms hold up the big complex food web of Antarctica. Scientists are keen to understand these communities, and how they might shift as the sea ice cycle changes.
Guests:
- Dr Natalie Robinson, NIWA
- Dr Jacqui Stuart, Victoria University of Wellington
- Dr Greg Leonard, University of Otago
- Lizzy Skelton, University of Canterbury
- Dr Aimee van der Reis, University of Auckland
- Salvatore Campanile, Victoria University of Wellington
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode: What lives in Antarctic sea ice?
- Dr Natalie Robinson spoke to The Detail in 2023 about the unprecedented sea ice conditions of that year
- Alison Ballance's Voices from Antarctica series from 2020 explores what it’s like to live and work in Antarctica.
This series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.
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Step out on the sea ice just outside New Zealand’s Scott Base with researchers studying the physics of its annual cycle. Each year a massive patch of ocean around Antarctica freezes and then melts again come summer – Antarctica’s heartbeat. In winter, the ice effectively more than doubles the size of this already massive continent, and it plays a huge role in controlling our planet’s climate.
Guests:
- Dr Inga Smith, University of Otago
- Antonia Radlwimmer, University of Otago
- Professor Wolfgang Rack, University of Canterbury
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode, Monitoring and measuring Antarctica's heartbeat.
- Listen to Physics on Ice from 2021 with Emeritus Professor Pat Langhorne and Dr Inga Smith.
- Alison Ballance's Voices from Antarctica series from 2020 explores what it’s like to live and work in Antarctica.
This series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme.
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Welcome to Antarctica - a land of ice, extremes, and ambition. From historic expeditions to modern day science projects, Antarctic exploration is a unique, and dangerous, experience. We meet one researcher involved in an epic journey across the largest ice shelf in Antarctica, mapping a safe route through a crevassed landscape for others to follow. Plus, we learn about the different types of ice found in this vast, frozen landscape.
Guests:
- Dr Daniel Price, University of Canterbury and Kea Aerospace
- Ngā Taonga Sound and Vision archival audio
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode.
- Daniel did the route-finding for the SWAIS2C project. Veronika Meduna flew out to the camp in the 2023/2024 season to report on their activities.
- Daniel has spoken to Morning Report about Kea Aerospace’s work developing a solar-powered aircraft
- Hear about other ongoing research in Antarctica from the latest research season, including investigating new methane seeps, and giant glass sponges.
- Learn more about living, and working, on the ice in the 2020 podcast series – Voices from Antarctica.
This series was made with travel support from the Antarctica New Zealand Community Engagement Programme. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Using acoustic tags and a network of receivers attached to the seafloor, researchers are tracking the movements of sevengill sharks in Fiordland. They want to understand how these apex predators adjust to changing ocean temperatures, particularly during marine heat waves. Plus, an international collaboration involving a high-tech German research vessel is exploring New Zealand’s deep-sea realm.
Guests:
- Eva Ramey, PhD candidate, Victoria University of Wellington
- Dr Alice Rogers, Victoria University of Wellington Coastal Ecology Lab
- Dr Kareen Schnabel, NIWA
- Professor André Freiwald, Senckenberg am Meer Research Institute
- Dr Cornel de Ronde, GNS
Learn more:
- Read the accompanying article.
- Listen to this 2016 episode about the Great white sharks of Australia and New Zealand.
- RNZ journalist Kate Green also hopped aboard the RV Sonne to find out about its technology and capabilities.
- This is not the first time the RV Sonne has been in New Zealand waters, one previous expedition also involved investigations of underwater volcanoes.
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People with ADHD often fidget more than those without. Why might this be? Does it help them focus? Or distract them further? An Auckland Bioengineering Institute researcher has teamed up with the Mātai Medical Institute in Gisborne to investigate this using advanced MRI techniques. And at Waikereru ecosanctuary, local birds are being enlisted in a trial to help speed up the regeneration of native bush.
Guests:
- Professor Justin Fernandez, Auckland Bioengineering Institute
- Dr Gil Newburn, Mātai Medical Institute
- Professor Dame Anne Salmond, Waikereru Ecosanctuary
Learn more:
- Read the accompanying articles: Recruiting the birds to bring back the bush and Why fidgeting might be a good idea.
- In 2017 Alison Ballance did a story about The 1769 Gardenwhere she spoke to the garden designer, curator and local botany expert.
- To learn about the Mātai Medical Institute, listen to The advances in MRI coming out of Gisborne from November 2024.
- The Mātai Medical Institute is also involved in research into recovery post meth addiction, concussion in teenage rugby players, and muscle development in children with cerebral palsy.
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The Eastern Whio Link project has been working to restore the whio or blue duck population in the rivers of the Waioeka Gorge. Sam Gibson, aka Sam the Trap Man, explains why he thinks the project has been so successful, and what he loves about these scrappy little ducks. Then, Professor Matthew Stott speaks to Claire Concannon about the complexities working on an active volcano in Antarctica, and what they hope to learn from the microbes they find there.
Guests:
- Sam Gisbon, Eastern Whio Link
- Professor Matthew Stott, University of Canterbury
Learn more:
- Read and see more photos in the accompanying articles: Searching for extreme life and Trapping to help wild whio.
- Head on to the slopes of Mount Erebus, and into an ice cave with Alison Ballance and Craig Cary in this 2011 episode.
- Matthew Stott also works with heat-loving microbes in Rotorua, including some that appear to have broken the ‘rule of thumb’ and are only found in New Zealand.
- Sam the Trap Man has also shared some yarns about bush life with RNZ’s Saturday Morning.
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All around New Zealand, people are trying to make things just a little bit better for their communities. The 22 Environment Centres, or Hubs, found throughout the country aim to help with this. Claire Concannon visits the Tairāwhiti Environment Centre to learn about their three pou of waste minimisation, education, and biodiversity, and about the environmental projects they support. She also meets their close neighbours – Gizzy Kai Rescue – who are looking to balance the scales of local food waste and food scarcity.
Guests:
- Steph Temple, Hub Coordinator, Tairāwhiti Environment Centre
- Sam Rowland, Manager, Tairāwhiti Environment Centre
- Lauren Beatty, Gizzy Kai Rescue
- Dr Sarah Boyle, Wai Connections Tairāwhiti
Learn more:
- Visit the websites of Tairāwhiti Environment Centre, Gizzy Kai Rescue, the Every Bite programme, the Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance, and Wai Connections.
- Learn about other food rescue programmes around the country, including in Hawke’s Bay and Porirua.
- Another conservation project in Tairāwhiti is aimed at bringing a beautiful endangered plant back from the brink.
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Trapping is hard mahi, especially on rugged terrain thick with vegetation. If you need to check a trap frequently to clear it and refresh the lure, the kilometres of bush bashing quickly add up. Plus, in areas where kea are found, trap options are limited by concerns for these curious and intelligent parrots. A team in Queenstown are investigating if the latest ‘smart’ traps – equipped with cameras, AI-powered to recognise specific targets, and networked so they can communicate and be operated remotely – might be the answer.
Guests:
- Paul Kavanagh, project director, Southern Lakes Sanctuary
- Philip Green, field and technical advisor, Southern Lakes Sanctuary
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode.
- Country Life tagged along with the Halo project, part of Predator Free Dunedin, who are also trialling networked AI traps just north of the city.
- One of the Southern Lakes Sanctuary hubs at Makaroraisfocused on trapping to protect mohua, and they are trialling an AI method to identifyindividual birds by their song.
- In the Catlins, a team are battling predators and browsing pests to protect taonga there.
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The summer science series continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Country Life. From a block of gorse-infected scrubland on Banks Peninsula, renowned botanist Hugh Wilson has spent half a lifetime growing Hinewai Reserve into a 1600-hectare paradise of regenerated native forest by leaving nature to it. Cosmo Kentish-Barnes visits to learn more.
The Country Life podcast takes you all over the motu to hear the extraordinary stories of every day rural New Zealand. Hosted and produced by Sally Round, Cosmo Kentish-Barnes, Duncan Smith and Gianina Schwanecke
Listen to more Country Life episodes.
Guest:
- Hugh Wilson, botanist
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The summer science series continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Black Sheep. Freddie Angell was New Zealand's most notorious wildlife smuggler. His repeated attempts at stealing and exporting native wildlife in the 1990s, including kea and tuatara, made him all but a household name. William Ray speaks to documentary-maker Andy MacDonald about his extraordinary story.
Black Sheep is an RNZ podcast produced and presented by William Ray.
Listen to more episodes of Black Sheep.
Guest:
- Andy MacDonald, documentary-maker
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The summer science series continues with an episode from Tune into Nature, a podcast about New Zealand wildlife and wild places, and the people who look after them. Independent producer Karthic SS visits the Mokomoko Dryland Sanctuary Central Otago. Here, a team is working to bring back endangered lizards – Otago skinks and grand skinks – to the drylands wilderness they once lived in. These species are true wildlife underdogs – so rare and out of sight, not many people know they exist.
Tune into Nature is a podcast produced and presented by Karthic SS.
Listen to more Tune into Nature episodes.
Guests:
- Grant Norbury, ecologist and chairperson, Central Otago Ecological Trust (COET)
- Anna Yeoman, science communicator and trustee, COET
- Carey Knox, herpetologist, Southern Scales
- Kathryn Longstaff, Department of Conservation (DOC) Central Otago
- Ross Curtis , senior ranger, DOC Central Otago
- Joanna, ranger, DOC Central Otago
This episode was supported by OAR FM Dunedin, Science Communication at the University of Otago, and the NZ Lottery Grants Environment and Heritage fund, administered by Te Tari Taiwhenua, the Department of Internal Affairs.
Learn more:
- Alison Ballance goes on an urban lizard hunt in this 2017 episode.
- Anna Yeoman spoke to Nine to Noon about her lizard book.
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The summer science series continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Here Now. A love for tropical plants united Canterbury-based botanists Dr Julie Barcelona and Dr Pieter Pelser in the mid-2000s. The pair are renowned for their work on the large and unusual flower Rafflesia, which smells like a rotting carcass. They have found at least three new species on their adventures in the Philippines. Kadambari Raghukumar learns more about their spectacular discoveries.
Featuring:
- Dr Julie Barcelona
- Dr Pieter Pelser
Here Now is an RNZ podcast produced and presented by Kadambari Raghukumar.
- Listen to more episodes from Here Now.
- Watch a video about this episode.
Learn more:
- What will happen to plants in a warming world?
- Naturally rare and threatened
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Welcome to the summer science series! We're kicking off with two stories made by local podcast producers. First, on New Zealand's quest to become predator free by 2050, are we forgetting about mice? Dan Moskovitz, a student at Victoria University of Wellington, investigates what might happen to mice – and ecosystems as more areas become predator free. Then, a story from Xanthe Smith's Catch On podcast. Many people who consume fish stick to eating the fillets, meaning a substantial chunk of the whole fish gets chucked. A project seeks to tackle this food waste by connecting communities with kaimoana.
Guests:
- Associate Professor Stephen Hartley, Victoria University of Wellington
- Dr Araceli Samaniego
- Brent Bevan, Department of Conservation
- Chris Jupp, Kai Ika
- Vera, Kokiri Marae Naenae Hub
Learn more:
- Listen to more episodes of Catch On, a podcast by Xanthe Smith for the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Science Advisor
- Find out about the Kai Ika Project
- Dr Araceli Samaniego's paper, Small mice create big problems
- Listen to Voice of Tangaroa for more exploration of ocean issues
- Watch Fight for the Wild, a series about Predator Free 2050
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New methane seeps are being discovered in Antarctica, some now appearing in areas that researchers have been monitoring for years. These are areas on the seafloor where methane gas escapes out from under the ground through fissures or cracks. What is the extent of the seeps? How large is the gas reservoir they are being fed from? How much methane is escaping from the sea into the air? Why now? And does this have implications for further warming the planet? A team of NIWA scientists are racing to find answers.
Guests:
- Dr Sarah Seabrook, NIWA
- Dr Leigh Tait, NIWA
Learn more:
- You can find all the papers referenced this episode in the write-up that accompanies it.
- Claire spoke to Sarah about her initial work on seeps and the microbes that are attracted to them in 2022
- There’s currently a massive project underway to investigate whether the West Antarctic Ice Sheet will melt under 2oC of warming. Veronika Meduna joined them on the ice last year.
- Listen to our recent episode about life on the seafloor under the ice, including mysterious giant glass sponges.
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New Zealand’s tuatara are the last remaining species of an order of reptile that was alive alongside the dinosaurs 240 million years ago. The rest died out about 65 million years ago, but in Aotearoa the tuatara live on, found on 32 offshore islands and in a small number of ecosanctuaries and zoos on the mainland. Now one researcher is investigating the microbial community that lives inside their gut. Are there also bacterial ‘living fossils’ to be found? And has their gut microbiome changed as a result of living in captivity on the mainland?
Guests:
- Cam Hoffbeck, PhD candidate, Taylor lab, University of Auckland
- Chye-Mei Huang, Ectotherm ranger, Auckland Zoo
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode.
- Hear from another researcher who has been exploring the viruses found in tuatara.
- Cam has also spoken to Emile Donovan on Nights about her research.
- In 2014 Alison Ballance visited Orokonui Ecosanctuary to learn about the tuatara who had recently made the move to the cold climes of Dunedin.
- Our own microbiome may affect our brain, moods and behaviour, and changes across our lives.
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Dive under the Antarctic sea ice near Scott Base into the weird world of cold-water life. Pink sea angels, worms that look like intestines, ocean creepy crawlies that get as big as your hand... and mysterious giant glass sponges. These sponges are one of the strangest, and oldest, animals on Earth: surviving without light, eating bacteria and viruses, and making themselves out of silica they absorb from the water. In most parts of the world, they live at depths too deep to dive, making them tricky to study. But in the cold waters of McMurdo Sound, they can be found in shallower waters. Now an international team of scientists are unlocking some of their secrets.
Guests:
- Professor Ian Hawes, University of Waikato
- Dr Jürgen Laudien, Alfred Wegener Institute, Germany
- Katherine Rowe, University of Waikato
- Dr Erik Wurz, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands,
- Andreas Schmmider-MartÍnez, Universidad Mayor, Chile
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode
- Listen to The secret life of sea sponges
- Find out what it takes to live and do science in Antarctica with the award-winning 2020 Voices from Antarctica series by Alison Ballance
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For centuries Samoa's traditional healers have harnessed the power of the country's native plants as remedies for village ailments. Now scientists at the Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa are putting those plants under the microscope to unlock and understand how this traditional knowledge works. In this episode of Pacific Scientific from the ABC, tour the labs and lush gardens filled with plants that could hold the secret to battling diabetes, HIV, and cancer.
Guests:
- Annie Tuisuga, Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa
- MaserotaOfoia, Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa
- Benaiah Une, Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa
- Sekotilani Aloi, University of Samoa Lecturer
Pacific Scientific credits:
- Series Creator: Carl Smith
- Reporter: Adel Fruean
- Producer: Shelby Traynor
- Series Producer: Jordan Fennell
- Executive Producer: Will Ockenden
- ABC Science Editor: Jonathan Webb
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode.
- Listen to more Pacific Scientific episodes.
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Ngutukākā, or kākābeak, is a popular garden plant in Aotearoa. But in the wild, it is now rarer than kākāpō, with only about 100 individual plants surviving on steep, inaccessible cliffs. The East Coast is one of its remaining strongholds and the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Trust is on a mission to bring the taonga back. Veronika Meduna joins the inaugural Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Festival to find out more about the community’s efforts to turn State Highway 35 into a Crimson Highway by rewilding this iconic native.
Guests:
- Graeme Atkins, Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Trust
- Mere Tamanui, Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā Trust
- Hōhepa Waenga, East Coast Myrtle Rust Response Team
- Natalie Robertson, artist and Associate Professor at Auckland University of Technology
- Emma Giesen, Trees That Count
- Stephanie Gardner, Trees That Count
- Tamariki from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o Mangatuna
Learn more:
- Read the article that accompanies this episode.
- Visit the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā website
- Graeme Atkins featured in a recent episode of Country Life.
- For more on rare flora, Our Changing World has covered threatened limestone plants and explored what will happen to alpine plants in a warming world.
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Invasive redback spiders are highly venomous, threatening both people and New Zealand’s native species. A team of scientists is developing a cunning tool to trap male redbacks, by concocting an irresistible spiderweb perfume. We visit 800 captive redback spiders in the lab, learn about their wild mating habits, and check out the “spider arena” where the redbacks’ signature scent is put to the test.
The MRI technique advances coming out of the Mātai Medical Research Institute in Gisborne have been described as ‘pioneering’, ‘groundbreaking’ and ‘world leading’. Claire Concannon speaks to chief executive and research director Dr Samantha Holdsworth to learn why, and about their big plans for the future.
About two hours south of Dunedin, in the Catlins, the Tautuku and Fleming rivers flow into the sea at Tautuku beach. Covered in native bush from headwaters to the ocean, this special catchment is home to many native, and some threatened, plants and animals. But there’s an ongoing battle. Browsing animal such as deer and pigs are destroying the undergrowth, while feral cats and stoats are predating on critters such as the mātātā, the South Island fernbird. We meet some of the people fighting back.
Every year in New Zealand, recreational hunters shoot more than half a million wild game. Most are shot with lead-based ammunition. Now, researchers are investigating what happens to that lead, and how much of it is getting into the food chains of humans and the endangered kea. Alison Ballance speaks to scientists at Nelson-Marlborough Institute of Technology, and kea conservationists and predator control experts at the Department of Conservation to learn more.
To keep their eggs safe, some birds build simple cup-shaped nests. Others craft elaborate fully enclosed domes, with porches, fake entrances and ledges. But is this intricate construction of nests a set, encoded behaviour? Or can birds adapt in different conditions? Researchers are keen to learn about flexibility in nest design, to better understand how different species might be able to respond as the climate changes.
Almost 40 years on from the first reports of the Antarctic ozone hole, and 35 years since the Montreal Protocol to ban CFCs came into effect, what’s going on with the ozone hole? How does it form? How do we measure it? And having solved the CFC problem, why are we still monitoring ozone so closely? Claire Concannon heads to NIWA's Atmospheric Research Station in Lauder, Central Otago, to find out.
We love our four-legged friends. It’s estimated about a third of New Zealand households share their home with at least one dog, and two thirds of dog owners consider their furry friends to be family members. Some dogs work, others keep us company, make us laugh, get us walking twice a day, and shower us with unconditional affection….. But are we looking after all their needs? Claire Concannon speaks with a dog welfare expert about the science behind how we know our dogs love us, and what to do to make sure we are looking after them.
We all experience anxiety – when our brains look into the future and imagine bad things happening. It’s normal and has helped keep us alive as a species. But levels of anxiety are rising, particularly in young people, and at the severe end of the spectrum clinical anxiety prevents people from going about their lives. This Mental Health Awareness Week we meet a team of researchers at the University of Otago investigating the brain-body connection in anxiety, and how different potential treatments might help.
It’s been almost 30 years since a team joined forces to investigate a particularly aggressive form of stomach cancer that was afflicting one Tauranga whānau. Kimi Hauora Health and Research Clinic in Tauranga and University of Otago geneticists together found the cancer-causing genetic change, helping save thousands of lives worldwide. Justine Murray is at Mangatawa Marae with Maybelle McLeod and Erin Gardiner to reflect on that time, and Professor Parry Guilford discusses those first formative years.
This week, we’re hanging out in the terahertz area of the light spectrum. Sandwiched between infrared light and microwaves, terahertz has been the long-forgotten cousin of the light family. But no longer! At the Australian Synchrotron, intense and focused beams of terahertz light are used to test new materials for carbon capture, clean energy applications, and the next generation of computing.
Electrons! High speeds! Intense beams of light! Claire Concannon takes a tour of our nearest particle accelerator – the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne. Designed to create high-energy x-ray light useful for science, the synchrotron enables an incredible diversity of research. And, because of long-standing funding support, New Zealand scientists can also use it. Claire finds out what interesting research questions some visiting New Zealanders are shining a light on.
The Great Ireland vs. New Zealand Bird-off returns for part 2 to decide once and for all which island nation boasts the best birds. Our avian aficionados return to argue their case in front of judge Claire Concannon. Who will fly to victory? Listen to find out – plus learn about the crazy life cycle of the cuckoo and the weird feathers of the kiwi, among many fascinating facts and tales from the world of birds.
We’ve probably all experienced a little bit of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, at some stage in our lives. But for some people this phantom sound in their brain can be loud, and permanent, and completely debilitating. Claire Concannon speaks to a group of scientists at the University of Auckland who've been researching ways to help for years, and have developed a digital therapy with promising trial results.
Dr Kate Thomas has exercise on the brain. As an exercise physiologist, she researches how exercise and fasting can change the energy sources our brain uses. And as an ultramarathon runner, she chases that runner's high on gruelling mountain races. Claire Concannon learns about Kate's research and meets her at the finish line of a tough race in the Southern Alps.
How can swaying buildings help diagnose breast cancer? Katy Gosset meets a team of engineers taking inspiration from earthquake engineering to design a new, cost-effective device to help detect breast cancer. Listen to find out how the device works, and how it could help more women get tested sooner.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the rediscovery of the takahē. Claire Concannon sits down with former Our Changing World presenter and takahē superfan Alison Ballance to chat about her new book, Takahē: Bird of Dreams. Plus, we replay Alison's 2018 episode marking the 70th anniversary of the momentous rediscovery, and discuss what's happened in takahē conservation since.
Every year, tens to hundreds of seabirds fall out of the sky across Auckland city. Disoriented by the bright lights, Cook's petrels crash-land and collide with buildings – but a dedicated group of volunteers hit the pavement to rescue them. Join us on 'Petrel Patrol' and go behind the scenes at a bird hospital, where squid smoothies and bath time help the seabirds find their wings again.
Are all snowflakes really unique? What makes some snow better for skiing? And what's the difference between snow and hail? Join Alison Ballance and Katy Gosset as they hit the slopes of Mt Ruapehu and discover a science wonderland of snow.
Nuclear fusion is a holy grail for researchers seeking clean energy. This week we head to the south of France with ABC science journalist Carl Smith in this episode from the Strange Frontiers series. Here, a multi-billion-dollar collaboration between several countries called ITER is trying to make industrial-scale nuclear fusion a reality.
Tauranga-based producer Justine Murray dons some gumboots and meets some teeny-tiny cockles as she joins a team surveying the Waihi estuary. Professor Kura Paul-Burke is weaving mātauranga Māori and western science together to address questions that local iwi have about the health of the estuary, and what can be done to improve it.
Have you ever had a catchy tune you just can't get out of your head? Most of us can imagine sounds – music, voices, environmental noise – to varying degrees. But about 1% of people can't imagine sounds at all. This lack of auditory imagery is called anauralia. Claire Concannon meets a team of researchers investigating this newly described phenomenon, and speaks to a musician who experiences anauralia.
In September 2022, two New Zealand patients became the first in the world to participate in a phase 1 clinical trial testing a new therapy for a rare neurogenetic condition called myotonic dystrophy. Claire Concannon learns about the trial, and how a new Neurogenetic Registry and Biobank covering 70 conditions is helping to connect New Zealand patients with international research.
Here in Aotearoa, it's the winter solstice: the shortest day (and longest night) of the year. We're marking the occasion with an episode celebrating the starry night sky. Podcaster Max Balloch looks up in search of stories told through constellations, and finds that light pollution is smudging out the stars for many New Zealanders. What can be done to restore our connection with the night sky?
Rats giggle. Dogs wag their tail. How do other animals express joy? You can't ask them, so researchers have to find other sneaky ways of figuring out animal emotions. Professor Ximena Nelson is studying how curious and intelligent kea, New Zealand's alpine parrots, might show positive feeling.
There's nothing like a good birthday party, especially one filled with games and fun activities. The Auckland Bioengineering Institute might have missed their 20th birthday due to Covid-19, but they were determined to throw a good ole shindig. Claire Concannon visits to find out what they've been up to for the past 20 years, and what the plan is for the next two decades.
If the future of healthcare is personalised genomics, how can we ensure that it is used to lessen inequities, rather than strengthen them? This week, Our Changing World speaks to two of the co-leaders of the Rakieora programme – a pilot to develop a New Zealand specific national database for genomic research.
Genome sequencing has become a household term during this pandemic. This week, we explore how it became an important tool in the fight against Covid-19.
Sunfish are the world's largest bony fish species – and yet scientists know little about their lives. This week, Our Changing World meets a sunfish researcher unravelling mola mysteries and dives into the weird world of sunfishes as a museum specimen is examined and prepared.
Summer is on its way, and this week we're exploring both the power and the peril of the sun. First, we visit the Ultrafast Laser Lab to learn about efforts to create better solar panels. Then, we hear about one professor's quest to teach kids about sun safety using an ultraviolet dosimeter you can wear on your wrist like a watch.
Behind the scenes at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, a "menagerie" of specimens is a treasure trove for curator Dr Matt Rayner, who is researching how the Hauraki Gulf's seabirds are faring using clues from very old feathers.
How do you drill through 600m of thick Antarctic ice? Using hot water, of course. In this episode from the 2020 series Voices from Antarctica, Alison Ballance joins researchers hoping to solve the puzzle of why a giant river of ice has stalled.
Weddell seals have returned to breed near Scott Base in Antarctica after a decades-long absence. On land, they're blubbery lumps. But underwater, they're graceful dancers and ethereal singers. A team of scientists is finding out more about the under-ice lives and habits of Weddell seals. Alison Ballance joins them in this episode from the award-winning series Voices from Antarctica.
A team of NIWA scientists eagerly awaits the return of 19 emperor penguins carrying high-tech data loggers and video cameras. What will the data captured reveal about the penguins' secret lives at sea?
Revisit the frozen continent with us in this mini rerun of the Voices from Antarctica series. This week, Alison visits Cape Crozier to meet a colony of emperor penguins – and the team of scientists studying them.
It's spectacularly spiky and delivers a painful – or even deadly – sting. Why are a team of conservationists growing and planting up Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin with more and more native tree nettle, ongaonga? It's all because of a pretty little pollinator called the kahukura, or red admiral butterfly, and its prickly preferences. Claire Concannon visits Orokonui to learn more about the ongaonga-kahukura relationship, as well as new research investigating whether these native butterflies are the victims of a sneaky ecological 'trap'.
It's spectacularly spiky and delivers a painful – or even deadly – sting. Why are a team of conservationists growing and planting up Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin with more and more native tree nettle, ongaonga? It's all because of a pretty little pollinator called the kahukura, or red admiral butterfly, and its prickly preferences. Claire Concannon visits Orokonui to learn more about the ongaonga-kahukura relationship, as well as new research investigating whether these native butterflies are the victims of a sneaky ecological 'trap'.
It's spectacularly spiky and delivers a painful – or even deadly – sting. Why are a team of conservationists growing and planting up Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin with more and more native tree nettle, ongaonga? It's all because of a pretty little pollinator called the kahukura, or red admiral butterfly, and its prickly preferences. Claire Concannon visits Orokonui to learn more about the ongaonga-kahukura relationship, as well as new research investigating whether these native butterflies are the victims of a sneaky ecological 'trap'.
We're saying farewell to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (aka SOFIA) this month. The mission, which was partially based in Christchurch, wraps up after a decade of observing comets, stars, planets, and the moon. In July 2017, Alison Ballance boarded the Boeing 747 with a flying telescope for one of its research flights.
We're saying farewell to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (aka SOFIA) this month. The mission, which was partially based in Christchurch, wraps up after a decade of observing comets, stars, planets, and the moon. In July 2017, Alison Ballance boarded the Boeing 747 with a flying telescope for one of its research flights.
We're saying farewell to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (aka SOFIA) this month. The mission, which was partially based in Christchurch, wraps up after a decade of observing comets, stars, planets, and the moon. In July 2017, Alison Ballance boarded the Boeing 747 with a flying telescope for one of its research flights.
In a future that is free of fossil fuels, where will we source all the products that we get from the petroleum industry? Scientists at the forest research institute Scion think that trees might provide the solutions we need.
In a future that is free of fossil fuels, where will we source all the products that we get from the petroleum industry? Scientists at the forest research institute Scion think that trees might provide the solutions we need.
In a future that is free of fossil fuels, where will we source all the products that we get from the petroleum industry? Scientists at the forest research institute Scion think that trees might provide the solutions we need.
In a room in the Manaaki Whenua building in Auckland are rows and rows of shelves, with cardboard boxes containing an array of weird and wonderful dried fungi. Claire Concannon visits to learn how and why these specimens are kept, and finds out about its sister culture collection, which is helping in the defense against invading plant pathogens.
In a room in the Manaaki Whenua building in Auckland are rows and rows of shelves, with cardboard boxes containing an array of weird and wonderful dried fungi. Claire Concannon visits to learn how and why these specimens are kept, and finds out about its sister culture collection, which is helping in the defense against invading plant pathogens.
In a room in the Manaaki Whenua building in Auckland are rows and rows of shelves, with cardboard boxes containing an array of weird and wonderful dried fungi. Claire Concannon visits to learn how and why these specimens are kept, and finds out about its sister culture collection, which is helping in the defense against invading plant pathogens.
Alison Ballance visits the Brook Waimarama sanctuary, and discovers that the old saying “many hands make light work” is particularly true when it comes to community conservation. A relatively new fenced sanctuary, the Brook Waimarama team is now at the exciting stage of bringing native wildlife back into the area, including orange-fronted parakeets - kākāriki karaka - and giant land snails.
Claire Concannon catches up with Dr. Taniela Lolohea of Auckland University of Technology. He is researching in the relatively new field of low temperature plasma surface coatings, and explains how it can be used to create customised surfaces for many purposes. But he is also investigating ways to encourage more Pacific students in science, including by developing projects that might be more attractive for them.
While we might have heard all we ever want to know about viruses in the last few years, the truth is, known viruses represent less than zero point one percent of the estimated total of viruses out there. Claire Concannon meets a team from the University of Otago trying to increase our knowledge of virus diversity, so that we can better understand their evolution.
Edin Whitehead inherited a love of birds from her father and became captivated by the majesty of seabirds on a trip to the Subantarctic Islands. Now a PhD student at the University of Auckland, she is trying to figure out how best to help the birds of the Hauraki Gulf, who are facing many threats, including warming waters.
The Auckland University of Technology Living Laboratories project is all about investigating how best to grow back native forest. At Pourewa creek, this collaboration between AUT and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei involves planting blocks with different nursery plants and measuring individual tree growth and biodiversity indicators over time. They hope to figure out the recipe to cheaper and faster regeneration of native bush.
The most extreme places in Antarctica give rise to the toughest and weirdest types of life. From creatures living a very different chemical life to ours at underwater methane seeps to the secret tools bacteria use to keep their DNA safe from the harsh conditions of the dry valleys.
The eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha‘apai in January triggered a tsunami of unprecedented proportions, impacting the entire Pacific. How did this volcanic eruption lead to a tsunami detected across the globe, including as far away as the Mediterranean? Science communicator Ellen Rykers speaks to the scientists unravelling the secrets of this rare phenomenon.
With their antler-like mandibles, Helm's stag beetles often get stuck in to one another. But they are fighting a bigger battle too - against predators and habitat loss. PhD student Luna Thomas is studying these little known endemic insects. She hopes her work will add to our sparse scientific knowledge, and maybe help some of the other native stag beetle species, some of which are critically endangered.
The New Zealand data science programme, Taiao, aims to help researchers make sense of environmental data so they can make useful predictions to guide good decisions. Claire Concannon meets the team at the University of Waikato where the programme is hosted. And a group in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute are researching a new needle-free jet injector design that they think might lead to a happier future for those with needle phobia.
PhD student Kiamaia Ellis describes crayfish as a ‘vulnerable tāonga species’. Local iwi in Tauranga believe the crayfish population is decreasing because of urban, industrial and harvesting pressures. But Kiamaia is keen to be a part of the solution, so she’s studying the resilience of pēpi kōura / baby crayfish. She wants to understand how these tiny species – that take eight years to become an adult – are able to thrive based on a kaitiakitanga or guardianship approach.
Working with the community and local schools, the Karioi Project aims to turn the tide on biodiversity loss in their area. In recent years they've rallied around the grey-faced petrel, or ōi, who they hope to help return to the maunga.
Two stories about the promise and perils of chemistry research. From a team recreating Renaissance beauty recipes in the hopes of rediscovering a 'miracle ingredient', to a researcher investigating New Zealand's deadliest synthetic cannabinoid.
The Nevis Fault is a sleeping giant fault, one that awakens only every 10,000 years or so. This week, a team of geologists use paleoseismic trenching to answer questions about this fault and to figure out the pattern of past earthquakes.
It's Prime Minister's Science Prize time! We meet some of the people awarded the 2021 prizes for their mahi.
Researchers from the University of Waikato are tackling the tricky question of how to restore native biodiversity in our urban areas.
We join Marine Science PhD student Namrata Chand on her Autumn field work collecting seaweed samples to learn more about this 'underdog of the ocean'.
Pūtahi Manawa / Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa has an ambitious goal - to close the inequity gaps in heart health. Researchers in this Centre of Research Excellence explain the gaps that exist & how they plan to address them.
Claire Concannon meets with some of the people working to protect Aotearoa’s naturally rare ecosytems and the endangered plants found within them.
Alison Ballance joins the kākāpō recovery team on Pukenui Anchor Island to hear how the 2021/2022 kākāpō breeding season is going.
A visit to Scott's Terra Nova hut to learn about the care given to the objects by Antarctic Heritage Trust conservators. This is an edit of the Antarctic Heritage Trust's podcast 'Frozen in Time: Scott's Antarctic Legacy'.
Justin Gregory finds out about a study investigating how pre-term babies are fed during their first few weeks, and whether there is a better way.
Stories about looking our warming world in the eye, and preparing for what is coming next. Collecting data about extreme temperatures in estuaries to help manage shellfish populations. Plus what might managed retreat of marae threatened by sea level rise mean for Māori communities.
At the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research a team of scientists are working on what they believe will be the future of cancer treatment in New Zealand.
Two stories on addressing our energy problem - using AI to maximise locally produced renewable energy and reducing the carbon footprint of ammonia production.
A story of a community taking the lead to investigate their own history. Near the small fishing village of Moeraki, whānau members are doing the work of excavating, sorting, and identifying artifacts from an old Māori archaeological site.
This sea week Our Changing World joins Dr. Kim Currie on the Munida transect time-series - a long running investigation of how the chemistry of the oceans off New Zealand is changing.
Creating safe spaces for wildlife to thrive means benefit for the local community too. This week, two stories on that theme.
Alison Ballance catches up with two earthquake researchers. Geologist Carolyn Boulton is a ‘fault finder’, interested in how faults slide. And geophysicist Martha Savage eavesdrops on the earth to better understand why earthquakes do what they do.
Claire visits a macroalgae research facility in Tauranga to learn how and why the team there are growing large quantities of seaweed and freshwater macroalgae.
Claire learns about honey fingerprinting while Katy Gosset meets a scientist studying the anti-microbial properties of some native plants.
Claire joins a meteorite hunt on the South Island’s West Coast and learns what these rocks from space can tell us about the early formation of our solar system.
The story of titipounamu, New Zealand's smallest bird, on Otago Peninsula, told by Karthic SS, a wildlife film maker and podcast producer based in Dunedin.
Summer science continues with a play of a science related episode from RNZ's Voices podcast. In 'To spray or not to spray' we meet Tim Vandervoet as he investigates ways to reduce insecticide use in orchards.
Centre for Science Communication student Laura McDonald speaks to Dr. Mike Palin about lead contamination in the environment.
Summer science continues with a play of a science related episode from RNZ's Black Sheep podcast. Invasive tells the story of one man who released thousands of invasive fish into New Zealand's rivers, lakes and streams.
Centre for Science Communication student William Bowden speaks to Dr. Mike Joy & Dr. Tim Chambers about the issue of nitrates in New Zealand's waterways.
How to deal with unwelcome visitors. Katy Gosset learns about a native fungus that might help in the battle against wilding pines. And two national research programmes combine on an expedition to protect our oceans from plastics and invasive species.
Chemical isotope analysis is a powerful technique - Dr. Charlotte King explains to Claire how she uses it to reconstruct past lives of forgotten people from the Otago gold rush.
Sci Fi / Sci Fact is a new podcast series in which scientists from New Zealand's MacDiarmid Institute talk to RNZ host Bryan Crump about whether some of science-fiction's most popular concepts could actually come true.
Two stories on keeping an eye on river flow - helping fish to migrate back upstream, and development of a national river flow forecasting tool.
A team of scientists are installing an array of seismic sensors along the South Island's Alpine Fault. Claire Concannon joins them to find out how and why.
Katy Gosset speaks to a PhD student designing new tech to catch predators and Claire Concannon meets the team who are working to restore a unique landscape on the South Island's West Coast.
On the 100th anniversary of radio in Aotearoa, Claire Concannon learns about the very first broadcast, explores how radio works, and finds out about current research into communicating using light.
Claire visits the team at K9 Medical Detection Charitable Trust to learn how their dogs are being trained to detect bowel and prostate cancer.
Claire Concannon hits the Central Otago hills with Botany PhD student Ben Teele to imagine the landscape as it use to be, and to follow the clues to find leftover pockets of tōtara trees.
Claire Concannon hears how the the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network's favourite plant competition is shaping up, while Katy Gosset learns about research to improve the quality and growth efficiency of grapevines.
This week on Our Changing World, Aotearoa Science Agency's Damian Christie speaks to three scientists about the world of data.
Claire Concannon hears from Dr. Brigid Ryan of the University of Auckland about the New Zealand genetic frontotemporal dementia study and speaks to some of the family members involved in this unique research study.
Stories about the potential of bioengineering to transform health care. A new tracheostomy kit design that has halved the time for emergency operations and 3D bioprinting of tissues to help healing.
Stories of physics research in Antarctica - into, under, and from within the ice. Claire finds out about measuring sea ice thickness and supercooling. Katy Gosset learns how scientists detect neutrinos from outer space.
Claire Concannon learns about experiments aimed at slowing Parkinson's Disease progression. Sonia Yee explores research into our perception of emotions in a mask-filled world.
The return of South Island kākā to the the Ōtepoti Dunedin area has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Claire Concannon hears about the tragedies and the triumphs, and the plans for what comes next.
Native mangroves in Aotearoa are expanding, putting them in conflict with some local communities & councils. A wade into the research about the value of mangroves & how they are managed.
Katy Gosset finds out how researchers investigate the plant penetration powers of myrtle rust. Claire Concannon speaks with the caretaker of a tropical forest and hundreds of butterflies
Two stories of looking to the skies. Claire Concannon joins a hunt for planets outside of our solar system. Katy Gosset reveals the results of the annual New Zealand Garden Birds Survey.
This week, how information flows in the cell from DNA to proteins, and how scientists have tapped into this to enable a new way to make vaccines using messenger RNA.
How do you find a tiny robin in a whole lot of forest? Researchers have been tracking the movements of forty North Island robins, or toutouwai, that have been reintroduced to a large reserve area near Palmerston North. Claire Concannon finds out how these Massey University researchers monitor them, and what they are learning.
How do you get in the zone to achieve your very best in an activity? And does a cheering crowd help? This week, two stories about the psychology of performance - the advantages of being at home, and how to find your flow.
Researchers from the University of Waikato talk about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) – a condition in which athletes don't take in the right amount of calories to do the exercise they are doing. Katie Schofield & Holly Thorpe explain why the problem is much more complex than just calorie intake, and why it is important to research this condition in a multidisciplinary way.
Scientific research can be thought as on a spectrum from blue sky to applied - this week, two stories that span this. Claire Concannon learns about a blue-sky research project on bacterial evolution while Katy Gosset watches testing of a new system of base isolation designed to help homes during earthquakes.
On this week’s Our Changing World - how songbirds learn their song, and how researchers in the Southern Hemisphere are trying to correct a long-standing male bias in the songbird world.
Mathematical equations can help us get new perspectives, but sometimes can be difficult to understand. This week, one story about how maths has helped the understanding of a enigmatic quirk of heart rate control and another on how crafts can be used to better understand maths.
Researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute are working on what they hope will be the first New Zealand designed Class 3 medical device – a pressure sensor for the brain, to help people with hydrocephalus. The team explain the sensor design, how it works and how they test it.
Two stories of Aotearoa New Zealand conservation communities who are caring for the flora and fauna in their backyards. Claire learns about the Catlins Bats on the Map project while Katy learns about saving scurvy grass.
Claire Concannon meets a group of researchers who are determined to do the best science they can, to try to help the people they love.
Two stories about science pathways - Katy Gosset heads to the University of Canterbury STEM careers fair to find out what the future might be for science students, while Claire Concannon learns about the weird world of parasite life cycles.
In the series finale, Hope, we get a glimpse of what a predator-free Aotearoa could look like, and look at the breakthrough technologies and innovations taking us towards that goal.
Community-led projects are leading the charge to halt biodiversity decline, while researchers make break-throughs in their quest to remove predators and protect borders from reinvasion.
New Zealander’s have drawn a line in the sand, announcing they will rid the nation of rats, stoats and possums by 2050, but what will it take to get there?
Loss looks at the devastating effect introduced mammals have had on New Zealand's unique wildlife.
Alison Ballance revisits a favourite story from the archives: southern island sanctuary for rare birds.
In her final trawl through the audio archives, Alison Ballance heads to Putauhinu Island, a southern sanctuary for rare birds.
Alison Ballance revisits a 2013 feature on kauri dieback disease and talks to Nick Waipara to find out how the northern kauri forests are coping with the disease in 2021.
Alison Ballance revisits a 2013 story about kauri dieback disease and gets an update of the disease's impact in 2021.
Alison Ballance's foray into the vaults finds a feature on ocean acidification, The Acid Test and adds a 2021 update.
In this week's retrospective, Alison Ballance revisits an ocean acidification special feature called The Acid Test.
There are some familiar names as well as some new faces among the winners of the 2020 Prime Minister's Science Prizes.
Alison Ballance digs into Our Changing World's Antarctic treasure chest and finds part 2 of Voice of the Iceberg.
Alison Ballance digs into the Our Changing World archives for an Antarctic blast from the past with Voice of the Iceberg 2: Revelation.
Alsion Ballance revisits a story looking at the complexity of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.
In this week's retrospective, Alison Ballance looks at the 'big ones': a big earthquake in Kaikōura in 2016 and a big science effort to understand it.
With more than a thousand conservation stories under her waterproof parka, science journalist Alison Ballance is retiring from RNZ's Our Changing World programme.
Alison Ballance looks back at the 1,000+ stories she has made, and revisits stone-eating spotted shags and urban eagle rays
Alison Ballance plays favourites from the archives - stone-eating spotted shags and urban eagle rays.
The story of a seabird translocation to Mana Island, involving fluffy white-faced storm petrel chicks, artificial burrows and sardine smoothies.
Seabird species are being reintroduced to Mana Island to help restore the ecology of the island.
The Far Out Ocean Research Collective has been surveying for whales and dolphins in the seas off Northland.
Rare dolphins and whales were among the discoveries when the Far Out Ocean Research Collective surveyed the seas off Northland.
Fertility researchers are developing a new way of testing IVF embryos that have too many chromosomes.
Shaun Eaves talks about glaciers in the North Island and how evidence left behind by glaciers can help reconstruct past climates.
Developing a new test for detecting IVF embryos carrying too many chromosomes, and what past and present glaciers can tell us about climate.
Much of New Zealand's freshwater flows underground, and a team from GNS Science is in the process of mapping it.
University of Canterbury freshwater biologists are using a joint mātauranga Māori and western conservation science framework for their work translocating species.
Mapping the hidden reservoirs of underground water across New Zealand and a mātauranga Māori view on moving freshwater species.
Ornithologist and author Ralph Powlesland is intimately acquainted with the weka families on the regenerating Marlborough Sounds farm where he lives.
University of Canterbury's John Hopkins and Toni Collins explain disaster law and shortcomings in NZ's legal system highlighted by the Canterbury earthquakes.
The natural history of Marlborough's weka and disaster law: what it is and its role in disaster resilience.
Misko Cubrinovski is interested how the ground and the structures on - and in - it behave during an earthquake.
Liquefaction lessons from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and biotechnologists doing interesting things with plants.
University of Canterbury engineers plan to 3D print the next generation of wastewater treatment filters.
Victoria University of Wellington's Wokje Abrahamse talks about environmental behaviour change, and projects to get people to save energy and use their cars less.
Designing a new kind of filter to treat wastewater and how to encourage people to behave in a more environmentally friendly way.
Summer students from Victoria University of Wellington have been helping the Innermost community gardens in Wellington put numbers on their social and environmental values.
Each year Jo Bonner and the team at Coastlands Plant Nursery in Whakatane grow 300,000 spinifex and pingao plants for dune replanting at beaches around the North Island.
Measuring the value of a community garden and the challenges of growing dune plants for restoring sand dune communities.
University of Otago student Ruby Parker says it's important to talk about abortion. She is in conversation with researcher Emma Harcourt.
University of Otago student Jenny Stein is finding out how rising sea levels are a growing problem for many coastal settlements, including the densely populated suburb of South Dunedin.
When University of Otago student Asia King got the call to take part in a study using ketamine to treat depression, she said yes - and made a podcast about the experience.
Discover the hidden world of arboreal plants, which get a leg-up in the world by living on trees.
Low-damage buildings don't just save lives in an earthquake - they are designed to be resilient so they can stay in use.
Epiphytes are the high rise experts of the plant world, and resilient buildings should save lives and still be useable after an earthquake.
When it comes to having a 'good life', there are several key elements - strong intimate relationships and time to relax.
Information from past earthquakes can be used to prepare a more resilient society that will be better able to cope with future shakes.
An earthquake engineer talks about modelling strong ground motions in an earthquake and a psychologists talks about what it takes to have a good life.
Two self-driving underwater robots are making surprising discoveries about where river water ends up at sea, far from land.
Cancer epidemiologist Brian Cox, from the University of Otago, talks about studying the causes of cancer and new research on diet and bowel cancer.
How river water reaches out to sea and an epidemiologist talks about work into the causes of cancer.
NIWA's Richard Querel talks about the ozone hole, including this year's large one, and Ben Liley explains why NZ has such high UV levels.
NIWA experts explain the science behind this year's large ozone hole and New Zealand's high UV levels.
Iwi representatives & conservationists journey to Zealandia sanctuary to plant seeds of the mysterious parasitic flowering plant Dactylanthus or flower of the underworld.
Returning the mysterious parasitic flowering plant Dactylanthus or pua o te reinga to Zealandia sanctuary, in Wellington.
Geneticist Neil Gemmell has won the 2020 Hutton Medal for using DNA & new genomic technologies to better understant plants & animals.
The 2020 Tahunui-A-Rangi Award goes to David Tipene Leach for the wahakura, a woven bassinet to address the problem of sudden unexpected death in infancy.
The invention of a woven bassinet to save babies' lives & a geneticist seeking to understand plants & animals have won awards at the 2020 Research Honours Aotearoa.
NZ's top research award, the Rutherford Medal, has gone to Brian Boyd, whose work spans Shakespeare to Nabokov to Popper, & weaves arts and sciences together.
Maria Bargh's work on political economies and the environment is focused on Māori communities and has won her the 2020 Te Puāwaitanga Award.
Unravelling how genes control colour in petunias has won Nick Albert the 2020 Hamilton Award and could help breed more nutritious fruit.
A group of Dunedin students talk about what they learned making an Otago Museum exhibition about climate change inequality.
The 2020 Research Honours go to a Nabokov expert, a Maori political economist & a colourful plant breeder, and students talk climate change.
Deep sea corals are being put to the test at NIWA to find out how they cope with sediment.
NIWA ecologists have been stress testing deep sea corals to find out they cope with sediment.
Jocelyn Turnbull from GNS Science is measuring how much CO2 we're producing in NZ towns - and she's doing it by cutting the grass.
GNS Science is measuring how much carbon dioxide we're producing in different towns as part of the Carbon Watch NZ project.
Dave Lowe on measuring CO2 in New Zealand for 50 years, and how Carbon Watch NZ is a bird's eye view on our carbon balance.
Fifty years ago Dave Lowe started measuring carbon dioxide in New Zealand's atmosphere. And Gordon Brailsford and Sara Mikaloff Fletcher talk about Carbon Watch NZ project.
When is the Covid-19 vaccine coming? Will it work? William Ray talks to NZ experts charting our path towards immunity.
Lawn owner William Ray looks at the ecological benefits of not mowing and letting your grass grow longer.
Emily Parker and her team at Victoria University of Wellington are identifying the genes that allow fungi to create natural medicinal compounds.
An ecologist and a mathematician discover that teaching a computer to recognise bird calls from acoustic recorders is an interesting challenge.
An ecologist and a mathematician are collaborating on open source software called AviaNZ that will allow a computer to identify bird calls.
Ten years after the Darfield earthquake, three seismologists from GeoNet reflect on a decade of big earthquakes and what we've learnt from them.
Three seismologists from GeoNet reflect on the decade of big earthquakes that began 10 years ago with the Darfield earthquake in Canterbury.
Dead corals cast up the shore of Aitutaki, in the Cook Islands, provide a window into the Pacific Ocean's marine climate hundreds of years ago.
A time-travelling climate scientist is using dead corals to investigate past marine climates in the Pacific.
From safer solvents to make better batteries, to catalysts that can clean up wastewater, green chemists are developing better ways of making stuff.
Scientists at the Centre for Green Chemical Science at the University of Aukalnd, are developing cleaner greener processes and products.
Food scientist Nazimah Hamid from AUT says that the sound of the space we eat in can have surprising effects on the taste of food.
The sensory lab at AUT is used for food testing and tests can involve all the senses, including sound.
'Covid-19 unmasked: understanding the outbreak' is a panel discussion from the 2020 New Zealand International Science Festival.
Emma Carroll talks about the return of southern right whales from the edge of extinction and a project asking the public to report whale sightings.
Take some old weather records. Add citizen scientists. Mix in machine learning. Result = something that might help predict future weather patterns.
In search of southern right whales and digitising old weather records to predict future climate.
Tiny plants that live on the underside of sea ice form an upside-down garden that feeds krill and is the base of the Antarctic food web.
Researchers are using hot water to drill through the Ross ice shelf, to discover what has happened to Antarctic ice during previous periods of warm climates.
Alison Ballance eavesdrops on the songs of the world's southern-most mammal, the Weddell seal, and finds out about sea ice.
A team finding links between melting ice sheets in Antarctica and rising sea levels in NZ has won the 2019 Prime Minister's Science Prize.
Student Thomas James wanted to help his elderly neighbour, so he invented a wheelie bin robot to take her large recycling bin to the kerb.
Michelle Dalrymple, winner of the 2019 Prime Minister's Science Teacher's Prize, says being mathematically literate is an important life skill.
Winners of the 2019 Prime Minister's Science Prizes include a team studying melting ice and rising seas, a maths teacher and a young inventor.
Emperor penguin researchers are waiting for tagged birds to return, and an elderly radar system sheds light on a very windy part of the atmosphere.
Alison Ballance meets a colony of Emperor penguins and their NIWA researchers, and finds out about making water on the frozen continent
Keeping Scott Base warm and well-lit no matter the weather outside, and a physics experiment that eavesdrops on messages to submarines.
Alison Ballance has her first day at New Zealand's Antarctic station, Scott Base, and visits the historic Hillary's Hut.
Alison Ballance dons her extreme cold weather clothing for a trip to Antarctica - but getting to the frozen continent can take time.
Two gems from Our Changing World's Antarctic archive - restoring Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds and hunting for extremophile microbes high on Mt Erebus.
Scientists warn that a small amount of sea-level rise could have big consequences for some low-lying parts of New Zealand.
Experts discuss the findings from a recent NIWA report that shows a small amount of sea-level rise will cause more coastal flooding.
Ocean floor rock cores drilled into the sunken continent of Zealandia are revolutionising our understanding of Earth's history and how continents form.
Geologists are probing the secrets of the hidden continent of Zealandia, and ants and viruses from the archives.
More than four months after it formed, a large blob of sooty dust from Australia's massive bushfires is still circling the southern hemisphere.
There is a fine art to how pedestrians, cyclists, and cars and buses navigate the shared thoroughfares of our towns and cities.
Dust from Australia's bush fires is still circling the globe in the stratosphere, and studies into cyclists and their use of city streets.
Modern-day citizen scientists are following in the footsteps of a well-known Wellington naturalist, collecting moths to document a century of change.
Wellington naturalist George Vernon Hudson collected thousands of moths and a century later a group of citizen scientists are following in his footsteps in Zealandia sanctuary.
Mathematician Alex James, from Te Pūnaha Matatini & the University of Canterbury, explains the art and science of modelling the coronavirus pandemic.
Alison Ballance chats with mathematician Alex James, who has been helping model the coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand.
The human immune system is a complex system where T cells, B cells and antibodies battle invaders such as bacteria and viruses such as the one that causes COVID-19.
Immunologist Jo Kirman introduces us to our immune system and how it fights viruses such as the one that causes COVID-19.
Virus expert Kurt Krause, from the University of Otago, gives us the lowdown on viruses, and on coronaviruses in particular.
Virus expert Kurt Krause, from the University of Otago, gives us the lowdown on viruses, and we hear about a rare plant and the viruses that are killing it.
GNS Science monitors levels of air pollution around New Zealand, especially small particles that can have severe health effects.
GNS Science monitors levels of air pollution around New Zealand, and why soap is the ultimate coronavirus buster.
When it comes to virus-busting, soap is an oldie but a goodie - because it turns out that soap is particularly effective against coronaviruses such as the one that causes Covid-19.
The 2019 kākāpō chicks are becoming independent and birds sent to be scanned for aspergillosis are getting clean bills of health, in part 8 of Voice of the Kākāpō.
A deadly fungal disease strikes the kākāpō population on Whenua Hou and the Kākāpō Recovery team calls on New Zealand wildlife vets to help, in part 7 of Voice of the Kākāpō..
The kākāpō eggs are hatching, and chicks are being hand-reared or returned to their mother's nest ... but not every chick is thriving, in part 6 of Voice of the Kākāpō .
The tally of infertile eggs is climbing and the kākāpō team is using artificial insemination - and a drone - to try and counter the problem, in part 5 of Voice of the Kākāpō.
Most of the female kākāpō have bred and the team is carrying precious fertile eggs to the 'egg room' for incubation, in part 4 of Voice of the Kākāpō .
Kākāpō breeding is in full swing after an early start, and DOC's Deidre Vercoe and Andrew Digby are checking to see if eggs are fertile, in part 3 of Voice of the Kākāpō.
The kākāpō team know all the signs are good for a big kākāpō breeding season - the question is exactly how big and when will it start? Part 2 of Voice of the Kākāpō.
The kākāpō is a giant flightless parrot whose fortunes are tied to the rimu tree and to a dedicated team of rangers from the Department of Conservation.
Official advice in an earthquake quake is to 'drop, cover, hold.' But is this what we actually do? And what happens if we do something else?
Social scientist David Johnston investigates the way people behave during and after earthquakes, and what the consequences of their behaviour is.
Yeast is one of the key ingredients in beer and wine - and local yeasts could add a distinct Kiwi flavour.
Peter Griffin and two Wellington entrepreneurs are in search of local yeasts to impart distinctive NZ flavours to craft beers, and the wine indusry is on a similar hunt.
Sonia Sly is in search of psychopaths. Are they born or are they made? What are the traits that a psychopath exhibits? And is everyone a psychopath to some extent?
Sonia Sly is in search of the psychopathic mind with psychology researcher Hedwig Eisenbarth, from Victoria University of Wellington.
Bush fires are growing in severity and frequency. William Ray finds out about the latest research into how fires burn and how people react when flames threaten.
Fire researchers from Scion talk about the latest wild fire research that is giving new insights into how fires burn and how people behave when flames threaten.
The tiny rock wren lives year-round in the alpine zone of the South Island mountains and research shows that predator control is important for the species' survival.
The rock wren is a little bird with several big claims to fame. It belongs to an ancient group of birds and is New Zealand's only truly alpine bird.
What if there was a magic number that proved you right? There's no such thing, but we do have the p-value which is the probability that your scientific hypothesis is right.
Science communication student Amy Archer, from the University of Otago, investigates recommendations from the South-East Marine Protection Forum for marine reserves on the Otago coast.
Zirconium is a shape-shifting tough cookie, that is a tale of gemstones, medical implants and nuclear reactors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 96 of Elemental.
Zinc is a very useful metal that turns up in everything from sunscreen to paint, & galvanised metals to cereals, as well as brass instruments, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 95 of Elemental.
Damian Christie is in search of his origins - from the beginning of the universe, to human evolution & Polynesian settlement in the Pacific.
Damian Christie is in search of origin stories - from the beginning of the universe, the earliest humans and the Polynesian settlement in the Pacific.
Yttrium is yet another element named after the village of Ytterby and is important in the development of high temperature superconductors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 94 of Elemental.
Ytterbium is yet another lanthanoid named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 93 of Elemental.
Charlie Dreaver investigates the issues around strengthening apartment buildings to make them more resilient to earthquakes.
Charlie Dreaver investigates apartments and earthquake resilience in 'Living the high life on shaky ground' & the chemical element vanadium.
Xenon is a noble gas that turns up in various lights, gets used in xenon ion propulsion systems for spacecraft & plays a key role in the search for dark matter, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 92 of Elemental.
Vanadium makes steel stronger & lighter, is being used in what will be the world's largest battery, and sea squirts are full of it, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 91 of Elemental.
Named after the planet Uranus & associated with Hiroshima & nuclear bombs, uranium is the highest-numbered element found naturally in significant quantities on earth, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 90 of Elemental.
A satellite tracking programme is revealing, for the first time, where New Zealand's Pacific golden plovers or kuriri migrate to breed.
Miranda shorebird enthusiasts are on the trail of the elusive Pacific golden plover or kuriri.
Tungsten's very high melting point made it an ideal filament for incandescent light bulbs, & as it is in some enzymes it is the heaviest element used in nature, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 89 of Elemental.
Titanium is light, strong, corrosion resistant & is used to repair broken limbs as it is able to get integrated into the bone, says Allan Blackman from AUT speaking from personal experience in ep 88 of Elemental.
380 New Zealand lakes are in the spotlight, and Marcus Vandergoes from GNS Science explains what happens to the thousands of sediment cores that will reveal a 1000-year history for each lake.
Sediment cores from the Lakes380 project, which is building a 1000-year history for 10 percent of New Zealand's lakes, are housed at GNS's National Isotope Centre.
The element tin turns up in all sorts of alloys, but tin cans are - mostly - not made from tin, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 87 of Elemental.
Isolating the element thulium was a truly laborious process that took many years, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 86 of Elemental.
Named after Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, thorium could provide a cleaner source of nuclear power in the future, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 85 of Elemental.
Susie Wood from the Cawthron Institute says that sediment cores & eDNA will reveal a 1000-year history for 380 NZ lakes.
Susie Wood from the Cawthron Institute talks about Lakes 380, which will reveal a 1000-year history of 10 percent of NZ lakes, plus the element terbium.
Thallium is most famous for some infamous poisoned family cases & its appearance in an Agatha Christie novel solved a medical mystery, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 84 of Elemental.
A discovery from the chemically prolific Swedish village of Ytterby, terbium produced the green on old TV sets & adds security to Euro notes, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 83 of Elemental.
By the end of this year Predator-Free Wellington hopes that the eastern suburbs on the Miramar Peninsula will be free from rat and stoats.
Predator-free Miramar Peninsula kicked off in the middle of the year and aims to get rid of rats and stoats. It is part of a wider to goal to make Wellington a predator-free capital city.
Tellurium is a metalloid often found with gold and the US town Telluride is named after it, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 82 of Elemental.
Technetium was the first element on the periodic table to be synthesised. It is rare, radioactive and has only a few uses, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 81 of Elemental.
Victoria University researchers are radio-tracking urban rats in Wellington city suburbs to find out how large their home ranges are, to help improve predator-free trapping efforts.
Radio-tracking urban rats in Wellington city suburbs to find out how large their home ranges are, and the chemical element tantalum.
The metal tantalum is usually found with the element niobium, has a very high melting point but is a 'conflict mineral', says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 80 of Elemental.
Sulfur is responsible for some very bad smells, is the number one industrial chemical and is also an essential element, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 79 of Elemental.
Kākā and kea are well-known for being intelligent, and PhD student Daniel Donoghue is interested in how they learn new things.
PhD student Daniel Donoghue is working out whether a video clip can help kaka learn faster.
Named after a Scottish town, strontium can be highly radioactive & glow-in-the-dark, but also used in toothpaste, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 78 of Elemental.
Sodium is vital for life & usually found in combinaton with other more interesting elements, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 77 of Elemental.
Italy is suffering from a brown marmorated stink bug invasion. Damian Christie heads there to find out what New Zealand learn from their experiences.
Italy is experiencing an invasion of brown marmorated stink bugs that is crippling the fruit industry. What can New Zealand learn from their experience?
Silver is widely used in jewellery, has interesting light sensitive abilities and has antimicrobial properties, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 76 of Elemental.
Silicon is a blockbuster metalloid with many uses, from glass to computer chips & bathroom sealants, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 75 of Elemental.
New Zealand soils lack the vital element selenium, which also used to be important in photocopiers and bathroom plumbing, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 74 of Elemental.
Prof Jane Harding has won New Zealand's top science award, the Rutherford Medal, for ground-breaking research that has improved the lives of countless babies and mothers.
Dr Ocean Mercier's work bridging the worlds of science and traditional Māori knowledge has been recognised with the 2019 Callaghan Medal for science communication.
Dr Lisa Te Morenga has won the 2019 Hamilton Award for her internationally significant research on sugar and its impacts on health.
New Zealand's 2019 Research Honours winners include Lisa Te Morenga for her work on sugar, Ocean Mercier for science communication and Rutherford Medal winner Jane Harding for work with babies & mothers.
Predicted by Mendeleev & useful for alloying with aluminium, scandium was involved in a famous cricket scandal, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 73 of Elemental.
Samarium magnets are used in headphones & guitar pickups, and samarium was the first element named after a real person, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 72 of Elemental.
Ruthenium is a 'sort of' precious metal that is a useful catalyst and alloy. It is toxic and smells like ozone, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 71 of Elemental.
University of Otago psychology professor Ted Ruffman says ageing brains means older men become less able to recognise emotions in other people.
A psychology professor talks about men getting older & why they become less able to recognise other's emotions, and the element rubidium.
Rubidium is a reactive metal with few uses, named 'deepest red' due to its beautiful red spectral lines, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 70 of Elemental.
Rhodium is an expensive precious metal that is used in catalytic convertors, to make the Parkinson's drug L-DOPA, create shiny jewellery and add the menthol taste to toothpaste, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 69 of Elemental.
From cutting-edge genetic treatments to computer-brain interfaces that are still in the realm of science fiction, Silicon Valley is on a quest to let us live forever.
Peter Griffin investigates the ethics and possibilities around achieving immortality, and Allan Blackman looks at the chemical element radium.
Named after the Rhine river, rhenium is a metal with very high boiling and melting points, and it was the last naturally occuring, non-radioactive element to be discovered, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 68 of Elemental.
The radioactive gas radon can be a risk in the basements of stone houses and used to, erroneously, be touted for its health benefits, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 67 of Elemental.
Radium was famously found by the Curies, and was once widely used in face creams, drinks and luminous watch dials, despite being highly radioactive, says Allan Blackman in ep 66 of Elemental.
As the world considers taking more action to combat climate change we revisit Antarctica with the Voice of the Iceberg podcast & hear about protactinium.
Protactinium is a rare, radioactive element that has no uses and may be the most boring element, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 65 of Elemental.
Despite its gruesome mythical name, the radioactive element promethium has no particular claim to fame, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 64 of Elemental.
The 20-metre long wind tunnel at the University of Auckland is used to test the aerodynamics of objects as varied as Olympic cyclists and buildings, as well as drones, ancient building designs & tiny gas turbines.
The largest wind tunnel in New Zealand is used to test everything from the effects of turbulence on drones to ancient building designs and tiny gas turbines.
The youngest kākāpō chick has passed 150 days old, bringing the number of living juveniles to 71 and the overall kākāpō population to 213, in ep 24 of the Kākāpō Files.
Praseodymium is a metal wirh the second longest name on the periodic table and not many uses, says Prof Alan Blackman from AUT in ep 63 of Elemental.
From levitating burnt buttocks, to excitable nerves and sure-to-rise baking, potassium is highly reactive and vital to life, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 62 of Elemental.
Better solar panels and efficient carbon capture technology will help shape the impact and look of cities in the future, say MacDiarmid Institute scientists.
MacDiarmid Institute scientists talk about how their work improving solar panel efficiency and developing carbon capture and storage techniques might shape cities of the future.
Polonium will be forever linked with the names Curie and Litvinenko and has negligible desirable features, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 61 of Elemental.
A radioactive heavyweight associated with nuclear bombs & power, which is powering the Voyager spacecraft, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 60 of Elemental.
Toxic algae expert Jonathan Puddick has a Marsden Grant to find out if toxic cyanobacteria share their toxins with non-toxic species.
Cyanobacteria are responsible for toxic algal blooms in lakes and rivers, and Cawthron Institute scientists are trying to better understand them.
Platinum is useful in catalytic convertors, is used to treat testicular cancer and will be useful in hydrogen fuel cells, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 59 of Elemental.
Phosphorus, chemical symbol P, was first isolated as an element from thousands of litres of urine. Also found in guano, aka bird poo. Allan Blackman from AUT has the full story in ep 58 of Elemental.
New Zealand has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world, but sociology research shows life post- separation can still leave women feeling trapped.
Research into relationships and their break-ups, and oxygen is very friendly with other chemical elements.
Palladium is a pricey precious metal most commonly used in catalytic convertors on car exhausts, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 57 of Elemental.
Oxygen is very friendly with other chemical elements & very helpful for life on Earth, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 56 of Elemental.
What happens if you play a Viennese waltz or death metal to beer as it brews? Experimenting with musical ways of making better beer.
Does playing different sounds to fermenting yeast change the taste of beer and osmium, the densest chemical element.
Osmium is extremely rare and expensive. It is the densest chemical element, rivals diamond as being the least compressible of all known substances & has a distinctive 'pong' according to Allan Blackman in ep 55 of Elemental.
Most important biological molecules contain nitrogen, even though it takes lots of energy to make or break its chemical bonds, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 54 of Elemental.
Electronic gaming machines, or the pokies, are highly addictive. Sonia Sly investigates why problem gambling develops and how it is associated with other disorders.
Why playing pokie machines can easily lead to a gambling addiction, and the chemical element nickel is in more than just five cent coins.
Niobium is a metal that is useful at both very high temperatures, as in jet engines, and very low temperatures as a superconductor, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 53 of Elemental.
The chemical element nickel is named after a German word for Satan or the Devil, but nickel is now more usually thought of as a North American five cent piece, says Allan Blackman in ep 52 of Elemental.
Detector Gadget is a dog with a job. She is a conservation dog trained by her handler Sandy King to sniff out rodents on predator-free islands.
Gadget is a conservation detector dog, trained to sniff out rats, and the chemical element neon is not just found in neon signs.
The kākāpō chicks are graduating to being juveniles and only seven birds are still sick with aspergillosis, in ep 23 of the Kākāpō Files.
There are no known compounds of the noble gas neon, which does however produce the brilliant crimson of red - and only red - neon lights. Ep 51 of Elemental with Prof Allan Blackman from AUT.
Neodydmium magnets include the strongest permanent magnets known and are found in devices like speakers & headphones, says chemistry professor Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 50 of Elemental.
Professor Ciara Cremin explores the politics of cross-dressing and gender identity in both her personal and her professional life.
The politics of cross-dressing and gender identity, and the chemical element molybdenum.
Molybdenum has an essential role as a catalyst at microbial and industrial scales and is an important element in enzymes, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 49 of Elemental.
Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, says Allan Blackman in ep 48 of Elemental.
The Department of Conservation and volunteer groups, including the Coal Island Trust, are hard at work removing pests such as stoats and deer from Fiordland's many islands.
The Department of Conservation and groups such as the Coal Island Trust are taking pests off Fiordland islands and reintroducing rare species.
The metal manganese is a vital part of photosynthesis and is found in aluminium drink cans, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 47 of Elemental.
Magnesium is loved by plants, folk suffering constipation and boy-racers, as Allan Blackman reveals in ep 46 of Elemental.
After a fierce struggle for naming rights, the last lanthanoid element to be discovered was eventually named after Paris, says Allan Blackman in ep 45 of Elemental.
Electroclear is a start-up company at the University of Auckland using electric fields to deter small marine organisms from settling on boats and underwater structures.
Chris Walker explains how they plan to use electricity to prevent underwater fouling, and DOC announces the results of kakapo paternity testing.
Paternity testing has revealed who the top kākāpō dads are, as well as the success of the artificial insemination programme, in ep 22 of the Kākāpō Files.
Lithium is the lightest metal, and it is used in batteries and for the treatment of bipolar disorder, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 44 of Elemental.
Lead is the element that took down an empire, and its sweet taste belies a metal that is dangerous for human & animal health. All this and more with Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 43 of Elemental.
Prof Harlene Hayne investigates childrens' artworks: are they just a picture or do they offer insights and clues into the kid's emotional world?
What insights can children's drawings give us, and deadly tales from the chemical element lead.
Despite giving its name to a whole group on the periodic table, chemists can't agree if lanthanum even belongs in that group, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 42 of Elemental.
In real life krypton is a noble gas which is commonly used in neon signs and laser light shows, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 41 of Elemental.
Professor Rangi Mātāmua talks about the 120-year-old book which has preserved his ancestors' knowledge of Māori astronomy.
To mark Matariki, the Māori New Year, we join Dr Rangi Matamua from the University of Waikato to hear about Māori astronomy.
Iron is formed in stars, makes up most of the Earth's core & as a result enables life as we know it to exist, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 40 of Elemental.
The kākāpō health crisis is stable, with no further cases of aspergillosis diagnosed, and seven hand-reared chicks have been successfully released in the wild, in ep 21 of the Kākāpō Files.
Iridium is the second-densest element on the periodic table and the most erosion-resistant metal. A layer of iridium in rocks marks the demise of the dinosaurs, according to Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 39 of Elemental.
NIWA scientists are putting freshwater fish such as inanga through swimming trials, to find out how they cope with water moving at different speeds.
NIWA is putting freshwater fish through their paces in a swimming test, and the story of indium, the chemical element that is the Queen of the touchscreen.
A lack of iodine causes goitre, and seafood and iodised salt are good sources of this important trace element, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 38 of Elemental.
Indium is a very soft metal, and as indium-tin-oxide it is an indispensable part of the swipeability of touchscreens, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 37 of Elemental.
A panel of five experts debate what it will take to turn the idea of a predator-free New Zealand by 2050 from a dream into a reality.
A panel discussion on 'Predator Free New Zealand - dream or reality' with five experts in pest biology and large scale eradication porjects.
Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table. It is the oldest, lightest and most abundant element in the universe, but on earth it is usually found in compounds such as water, says AUT's Allan Blackman, in ep 36 of Elemental.
Holmium has interesting magnetic properties and is an important part of precise surgical lasers known as the 'Swiss Army knife' of lasers, according to Prof Allan Backman from AUT, in ep 35 of Elemental.
Kākāpō death toll from aspergillosis rises by one to seven, while nine birds have been given a clean bill of health. Sad and positive news from the frontline of the fight to save kākāpō, in ep 20 of the Kākāpō Files.
Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe and possibly the most unreactive element on the periodic table, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 34 of Elemental.
Hafnium is named after Copenhagen and as it has a very high melting point it was used in the thruster nozzles of the Apollo Lunar modules, according to Elemental's Allan Blackman from AUT.
Twice a year tawaki or Fiordland crested penguins make migrations of many thousands of kilometres to the south to feed at the Polar Front.
Eight years ago volunteers began translocating fluttering shearwater chicks to Wellington's Matiu Somes Island to establish what is now a growing seabird colony.
The NZ bird atlas will be a 5-year project counting common & rare birds from the Kermadecs to the far south.
The NZ Bird Atlas is launched, a successful effort to create a new fluttering shearwater colony, Fiordland's tawaki penguins go for record-breaking long swims, and the chemical element gallium.
Gold is highly valued for its colour as well as for being malleable and ductile, and as a noble metal it is unreactive and doesn't rust, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 32 of Elemental.
Germanium is a metalloid that was a key element in early transistors and is now used in optical fibres and infrared night vision scopes, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 31 of Elemental.
New research shows Wellington's underground streams are important homes and highways for freshwater fish.
Many of Wellington's streams now run in pipes under the roads, and the aspergillosis crisis in the kakapo population grows.
The number of cases of aspergillosis in the kākāpō population continues to rise, with 30 birds on the mainland for testing & treatment. The deaths of Huhana and Merty drop the adult population to 142, in ep 19 of the Kākāpō Files.
Gallium is the second element named after France, is a key element in mobile phones & Blu-ray players & melts at body temperature, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 30 of Elemental.
Gadolinium has interesting magnetic properties and is used as a contrast agent in MRI scans, according to AUT's Prof Allan Blackman in ep 29 of Elemental.
Francium was the last naturally-occurring element to be discovered and has never been seen, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 28 Elemental.
The Southland accent has a distinctive burr, and new research is revealing how those 'rolled Rs' have changed over time.
Southlanders are rolling their Rs more - and less - than 100 years ago, and the chemical element fluorine.
Fluorine is a highly toxic green gas that is the main ingredient in non-stick teflon coatings. In ep 27 of Elemental, Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, says that fluorine has very different properties from fluoride.
Europium is named after Europe and is responsible for a forgery-busting aspect of the Euro banknote, reports Prof Allan Blackman in ep 26 of Elemental.
NIWA freshwater ecologists hope sophisticated satellite tags will solve the msytery of where New Zealand's longfin eels go to breed in the Pacific.
A 23-year million year old volcanic crater in inland Otago that is a treasure trove of exquisiute fossils is facing the threat of being mined for animal feed.
NIWA is tagging longfin eels to try and find their mysterious breeding grounds, and Foulden Maar is one of NZ's premier fossil sites.
A spate of kākāpō chicks deaths from a fungal pneumonia caused by aspergillosis has DOC's Kākāpō Recovery Team very worried. Two further adult deaths bring the population to 144 birds with 73 living chicks, all in ep 18 of the Kākāpō Files.
Erbium is named after a chemically famous Swedish village, and adds a rose-tinted glow to the periodic table, in ep 25 of Elemental with Allan Blackman from AUT.
Dysprosium earned its name by being very hard to separate from other elements and has become very important in electric car motors. Join Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 24 of Elemental.
The Kea Conservation Trust & the Arthur's Pass Wildlife Trust have combined forces to band kea as part of a citizen science project & are working to make the village a safer place for the curious birds.
The Kea Conservation Trust is working with South Island communities to better understand kea and find ways to keep them out of trouble.
There are only two chemical elements on the periodic table named after women: curium, in honour of Marie & Pierre Curie, & meitnerium after Lise Meitner. Allan Blackman from AUT introduces the women and their elements in ep 23 of Elemental.
Copper is a soft metal that is an essential element for enzymes and life, gives octopuses their blue blood and was often used to make coins. Allan Blackman from AUT has the lowdown on copper in ep 22 of Elemental.
Famous as the colour of blue glass and important in red blood cells, cobalt can form a permanent magnet and is vital for livestock. Allan Blackman from AUT talks about his favourite element in ep 21 of Elemental.
ESR is using a laser to scan crime scenes, allowing police and juries to 'fly through' the scene long after the event.
ESR is laser scanning crime scenes, and the kakapo breeding has been busy on Anchor Island.
The death of Hoki from a fungal infection brings the number of adult kākāpō to 146, while there are 77 chicks. Ep 17 of the Kākāpō Files includes a visit to Anchor Island & all the latest news.
Chromium is a transition metal that gives colour to precious jewels, the shine to your car fender and your kitchen bench, but can also be a killer. All this and more in ep 20 of Elemental with Allan Blackman from AUT.
Chlorine is the culprit in the 'case of the exploding trousers'. It is also well-known as a disinfectant and chloride ions are essential for life, but as DDT & CFCs, chlorine is bad news. Allan Blackman from AUT gives us the lowdown in ep 19 of Elemental.
University of Canterbury's Lava Lab, plans to drill into a volcano's magma chamber and a Curious Mind volcano drilling game for schools.
University of Canterbury's Lava Lab, plans to drill into a volcano's magma chamber and a Curious Mind volcano drilling game for schools.
Cerium is the most abundant rare-earth element and pops up in self-cleaning ovens, cigarette lighter flints and spectacle glass. Find out more with Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 18 of Elemental.
Carbon underpins life as we know it, fuels our world and gets its own branch of chemistry, according to AUT professor Allan Blackman, in ep 17 of Elemental.
A new method of finding DNA in fingerprints could take some of the guesswork out of crime scene analysis.
ESR is finding DNA from fingerprints and the latest kakapo news, brings chick tally to 75 with three still to hatch.
With 75 living chicks and the final three eggs due to hatch this week, the 2019 kākāpō breeding season is set to be the longest on record. All this & the sex ratio of the first 49 chicks, in ep 16 of the Kākāpō Files.
Calcium creates objects that are strong and beautiful, from caves, to teeth and bones, and coral reefs. Find out more in ep 16 of Elemental, with Allan Blackman from AUT.
A second, the basic unit of time, is defined by caesium, which is also useful for dating things. Find out more about caesium's role as a timekeeper, in ep 15 of Elemental with Allan Blackman from AUT.
Biology professor Vic Arcus is trying to tease out how enzymes are able to speed chemical reactions up.
Research into how enzymes are able to speed up reactions as much as they do, and the chemical element cadmium.
Cadmium has featured in red traffic lights, rechargeable batteries and now has a role in quantum dots, according to Allan Blackman, from AUT, in ep 14 of Elemental.
The story of bromine is one of the color purple, the Dead Sea and an early poison gas used in the First World War, says Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 13 of Elemental.
This summer has seen a 'mega-mast' mass seeding event in New Zealand's forests and DOC is now planning its largest-ever predator control operation to save rare birds.
The science of a mega mast year: predicting mass seeding events in New Zealand's forests and how DOC is planning large-scale predator control to save at-risk native birds.
Most of the 72 kākāpō chicks are thriving in wild nests, the males are winding down their booming, and there are 7 fertile eggs still to hatch, in ep 15 of the Kākāpō Files.
Made by cosmic rays and supernovae, used in ovenproof cookware, and a key ingredient in the strongest acid ever made. Allan Blackman from AUT explores boron in ep 12 of Elemental.
Bismuth is a heavy metal that expands when frozen, and can be used to levitate trains and soothe upset guts, as Allan Blackman from AUT explains in episode 11 of Elemental.
Caves are a subterranean library of past climate change records, captured as water dripping from above creates flowstones and stalactites.
Caves hold a record of past climate change captured in flow stones, and the synthetic heavyweight elements at the bottom of the periodic table have only ever existed fleetingly.
You'll find beryllium in precious jewels and a space telescope mirror, but just don't inhale the dust - all in episode 10 of Elemental, with AUT's Professor Allan Blackman.
Kākāpō chick numbers continue to climb. The latest tally is 64 chicks, including one named Kotahitanga, meaning unity and solidarity. Ep 14 of the Kākāpō Files.
The heaviest elements on the periodic table have only ever existed fleetingly in the lab, so Allan Blackman from AUT has grouped them all together in episode 9 of Elemental.
Barium is a chemical element that hates being on its own, and experts from Orana Park and Auckland Zoo are looking after hand-reared kakapo chicks.
Barium is never found on its own in nature, as it loves buddying up - but a version of it is found in hospitals. Allan Blackman from AUT reveals barium's secrets in episode 8 of Elemental.
Thirty four kākāpō chicks are putting on plenty of weight in wild nests as the rimu fruit ripens, and 23 chicks are also being hand-reared, in episode 13 of the Kākāpō Files.
No one has ever seen astatine, which shares the distinction of being one of the rarest naturally-occurring elements on earth. Find out more with Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 7 of Elemental.
An ESR software package that analyses complex crime scene samples containing DNA from multiple people, has won the 2018 Prime Minister's Science Prize.
James Renwick loves talking about the science underlying climate change, and this willingness has won him the 2018 Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize.
Modelling granular materials such as corn and salt has earned Onslow College physics student Finn Messerli the school's third Prime Minister's Future Scientist Award.
The 2018 Prime Minister's Science prizes have gone to crime-busting software, a climate change communicator and a young physicist.
Arsenic is a well-known killer that was once dubbed 'succession powder'. Join Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 6 of Elemental, a journey through the periodic table.
Argon is in every breath you take and its inertness is its best feature, as we discover with AUT chemistry professor Allan Blackman, in episode 5 of Elemental.
New research shows that bull kelp along a tectonically uplifted stretch of coast south of Dunedin has a surprisingly different genetic signature to the kelp on either side.
We've a story about bull kelp and earthquake uplift for Seaweek, and we meet some volunteer kakapo helpers.
Volunteers from around the world are helping the kākāpō team, with tasks ranging from feeding birds and people, looking after the power system on Whenua Hou and studying kākāpō sperm. We meet them in episode 12 of the Kākāpō Files.
Antimony can be used to take lives - and to save lives. Check out episode 4 of Elemental with Professor Allan Blackman from AUT.
There is a hard-working team of island rangers helping save kākāpō, working day and night, and the chick tally has reached 44, in episode 11 of the Kākāpō Files.
Professor Allan Blackman from AUT explores the chemical elements actinium and americium, and the Kakapo Files podcast catches up with the work of the island rangers.
Invented during war, radioactive americium has become a bit of a do-gooder that is in most homes. Find out more with AUT's Allan Blackman in episode 3 of Elemental.
Aluminium is a light, well-known metal with lots of useful properties. Join AUT chemistry professor Allan Blackman for episode 2 of Elemental.
The first alphabetical element in the periodic table is actinium. It is a heavy radioactive element, as we discover in episode 1 of Elemental, with Professor Allan Blackman from AUT.
NIWA freshwater scientist Amanda Valois is co-opting citizen scientists to work out where plastic rubbish in streams is coming from.
A citizen science project on plastic pollution in streams and flying kākāpō sperm takes to the air.
In a world-first for kākāpō conservation, a drone (nicknamed the 'spermcopter') has flown kākāpō sperm across Whenua Hou / Codfish Island - the Kākāpō Files was there for episode 10.
In the prequel to Elemental, AUT's Allan Blackman introduces us to Dmitri Mendeleev and chemistry's periodic table of elements.
The distinctive New Zealand accent and why young women lead the way in the evolution of a uniquely Kiwi way of talking.
More than 160 kākāpō eggs have been laid and the first 21 chicks have hatched, but there is also news of the first chick death, in episode 9 of the Kākāpō Files.
The King Country population of the highly threatened Archey's frog is thriving, thanks to years of rat control.
Archey's frogs are thriving thanks to rat control, and the first kakapo chicks have hatched and their mothers are mating again.
The chicks that have hatched are off to Dunedin, the females have started mating again, and there is breeding action on Hauturu, all in episode 8 of the Kākāpō Files.
An octopus squeezing through a small space and a squishy ball have inspired a new way of delivering drugs through the skin that is being developed at the University of Otago.
How to squish drugs through the skin using nanotechnology, and keeping up with the kakapo.
The first two chicks of the 2019 kākāpō breeding season have hatched and the exciting news keeps coming in, in episode 7 of the Kākāpō Files.
Forty eight out of fifty kākāpō females on the southern islands have mated, nesting is well underway and the first AI has been carried out, all in episode 6 of the Kākāpō Files.
Fish ear bones are tiny treasure troves of information about a fish's life, its environment and even local weather.
Fish earbones are tiny treasure troves of information about a fish's life and where it lives, and catching up on all the kakapo breeding action in the first month of the Kakapo Files podcast.
The most popular kākāpō males will get a chance to do it all over again as the females are encouraged to mate and nest for a second time, in episode 5 of the Kākāpō Files.
Otago University science communication student Karthic Sivanandham investigates urban nature and how we relate to it.
Our brand-new 2019 opening theme is made from 20 eclectic sounds of science & nature that have featured on Our Changing World, ranging from birds to robots.
Don't count your kākāpō chicks until they hatch, kākāpō leaky homes and lots more kākāpō sex, all in episode 4 of the Kākāpō Files.
Woof Woof the talking tui inspired University of Otago student Joel Zwartz to find out how birds and people talk.
Kākāpō breeding action really kicked off on Christmas Eve and in episode 3 of the Kākāpō Files we discover it is in full swing.
Science communication student Mary Rabbidge takes a look at the brains of teenage boys, to find out why they behave the way they do.
In episode 2 of the Kākāpō Files we find out that when it comes to kākāpō breeding the early birds are, well, very early.
The kākāpō is one of the world's rarest birds, and in the first episode of the Kākāpō Files we learn about the giant flightless parrot's 'love triangle.'
The 'jelly soup' that many New Zealanders experienced at the beach last summer was caused by blooms of salps.
An accidental encounter with the tree nettle, ongaonga, and some self experimentation may lead to a new pain treatment.
Salps are a little known but important part of the ocean's plankton, and self-experimenting with the painful stinging nettle, ongaonga.
Rare native New Zealand falcons are thriving in some unexpected places, including recently logged pine forests.
Rare native New Zealand falcons are thriving in some unexpected places, including recently logged pine forests.
Our muscles lose strength and mass as we age, and old age expert Debra Waters says we should do resistance training so we won't develop sarcopenia.
Place names turn out to be a good record of where plants and animals once occurred and where they have been lost.
Resistance training is the best way to keep muscles strong as we age, and what place names tell us about plants and animals that used to be found there.
Scion entomologists are trialling a parasitic wasp that they hope will control a growing nuisance: the giant willow aphid.
Tiny, noisy gas bubbles produced by a tropical seaweed are part of the soundscape of a coral reef.
On the hunt for a way to control giant willow aphids which are a sticky nuisance, and noisy seaweeds on coral reefs.
The Department of Conservation celebrates 70 years since the momentous rediscovery of takahē in Fiordland with the families of the original discovery party members.
The Department of Conservation and special guests celebrate the dramatic rediscovery of the takahē in Fiordland, 70 years ago.
New Zealand has a growing population of older drivers and an important issue is 'when do they give up driving?'
Warren Tate has jointly won the 2018 Marsden Medal for a lifetime of molecular discoveries about proteins and the genes that code them.
Judith Bateup has been awarded the Cranwell Medal for science communication, for running hands-on microbiology classes for school students.
Older drivers, and the 2018 winners of the Cranwell and Marsden Awards from the NZ Association of Scientists.
Yoram Barak says there are some simple ways of maintaining a healthy brain into old age. Good social relationships are key.
Melting polar ice will be the biggest contributor to sea level rise in future - but will it come from Greenland or Antarctica?
An expert says loneliness is the biggest risk for brain health, and ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica.
Te Awaroa o Porirua Whaitua committee is a group of locals thinking about freshwater quality in the Porirua catchment and harbour.
Te Awaroa o Porirua Whaitua committee has been thinking about freshwater in the Porirua catchment and what could be done to improve its health.
A Honey Landscape Map for New Zealand could help beekeepers find the best flower-rich sites for their beehives.
Scientists are working to better understand the invasive plant disease myrtle rust, and how it might impact native plants and ecosystems.
A project to map manuka flowering and help bee keepers pick the best places for their hives, and screening native plants to find resistance to myrtle rust.
Rod Downey, a mathematics professor at Victoria University of Wellington, has won New Zealand's top science honour, the Rutherford Medal.
Maren Wellenreuther, from Plant and Food Research, has won the 2018 Hamilton Award for her work developing snapper as a future aquaculture species.
Lisa Matisoo-Smith, from the University of Otago, has won the 2018 Mason Durie Medal for her work using DNA to understand the migration of people to Aotearoa.
Among the 24 researchers honoured with science awards this year are mathematician Rod Downey, molecular anthropologist Lisa Matisoo-Smith and aquaculture expert Maren Wellenreuther.
George Hobson is a teenager with a passion for birds - especially the banded dotterels that nest on Eastbourne's beach.
Mei Peng is investigating whether we each have a 'sensory fingerprint' that determines how we react to food.
The seaside community of Eastbourne has banded together to keep an eye on banded dotterels, and the reason we over-eat might be in our brains.
Scion scientists are developing ways to safely convert human faecal waste into bioplastic.
Scientists at Scion are developing ways of treating human waste to make it safe, then using it to make bioplastic.
Melanie Bussey studies concussion in sport, and how the human body reacts to impacts that might cause damage to the brain.
Many of New Zealand's threatened seabirds are at danger from fishing across the Pacific.
A study into whether getting concussed while playing rugby makes players more likely to get concussion in the future, and trans-Pacific efforts to stop seabirds getting killed by fishing boats.
Twenty-five years of bird counts have revealed an unexpected consequence to the creation of the predator-free Zealandia Sanctuary.
Community groups descend on Wellington's south coast each spring to pick up rubbish - including lots of plastic and cigarette butts.
For Conservation Week, the Friends of Taputeranga Marine Reserve celebrate their 10th anniversary by helping with Wellington's annual south coast clean-up, and how native bird numbers in Zealandia have changed over 20 years.
Scientist Quentin Atkinson has looked at how the structure of Pacific societies determined how quickly they converted to Christianity - but an historian is not so sure of his conclusions.
A scientist and a historian debate the role of science in determining how quickly different Pacific societies converted to Christianity in historic times.
Wellington company Swibo is making physiotherapy exercises more interesting using video games, mobile phones and balance boards.
3D and 4D printing could be a nimble tool for New Zealand manufacturers that also uses wood-based bioplastics.
Smart phones, video games and balance boards are making physiotherapy exercises more exciting, and 3D and 4D printing offer interesting possibilities for small manufacturers.
Long-tailed bats are thriving in gullies and bush along the Waikato River, where it flows through central Hamilton.
Long-tailed bats are thriving in gullies and bush along the Waikato River, where it flows through central Hamilton.
Research shows that nerves play a surprisingly important role in muscle loss, while exercise helps us maintain our strength.
Cardboard boxes are the workhorse of the economy, and Scion has a special facility to test them and better understand why they sometimes fail.
Research into ageing muscles show that nerves play an important role and exercise is protective, and a special facility to test the strength of cardboard boxes.
Field notebooks from some of NZ's first surveyors are among 1000s of historic documents digitised by LINZ in one of the world's largest cultural heritage projects.
LINZ has almost completed one of the largest cultural heritage archiving projects in the world, of notebooks and plans that underpin property boundaries in NZ.
After years of trials, Scion entomologists believe New Zealand could safely introduce a parasitic wasp to control the eucalyptus tortoise beetle.
Tiny grains of fossil pollen are helping GNS Science researchers piece together the big picture of past environments.
Finding out if an introduced parasitic wasp could be a biocontrol agent for a pest of eucalpytus trees, and how fossil pollen can tell us about lost worlds.
Kākahi or freshwater mussels are being moved to Zealandia sanctuary in Wellington as part of an ambitious restoration project.
Te Papa says it will undertake an internal review of the way it manages its collections, and an international external review of its natural history collections.
Scion has developed a bio-based adhesive to make fibreboard that is environmentally friendly and even compostable.
Kākahi or freshwater mussels on the move to Zealandia, Scion's green bio-based wood adhesive, and Te Papa announces international review of its natural history collections.
Bags of bone fragments are casting a genetic spotlight on New Zealand's lost natural world, and on the impact of early Polynesians on its biota.
A world-renowned fossil expert is concerned about the impact of a restructure at Te Papa on its important natural history collections.
Ancient e-DNA from bits of old bones is shedding new light on New Zealand's "lost world" and the impact of humans, and concerns about Te Papa's natural history collections.
A humanoid robot called Nao, and swarms of bio-inspired little robots that behave like social insects, wowed crowds at Dunedin's International Science Festival.
Researchers say that liquid fuels made from sawdust from specially planted plantation trees could be a winner in New Zealand.
A humanoid robot called Nao and tiny bristlebot robots charmed kids at the International Science Festival in Dunedin, and using pyrolosis to make biofuels from sawdust.
A southern right whale in Wellington Harbour is a sign that the species is recovering after being hunted nearly to extinction.
In the Water Engineering Laboratory at the University of Auckland, engineers are recreating rivers, to understand how water flows, and how floods behave.
Whale expert Will Rayment tells us all about New Zealand's southern right whales, and engineers are studying the flow of rivers in the University of Auckland's Water Engineering Laboratory.
Researchers at Scion hope that thousands of tiny kauri seedlings might include some that are resistant to kauri dieback disease.
A renaissance in native forest bird numbers in the capital is helped by urban bush and Predator Free Wellington efforts.
Testing kauri seedlings to find individual trees that might be resistant to kauri dieback disease, and native forest birds are thriving in Wellington city parks and reserves.
Seabed 2030 is an international collaboration to map the world's sea floor, much of which is unmapped.
Astronomer Duncan Steel is an expert in detecting asteroids and comets, and in defending the earth from potential impacts.
Seabed 2030 is an ambitious international collaboration to map the world's sea floor, and astronomer Duncan Steel is concerned asbout asteroids hitting earth.
Research reveals new evidence about past, present and future impacts of climate change on Antarctica's ice.
Wasps are a big problem in New Zealand, and scientists hope that knowing the genomes of common and German wasps will help them find novel ways of controlling the pests.
Antarctic experts discuss the latest research on how fast Antarctic ice is melting and why it matters, and sequencing the genomes of introduced common and German wasps.
Geologists have discovered that the 2012 eruption of Havre volcano, on the Kermadec Arc, was the world's largest submarine volcanic eruption.
Michele Prinsep is a 'drug hunter' - she looks for potential pharmaceuticals in marine organisms and cyanobacteria.
A chemist talks about sourcing potential new drugs from marine creatures, and understanding the largest deep-ocean volcanic eruption ever documented.
University of Otago researchers are developing the ultimate heat-and-eat: an edible bioplastic food wrap, using waste from the corn and shellfish industries.
Psychologist David Moreau is working with New Zealand schools to find out if exercise combined with a computer game aimed at brain training could help improve kids' brains.
Combining high intensity exercise with a computer game-based brain training is having good results for struggling school kids, and developing an edible plastic wrap from corn and shellfish waste.
Fifteen Dunedin citizens took part in a University of Otago citizens' jury to discuss legalising euthanasia and assisted dying.
Fifteen Dunedin citizens took part in a University of Otago citizen jury to discuss legalising euthanasia and assisted dying.
Botanists have banded together to bring native mistletoes back to Wellington city, using seeds rescued from a plant growing on a dying tree.
New Zealand's first underwater observatories are recording the 'creaks and groans' of our largest fault to better understand slow-slip earthquakes.
A rescue mission to return mistletoe to Wellington city, and a research trip to study the Hikurangi subduction zone, home to some of New Zealand's largest earthquakes.
Geologists on board the JOIDES Resolution research ship are attempting to drill into the flanks of the submarine hydrothermal Brothers Volcano.
An environmental historian charts the transformation of the Otago Peninsula from rich forest to grassy pasture in the book "The Face of Nature."
The book "The Face of Nature" is an environmental history of the Otago Peninsula, and a world first attempt to drill into an active submarine volcano.
Olly Hills, aged 11, is a big fan of insects, and author of the field guide 'Cicadas of New Zealand.'
Blake Porter is investigating what happens in our brain when we decide to quit something that is good for us or persist with something that is bad us.
The author of the field guide 'Cicadas of New Zealand' is 11-year-old Olly Hills, and Blake Porter is investigating the brain and what makes us quit or persist with different tasks.
Dilys Johns is an archaeologist who specialises in conserving waterlogged Māori taonga such as ancient waka and wooden gardening tools.
One of Australia's smallest wallabies - the nabarlek - shares an unlikely dental similarity with sharks: the ability to continually replace its teeth.
Dilys Johns specialises in conserving waterlogged archaeological items such as wooden waka and early Maori gardening tools, and the nabarlek is an unusual small wallaby that can continuously replace its teeth.
Myrtle rust is having a profound impact on native plants and ecosystems in Australia - what will its effect be on New Zealand forests?
It's been a year since myrtle rust arrived in New Zealand - what impact is is having, and what we can learn from Australia and Hawaii's experiences with this invasive plant killer.
A team of seabird experts experience the joys and challenges of counting Buller's shearwaters on the predator-free Poor Knights Islands.
The Northern New Zealand Seabird Trust is shining a spotlight on seabird diversity in the Hauraki Gulf - including Buller's shearwaters that breed on the Poor Knights Islands.
A 46-year-old art work has revealed how the gut microbiome of artist Billy Apple has changed during his adult life.
Tiny samples collected from the teeth, tissue and even whiskers of marine animals can reveal where they feed and travel.
Stable isotopes found in teeth, fur and even whiskers can show where marine animals feed, and a 46-year-old art work has revealed how the gut microbiome of one man has changed during his adult life.
Dragonflies are precision flying machines, and Ruary Mackenzie Dodds says they are an indicator of clean water.
High temperature superconductor research in New Zealand includes new nano-scale superconductor sandwiches.
Dragonflies are exquisite flying machines with an ancient history, and high temperature superconductor research that includes superconductor sandwiches.
A smart buoy in Wellington harbour is phoning in information about sea conditions and how muddy water from the Hutt River moves around the harbour.
Tom Saunders has named a native parasitoid wasp after a Harry Potter character, in a bid to improve the reputation of these 'good' wasps.
Among New Zealand's many species of parasitoid wasps is one named after a Harry Potter character, and information from a smart buoy in Wellington harbour is now freely available online.
An expedition into Fiordland reveals that takahē numbers are on the rise, and there will soon be a new takahē population in Northwest Nelson.
An aerial survey reveals this summer's marine heatwave in the Tasman Sea was bad news for glaciers in the Southern Alps.
The good news is that takahē numbers are on the rise, while a marine heatwave has been bad news for South Island glaciers.
A nationwide experiment is investigating how estuaries might suddenly 'tip' as a result of increasing nutrients and sediments.
The nationwide Tipping Points project is looking at how small changes in the amount of nutrients and sediments in estuaries could lead to big changes.
Waikato University researchers are training pet dogs to sniff out pest fish such as koi carp.
Waikato University researchers are training pet dogs to sniff out pest fish that are a problem in Waikato lakes and rivers.
As ethnic and cultural diversity increases in New Zealand, psychologists discuss their work and the challenges posed by this increasing diversity.
Sonia Sly meets three psychologists investigating aspects of cultrual diversity,and discovers that we should look for commonalities rather than differences.
A 100-strong team of researchers from Plant and Food Research have won the 2017 Prime Minister's Science Prize for using science to solve the kiwifruit PSA crisis.
A four minute conversation led to a revolutionary tooth decay treatment using silver nanoparticles and a PM's science award for the chemist who worked on it.
Film-maker Damian Christie has won the 2017 Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize to help tell science stories on film.
The 2017 Prime Minister's Science Prizes have been awarded to Plant and Food Research for their work on kiwifruit Psa, a chemist using silver nanoparticles to stop tooth decay, and a science film-maker.
NIWA is testing small 'safe houses' for baby paua, with the idea of boosting the population on the earthquake-damaged Kaikōura coast.
Michél Nieuwoudt uses light to uncover hidden information in different kinds of material, from milk to works of art.
Designing and testing concrete 'safe houses' for baby paua, and using light to detect art forgeries and the properties of milk.
Could chemical camouflage save rare birds by putting predators off the scent? Ecologists are testing the idea in the Mackenzie Basin.
A male stick insect belonging to an all female group of New Zealand stick insects has been discovered for the first time - in the UK.
Chemical camouflage is put to the test in the Mckenzie Basin to see if it can protect nesting shore birds from predators, and the discovery of the first male in an all-female population of stick insects.
How do dogs think? Do they experience emotions such as jealousy? The Clever Canine Lab at the University of Auckland is investigating.
Engineer Geoff Rodgers is designing a new generation of low-damage buildings that move in an earthquake and remain useable afterwards.
Testing dogs to find out how smart they are and how they think, and designing low-damage buildings that move during an earthquake and remain useable.
Science communication student Lucy Coyle, from the University of Otago, finds out about the freshwater and cultural values of Pupu Springs in Golden Bay, New Zealand's largest springs boasting the clearest water in the world.
Science communication student Berenice Mathieu, from the University of Otago, finds out about moves to introduce a more virulent strain of RHD or rabbit calicivirus into New Zealand to control burgeoning numbers.
Science communication student Lana Young, from the University of Otago, talks to fishers and a marine mammal scientist about the rising number of seals and sea lions.
Science communication student Tegan Good, from the University of Otago, takes a look a freshwater issues in New Zealand.
If technologies like meat grown from stem cells and milk grown in vats take off, how will the New Zealand agricultural sector respond?
The first ground visit to the Hutton's shearwater breeding colony since the November 2017 Kaikōura earthquake shows damage not as bad as feared.
Good news about Hutton's shearwaters in the wake of the 2017 Kaikoura earthquake, and a special feature on how New Zealand agriculture could respond to the challenge of synthetic foods.
Waikato University research shows that drinking socially makes it harder to tell when you're too drunk to drive - and even a low blood alcohol level makes our driving unsafe.
Scientific curiosity was the order of the day when Koraunui School, in the Hutt Valley, hosted its recent Bioblitz.
Some sobering science advice about why drinking alcohol and driving cars don't go together well, and Koraunui School gets curious about their neighbourhood during a Bioblitz.
Scientists are discovering that tawaki, or Fiordland crested penguins, living in MIlford Sound are thriving - and breaking all the penguin rules.
Penguin researchers head to Fiordland's forests to study the mysterious tawaki or Fiordland crested penguin.
A hunt for urban lizards in New Zealand involves more than a thousand buckets as well as citizen scientists.
An atlas containing hundreds of coronary arteries mapped using MRI scans will help improve heart health.
A project to map coronary arteries in healthy and sick people, and on the hunt for lizards in city parks and gardens.
Kiwi scientists and entrepreneurs talk about their plans to put satellites and rockets into space, and the role of NZ radio telescopes in precision GPS.
Kiwi scientists and entrepreneurs talk about putting rockets and satellites into space, and using data from NZ's two radio telescopes.
The Queen Elizabeth II National Trust is celebrating 40 years of helping landowners protect 4,400 pieces of land with high conservation values
The 1769 Garden commemorates the first encounter between Maori and the crew of the Endeavour, under the command of Captain James Cook, at Gisborne in October 1769.
Protecting nature on private land with the QEII Trust, and creating the 1769 Garden to mark the first encounter between Maori and Captain Cook.
New discoveries from New Zealand's ancient past, and mapping the gut's electrical signals.
A flexible tool to measure electrical signals in our gut could detect serious medical conditions.
In the last few years there's been a revolution in our understanding of New Zealand's ancient animals - there were once crocodiles as well as small land mammals.
The 2017 Marsden Medal is awarded to Carolyn Burns for her internationally renowned research into New Zealand's deep southern lakes.
The winner of the 2017 Hill Tinsley Medal is developing anti-cancer drugs based on noble metals such as platinum and iridium.
Engineer Mark Jermy has been helping forensics investigators understand the science behind blood spatter evidence at crime scenes.
Engineer looks at the physics of blood splatter, chemist wins 2017 Hill Tinsley Award for new drugs made with metals, and freshwater biologist wins 2017 Marsden Medal.
Anna Pilbrow says that a complex interaction of genetic factors underpin our risk of getting heart disease - and leading a healhy lifestyle lowers the risk.
Bruce Beutler received the 2011 Nobel Prize for discoveries about the innate immune system in mammals.
Science writer Ed Yong investigates the complex world of microbes in his book "I Contain Multitudes."
Lake swimmers, the local primary school and neighbouring farmers have joined together to look after water quality in Lake Wanaka.
The 2017 Rutherford Prize has been awarded to Victoria University of Wellington geologist Colin Wilson for his work on supervolcanoes such as Taupo.
An $8-million research programme to better understand the Taupo supervolcano and prepare the community for an eruption has just begun.
The 2017 MacDiarmid Medal has been awarded to chemist Peter Tyler, for his work designing and creating new drugs to treat diseases such as cancer.
After twenty years of puzzling, geologist Bruce Hayward reckons he has identified some mysterious patterns in a west Auckland roadside cutting as moa footprints.
Arlene McDowell is designing nanoparticles that will hold medication and deliver it exactly to its intended destination in the body.
Great Barrier Island has become the world's third International Dark Sky Sanctuary, in recognition of its outstanding star-filled night skies.
NASA's SOFIA observatory is a 2.5m telescope mounted in the back of a plane. It observes the birth and death of stars and the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy.
The arms race between the immune systems of bacteria and the viruses - bacteriophages - that attack them, was a feature of this year's Queenstown Research Week.
Kohurangi, or Kirk's tree daisy, is rare in the Wellington region, but botanists are taking on the challenge of bringing it back to the city.
What is vitamin C and why do we need it? Which foods have the most vitamin C? Should we pop pills when we think we're getting a cold, or are we just producing expensive urine? And can vit C really cure cancer, or is it all hype? Alison Ballance and Simon Morton investigate.
We go beyond gaming to explore how VR works, what it's being used for (from treating a fear of spiders, to training young doctors) and ask if it's yet making any compelling case to be in every home.
Alison Ballance from Our Changing World and the team from This Way Up have been working on a new podcast series called The Science Of. They tell us what's in store, including details of their first episode, The Science of Sweat
Simon Morton and Alison Ballance present a three-part series exploring the science of sweat, virtual reality and Vitamin C. This week, the function of a much-maligned bodily fluid that plays a vital role in keeping us humans healthy and alive.
Julia Rucklidge is investigating whether micronutrients can relieve stress and anxiety, help people quit smoking and treat ADHD.
Mysterious bubbles and warm water, known as Hope Springs, which appeared after the Kaikōura earthquake, appear to be coming from deep in the earth's crust.
Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project looking at the performance of electric vehicles under New Zealand conditions.
Trevor the caterpillar and Julie the dragonfly are soft robots that can walk and flap using electricity that powers artificial muscles, without a printed circuit board in sight.
Neuropsycholgist Paul Corballis talks about the way our brains perceive the world, how we recognise faces, and whether or not we can really multi-task.
Four scientists talk about genetics and how it can help in the conservation of rare birds such as little spotted kiwi.
Kiwi canine DNA has been collected as part of a global project, called Darwin's Dogs, investigating the genes behind the personalities of dogs.
Migraines are debilitating headaches, and Debbie Hay says that new drugs targeting the pain hormone CGRP are showing lots of promise.
What is the Waiwhetu aquifer, where does its water come from, and what does it mean for the Wellington region - Alison Ballance investigates.
Putauhinu, one of the southern Tītī Islands, has become a remarkable rat-free sanctuary, gifting rare land birds to other islands.
A lab-on-a-chip developed at the University of Canterbury is allowing biologists to measure the minute force generated by a single fungal thread.
Amber is beautiful to look at - and it is also an incredible window into the prehistoric past.
Geologists are using a vertical cannon to test how different roofing materials - and even hard hats - can withstand the impact of flying volcanic rocks.
Microbes, such as the fungi-like kauri dieback disease, use chemicals to sense their world - and understanding this might help us to develop new treatments.
Stem cells have the potential to cure many diseases, but first, we need to find the best ways of growing them in the lab - and their physical environment may be key.
As more microbes develop resistance to every kind of antimicrobial treatment, the threat of dying from even common infectious diseases is increasing - so what should we be doing about it?
The Ash Lab at the University of Canterbury is where geologists test the impact of volcanic ash on all sorts of vital infrastructure.
Kim Mellor suspects that fructose, as well as glucose, is causing diabetic heart disease and she is looking at its effect on heart cells and heart muscle.
Massey University acoustics researchers have been working with childcare centres that are keen to lower noise levels and protect the hearing of young children.
Some antibiotics are designed to target the ribosomes of bacteria and disrupt the production of proteins - so how do the bacteria evolve antibiotic resistance?
Six months after the destructive magnitude 7.8 Kaikoura earthquake, scientists are still unravelling what happened during this very complex seismic event.
Tim Muller is a scientist by day and a comedian by night. He brings his one-man science-themed show to the NZ International Comedy Festival.
Ahi Pepe | Moth Net is a Te Reo-focused citizen science project involving primary schools collecting information about moths in their neighbourhoods.
Genetic tools will help New Zealand meets its aim of being Predator Free by 2050 - but we need to understand what they are and have a public conversation about their use.
Wyatt Page is concerned that the noisy world we live in and our increasing use of loud headphones is bad for our hearing.
Understanding the 'dress code' that allows clover plants to recognise friendly nitrogen-fixing bacteria could help us improve farming efficiency.
The Coastwatchers were small groups of men posted to New Zealand's subantarctic islands during the Second World War to watch for enemy shipping. Ian Telfer visits one of their historic huts.
A project to develop and commercialise better bone grafting material using the antibacterial properties of silver nanoparticles is underway at the University of Otago.
The Northern New Zealand Seabird Trust has been trying to solve the many mysteries of our smallest seabird, the New Zealand storm petrel, which breeds on Hauturu / Little Barrier Island.
Matthew Savoca talks about seabirds' fatal attraction to plastic, and how their incredible sense of smell is being fooled by rubbish.
Whales, dolphins, earthquakes and boats are some of the sounds that make the underwater world of Cook Strait a noisy place.
In a democratic society striving to give everyone a voice, have we lost the ability to listen?
The University of Otago team behind the long-running Dunedin Study has won the 2016 Prime Minister's Science Prize.
A science writer who says that science communication is an important way of enabling democracy, has won the 2016 Prime Minister's Science Media Communication Prize.
Smart electronic transmitters are revolutionising the way Department of Conservation rangers keep track of kākāpō.
In a city as culturally diverse as Auckland, how is the Kiwi accent changing and evolving?
Chemist Sally Brooker is developing a catalyst that could be used to produce biodegradable plastic from corn.
Drones - or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles - can get a bad rap, but they can now generate meaningful data for a range of different industries.
New Zealand physicists developed a theory about ultra cold gas 'droplets' that was proved in an experiment in Germany.
A visit to tropical Cousin Island in the Seychelles reveals that predator-free islands the world over are a haven for wildlife.
Artist Joseph Michael and a team of eight film-makers head to Antarctica on a yacht, to record the sights and sounds of icebergs.
Glaciers around the world are melting and shrinking, but glaciologists have been investigating why some New Zealand glaciers bucked the trend between 1983 and 2005.
Sonia Sly talks with psychologist Gwenda Willis about what drives our fears when confronted with the idea of living next door to a sex offender.
Archaeologists have been working alongside the Milton community to excavate an old Anglican cemetery, to find 'lost burials' and restore the stories of early Otago farmers.
Wellington's Polhill Restoration Project volunteers are looking after rare birds such as nesting kaka and tieke that are spilling into the 'halo' around Zealandia Sanctuary.
What sorts of hopes and dreams do parents have for their children, and do all Kiwi kids have the same opportunities to maximise their potential.
Warming temperatures and increasing ocean acidity are looming climate change threats in Antarctica - and scientists are looking at their effect on Antarctic starfish.
Quantum mechanics describes how our universe behaves at an atomic level. It involves waves and particles, and deep-sea bacteria use it to harvest light very efficiently.
Science communication student Garrett Chin talks with doctors and a health economist about the challenges that Pharmac faces in buying drugs, and what happens when new but expensvie drugs become available.
Emma Hanisch, a student at the University of Otago, loves museums - and she wonders what needs to be done to keep them relevant and exciting.
Science communications student Ellen Rykers ponders the Polynesians and their journeys around the Pacific, wondering where they might have got to.
Hedgehogs are cute - but they're also deadly killers. Science communication student Harriet Ampt is investigating.
Science communication student Charlotte Panton discusses bioethics and forensic science, and wonders how we decide what is acceptable when it comes to using animals in science.
Medicinal marijuana, the pros and cons, is the subject of an interview between science communication student Colin Smillie and Abe Gray.
University of Otago science communication student Amy Smith discusses genetic modification with two microbiologists.
The Kaikōura Peninsula was uplifted 1 metre during the magnitude 7.8 earthquake - and marine life on the rocky shore was left high and dry.
Sonia Sly finds out about a psychological programme to help offenders better adjust to living in the community when they are released from prison.
University of Auckland researchers are using tannin-rich wine waste to create safer food packaging that has antibacterial properties.
Geologists are combing the ground in the wake of the 7.8M Kaikōura earthquake looking for clues, to understand what happened when 9 faults rupture at the same time.
Take a hundred people motivated to do something about climate change, give them 24 hours to brainstorm ideas about practical solutions, do that around the world and you have a Climathon.
The magnitude 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake triggered a massive underwater landslide that swept down the offshore canyon system and was still flowing more than 300 km away.
Spider orchids that smell like mushrooms are fooling fungus gnats into pollinating them, and Carlos Lehnebach wants to find out more about this botanical deception.
Alastair Judkins is a penguin hunter - and his secret weapon is a 'super nose', a dog called Mena. Alison Ballance joins them on a little penguin search in Wellington.
The 2016 Research Honours have been awarded and we talk to the 2016 winners of the Rutherford, Macdiarmid and Callaghan medals.
What is snow? How and where is it made? Why is it white? Alison Ballance and Katy Gosset head to Mt Ruapehu in search of the answers to all your questions about snow.
How safe are meth houses really? And what's it like to go inside? Katy Gosset and Alison Ballance take the plunge and ask how much meth is too much when it comes to setting a national standard?
The Otuataua Stonefields Historic Reserve, in South Auckland, is home to New Zealand's earliest gardens and is a significant archaeological site.
David Klein is taking his award-winning one-man science show on tour, by bicycle, around small town community halls.
A new book, Protecting Paradise, investigates the science of 1080, its use in protecting native wildlife in New Zealand, and the wider issue of science denial and science reporting in the media.
Electronic satellite tags have revealed details of the lives of great white sharks on either side of the Tasman Sea - and shown how the different populations are linked.
New research shows that ocean acidification may make some marine sponges more resilient in the face of climate change and warming water.
Collingwood Area School students join GNS scientists in a search for dinosaur footprints on the shore of a Golden Bay estuary
Industrial mathematician Mark McGuinness has applied maths to problems as varied as crispy cereal and the freezing of Antarctic sea ice.
Psychologist Deirdre Brown has been researching whether children are reliable eyewitnesses.
A new genetic study shows that a once abundant kākāpō population declined in numbers and genetic diversity soon after stoats were introduced in the late 1800s.
Statistician Thomas Lumley explains different ways of calculating an average, and the difference between median and mean.
Joan Watson was there when takahē were rediscoverd in 1948, and DOC ranger Glen Greaves says the population of the giant flightless bird has just reached 300.
Air pollution is the world's leading environmental risk factor for disease, and it causes early deaths even in clean countries such as New Zealand.
Households in Rangiora are being wired up, inside and out, with small devices that measure wood smoke.
Residents on the Kapiti coast north of Wellington are working together to improve biodiversity and create thriving ecosystems in their local neighbourhoods.
Guy Jameson has been awarded the Beatrice Hill Tinsley Medal for his work understanding the chemical structure of proteins that are important in diseases such as Parkinson's.
The New Zealand Association of Scientists has renamed their Research Medal to the Beatrice Hill Tinsley Medal, the first New Zealand science award named after a woman.
Geneticist Jean Fleming has won the NZAS Science Communicator Award, and she says that good science communication is about listening as well as talking.
Margaret Brimble has been awarded the Marsden Medal for developing new drugs from natural bioactive substances. One of her new drugs is being fast-tracked in clinical trials.
P53 is a cancer gene with a Jekyll and Hyde personality. It stops cancer tumours growing, but mutant versions of the gene actually cause cancer.
Ecologists are investigating the best ways to replant native plants to restore lost forests and wetlands, and are finding out if underground fungi play a role.
Environment Waikato is helping native fish commute up urban streams by providing aids such as ropes running through culverts and pipes.
Conservation groups are replanting native vegetation around Wellington's Miramar Peninsula to provide safe homes for little blue penguins and food for other native birds.
Poet Janis Freegard reads 'Dimorphism', from her poetry book The Glass Rooster, comparing divaricating plants to cushion plants.
Miriam Sharpe and Kurt Krause are investigating the proteins that glow worms and firefly squid use to glow in the dark.
Online dating is a popular way of meeting people, and Sonia Sly finds out some of the benefits and pitfalls of starting relationships online.
There are about 57 earthquakes every day in New Zealand - and over 15 years GeoNet has recorded more than 314,000 of them.
Biologist Corey Bradshaw spends his time considering the future of humanity and the natural world in the face of rapid environmental change.
The Royal Society of NZ has released guidelines for scientists on public engagement. The NZ Association of Scientists President responds.
Shining a light on milk to reveal its secrets will allow 'point of cow diagnostics' about the quality of milk and the health of individual dairy cows.
Three leading eradication experts talk about Predator Free New Zealand 2050, including the social aspects of engaging communities and the need to develop new tools to better control rats, stoats and possums.
Sara Dean and Beth Ferguson are American designers whose projects include using Twitter to help Jakarta residents know about floods, and creating accessible solar charging stations.
Rogue waves are rare, massive waves and Craig Stevens explains that although 'we know one when we see one' we don't understand how they form.
Year-6 students Ava Beens and Eilish Cassidy take part in the 2016 International Science Festival in Dunedin, and give a 2-minute speech on what inspires them about science.
Project Activate involved a group of 12-year-old Pacific Island students learning about healthy living and science - and it included a swim in a research flume pool.
As part of the 2016 International Science Festival in Dunedin, teenager Corey Symon was gifted a 3D-printed bionic arm by Limbitless Solutions.
Within 200 years of settling the Chatham Islands, Moriori had hunted the local sea lion to extinction. What lessons can we learn from that?
As Our Changing World is about to change to a shorter format, Veronika Meduna looks back at some of her favourite stories about science and the environment.
A medley of marine science news including the challenges facing mussel bed restoration in the Hauraki Gulf, a multi-level habitat cascade that depends on cockles at its base, the discovery that prickly dogfish eat the eggs of other deep sea sharks, and Antarctic toothfish eggs, discovered for the first time in the Ross Sea in mid-winter.
After two years of measuring gravity from a plane, LINZ has just released a new vertical datum for New Zealand and its coastal seas. This allows the accurate measurement of sea level.
Team Taniwha, from the University of Auckland, has designed and built a human-powered submarine, that has borrowed ideas from leather-jacket fish, and currently holds the world record for a non-propellor submarine.
New Zealand sea lions are the rarest sea lion in the world. They face a number of threats, including disease, food limitation and by-catch in commercial fisheries - so which threat is most important?
Veronika Meduna joins Rangitane iwi members and scientists at Wairau Bar, New Zealand's most significant archaeological site, to find out about the place and its people, who were among the first to step ashore in Aotearoa.
In the middle of the Australian outback, scientists are building the world's largest radio telescope. Veronika Meduna pays a visit.
Veronika Meduna explores the controversial idea of assisted evolution, and whether it could help scientists identify coral species that could better adapt to warming ocean temperatures and acidification.
Veronika Meduna meets wildlife geneticist Rebecca Johnson to discuss how genomics can help with efforts to protect the koala.
The New Zealand Indigenous Flora Seed Bank is collecting and storing the seeds of native plants as a long-term insurance policy to ensure the survival of species.
More than a million birds have been counted in the last nine years of the garden bird survey, and sparrows and silvereyes consistently top the rankings.
Veronika Meduna meets Kiwi scientist Tom Caradoc-Davies to find out how he uses the Australian synchrotron to work out the 3D structure of proteins to make cancer drugs more specific.
Seed-eating weevils are one of the latest biocontrol agents introduced into New Zealand to control the invasive weed, Darwin's barberry.
Veronika Meduna visits Cochlear, a medical device company that produces bionic ears, to find out how cochlear implants could help some of the 700,000 New Zealanders who live with a hearing disability.
Malaghan Institute scientist Mike Berridge recently discovered a fundamentally new process of mitochondrial DNA transfer between cells. He now investigates whether this is also the case between brain cancer cells.
A tougher artificial skin, that is quick to grow in the lab, could revolutionise the treament of burn victims and increase their chance of survival.
A tiny mite, that could transmit diseases such as viruses, is being investigated as a possible biocontrol agent for introduced social wasps.
We are more microbe than human, and our microbiome may be affecting our brain, moods and behaviour.
Chemists and zoologists have teamed up to investigate the impact of the pesticide chlorpyrifos on bee learning and memory
If you want to sequence a genome then a company like New Zealand Genomics Ltd has the equipment and expertise to produce and manage the large amounts of data.
John Church, an expert on sea level rise and one of the scientists who could lose his job at CSIRO, discusses how ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica are contributing to sea level rise now and in the future.
Phytoplankton, which accounts for half of the planet's total biological productivity, leave a clear fossil footprint, which allows palaeontologists to trace past environmental change and extinction rates.
Marine scientists are calling on the public to help them get a better idea of the distribution of large brown seaweeds along the coast of New Zealand.
The University of Auckland is joining one of the most ambitious astronomy projects ever to scour the southern skies for extrasolar planets – while testing theories about the origins of the universe and probing for dark energy.
The kaka, or forest parrot, has had its IQ tested for the first time - and in some experiments young naive birds were better problem solvers than older birds that were stuck in their ways.
The ocean is becoming more acidic, and this change is most pronounced in coastal seas. Marine scientists have received $4.9 million to work out what is going on and how this affects marine life along the coast.
Virus hunter and botanist Paul Guy has been called in to help threatened native cress plants that are being infected by three different brassica viruses.
NIWA marine ecologist Kim Goetz is setting up acoustic monitoring stations in Cook Strait to eavesdrop on whales and dolphins as they migrate through New Zealand waters.
Veronika Meduna joins BRANZ physicist Manfred Plagmann as he equips a home with sensors that track how heat and moisture move through the rooms.
Craig Rodger explains how large solar storms can overwhelm the protective shield of the earth's magnetic field and disrupt national power grids.
University of Waikato professor of environmental planning Iain White argues that our 'same again' response to flooding is hindering our ability to plan more effectively.
Why are some male birds brighter and showier than females of the same species, and sometimes both are bright? Sexual selection, size and living in the tropics are all part of the answer.
Auckland diabetes specialist Robyn Toomath argues that society is to blame for the rise in obesity, and Massey University sociologist and runner Andrew Dickson shares his experience of being a big athlete.
Lipoprotein(a) increases the risk of heart disease in 20% of people and doesn't respond to diet or exercise, so the hunt is on to find a treatment.
Later in 2016, an international group will decide if the Holocene has given way to a new geological period marked by our impact. NIWA geochemist Helen Bostok gives a Southern Hemisphere perspective on the debate.
Use your ears and spend time on your own just listening and observing birds - good advice from one of the world's best known bird-watchers and ex-Goodie, Bill Oddie.
There are 26 chicks in the royal albatross colony at Dunedin's Taiaroa Head this year - and the #royalcam chick is very much in the public spotlight.
Veronika Meduna visits a veterinary facility in Invercargill where staff look after kākāpō chicks that had to be taken off their island homes to be hand-reared.
Shaun Hendy, the director of the centre of research excellence The Pūnaha Matatini, discusses his latest book, Silencing Science, in which he tackles the issue of why scientists are often reluctant to speak out publicly.
A soft, swallowing robot that mimics the human oesophagus is being developed as a tool that food technologists could use to design better food for people with swallowing difficulties
Victoria University molecular geneticist Geoff Chambers is challenging the one-size-fits-all approach to healthcare, arguing that genes linked to the immune system of Māori and Pasifika people differ from those of Pākehā.
Baby native fish are in the spotlight as freshwater biologists unravel the mysteries of where these tiny creatures go in the first weeks of their lives.
Tim Flannery discusses his latest book, Atmosphere of Hope, and why he is hopeful that we will tackle climate change.
Scientists at Te Papa Tongarewa are using some of New Zealand's endemic plants and DNA sequencing tools to track how genetic diversity changes during of the process of crop domestication.
A switch to electric transport could go a long way towards reducing New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. Veronika Meduna takes a road trip with other electric car owners.
In its latest report on climate change, the Royal Society of New Zealand lays out options for how we coudl reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Satellite tagging has revealed that humpback whales that breed in Oceania socialise at Raoul Island in the Kermadecs and has shown where in Antarctica they go to feed.
Sediment samples collected from 6,000 - 9,000m deep in the Kermadec Trench were teeming with tiny nematode worms – over 100 new species were collected from just four samples.
After 35 years of counting threatened Archey's frog on the Coromandel Peninsula, Ben Bell has seen their numbers crash due to the chytrid fungal disease, and the population slowly recover.
The 451 topographic maps that cover the length and breadth of New Zealand are a testament to the skills of a team of map makers at LINZ.
Staff at the Island Bay Marine Education Centre have played midwife to baby carpet sharks that hatched almost a year after a female shark deposited the egg cases in a tank.
To understand the food webs of ponds and lakes you need to understand the personalities and lives of individual fish
A new report published by the Royal Society of New Zealand highlights six key climate change implications for New Zealand.
Mangroves have a mixed reputation, with some people thinking of them as weeds while others, including writer Kennedy Warne, value them for their ecosystem function and as a natural breakwater.
Yellow-eyed penguins have hit their lowest numbers on mainland New Zealand since the early 1990s, and it's the result of a number of issues in the marine environment
In a novel extension of the 'hygeine hypothesis', biologists argue we should save the parasites of endangered species for the sake of their host's immune system.
Dementia researchers are looking for people with mild cognitive impairment for a longitudinal study to explore how Alzheimer's Disease develops from early stages of memory loss.
Smart socks and an ankle bracelet that uses small vibration motors might help us to retrain how we walk and stave off joint surgery
After more than 30 years of studying the world's smallest dolphins Liz Slooten and Steve Dawson still enjoy getting out on the water to observe Hector's dolphins, writes Alison Ballance.
NIWA oceanographers are using Deep Cove in Doubtful Sound, where the tailrace from the Manapouri power station flows into the sea, as a natural laboratory to study complex fluid dynamics.
Smart fabrics and e-textiles are a blend of fashion and technology, and can include knitted fabric that has electronic sensors woven into it.
Brain imaging scientist Tracy Melzer is using MRI scans to look for changes in the brain that could predict if a person with Parkinson's Disease will develop dementia.
New Zealand's chief science adviser, Sir Peter Gluckman, and Australia's newly-appointed chief scientist Alan Finkel discuss how their countries could work together for the good of science and innovation.
Bird sperm from native species such as robins, as well as introduced dunnocks from Dunedin, may shed light on problems with male fertility and infertile eggs.
GNS Science scientists work together with Ngati Kahungunu to run marae-based workshops on geological hazards, natural resources and climate change.
A 14.5 kilometre-long pest proof fence will soon be keeping nature safe from invasive animals, in a nearly 700-hectare forest sanctuary on the outskirts of Nelson
BBC broadcaster Adam Rutherford discusses how genomics is changing how we think about medicine, agriculture, conservation and even our relationship to our nearest evolutionary cousins, the Neanderthals.
A local hapu, New Plymouth residents and marine scientists have set up a group to monitor the health of kaimoana on the reefs off Waitara, on the Taranaki coast.
A new study shows that getting rid of invasive mammals from islands has an enormous positive benefit for rare native species.
University of Otago geneticists Peter Dearden and Neil Gemmell continue their discussion of the gene editing tool CRISPR and its use in genomics, conservation and de-extinction.
Optogenetics uses light to target individual cells, and Peter Freestone is using it to better understand Parkinson's disease and the role of endocannabinoids in how brain cells communicate.
A team of Australian and New Zealand fossil hunters on a National Geographic expedition spent weeks scouring sites in Marlborough and on the Chatham Islands for remnants of prehistoric polar forests.
Introduced koi carp are a nuisance in lakes and rivers in the Waikato, and the CarpN Neutral project catches them and turns their bodies into fertiliser for use in native revegetation programmes.
Scientists have found that the increase of methane in the atmosphere since 2007 has been caused by agriculture rather than fossil fuel production.
Bluetooth signals from passing cars and a world-first predictive traffic model that generates travel times and optimum driving speeds are just some of the technology behind the new Wellington smart motorway.
CRISPR is the new buzzword in genetics, and University of Otago geneticists Peter Dearden and Neil Gemmell discuss the potential benefits and risks of the new gene editing tool.
Truffle-like fungi are related to mushrooms but look like truffles, and geneticists around the world are studying their genomes to understand how they have all co-evolved.
Palaeontologists studying an ancient group of extinct marine plankton find surprising results about which species are vulnerable to extinction.
Scientists reveal the climate history hidden in the mud at the bottom of Lake Ohau, reaching back to the end of the last Ice Age some 18,000 years ago.
Environment Minister Nick Smith is championing new legislation for marine protected areas, and Raewyn Peart from the Environmental Defence Society has some thoughts on its strengths and weaknesses.
A book of poetry celebrates the inspiration poets, scientists and the Uawa/Tolaga Bay community have drawn from the 2012 Transit of Venus.
Sunkita Howard is developing an electrical deterrent to discourage spiny dogfish from getting caught on fishing hooks used in the ling longline fishery.
Hangi or oven stones are a record of the earth's magnetic field at the time they were heated and cooled, and they show a remarkable history of New Zealand's magnetic field for the past 600 years.
Climate scientist Will Steffen, at the Australian National University, argues that to limit the impacts of climate change on island nations in the Pacific may require technology that takes carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
The Chatham Island Taiko Trust has made flowerpot nests for 50 Chatham Island albatross chicks that are part of a pioneering translocation from The Pyramid to the main Chatham Island.
With just 120-or-so known adult birds, 21 new chicks are a very welcome addition to the Chatham Island taiko population.
The endangered kakapo is in the middle of a bumper breeding year that looks set to be the best ever, and conservationists are looking foward to the resulting population boom.
An international team of scientists found that Antarctica's land-based ice sheets are more vulnerable to rising temperatures than they previously thought.
Veronika Meduna joins a school group for a morning at MindLab, using fruit and vegetables to build musical instruments.
Kiribati president Anote Tong calls on political leaders to help low-lying Pacific island nations to adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Nearly a hundred spotted skinks were recently transferred from Matiu Somes Island to Zealandia Sanctuary in Wellington.
Victoria University chemist Jonathan Halpert discusses nano-scale materials he investigates for future photovoltaic cells.
Jackie Spencer is investigating how the introduced venomous redback spider is affecting the threatened Cromwell chafer beetle, and what role rabbits play in the one-sided battle
Researchers at the LIGO observatory have announced the direct observation of gravitational waves, which have been predicted by Albert Einstein just over a century ago.
Alzheimers Disease and other forms of dementia may not be an inevitable part of ageing but preventable with some simple lifestyle changes, according to Oxford University emeritus professor David Smith.
An Ecoblitz combines measuring ecological diversity with enthusing high school students about science and their local environment
NIWA fisheries scientists are surveying the prey species of the New Zealand sea lion, including the elusive yellow octopus, to find out how hard the endagered marine mammals have to work for their food.
In an ambitious world-first, scientists are using crowd-funding to pay for genome sequences for all 125 living kakapo - the first time an entire population will be sequenced.
Italian seismologist Giulio Selvaggi is visiting New Zealand to talk about his experience of being first convicted, and then acquitted, of manslaughter following a deadly earthquake in the Italian city of L'Aquila in 2009.
Geologists wonder if bacteria and biological processes might play a role in the growth of gold nuggets in Central Otago rivers, as well as chemical and physical processes.
Theoretical chemist Nicola Gaston discusses her book about sexism in science and why she thinks the problem is pervasive and systemic.
Australasian bitterns are one of New Zealand's most cryptic and threatened wetland birds, and the males attract females with a deep foghorn boom.
A team of biologists and chemists are developing super lures, based on pheromones found in animal urine, that they hope will be more attractive and longer lasting than food lures
Pete Convey, a polar ecologist at the British Antarctic Survey, discusses how growing numbers of tourists and a changing climate increase the risk of species invasions.
Year 12 and 13 students join scientists at the MacDiarmid Institute for a week-long nanocamp of experimentation and learning.
The ruru, or morepork, is our only surviving native owl and locals living on Banks Peninsula are giving them a helping hand by providing luxury accommodation.
Geologists will decide later this year whether to add a new human created epoch - the Anthropocene - to the geological time scale
Auckland's Dalmatian community has contributed to a genetic survey of New Zealand, which shows that just about all of the world's genetic lineages are represented in New Zealand.
John Darby began building floating nest platforms for Lake Wanaka's grebes three years ago - and they're a resounding success
Science communication student Pam Cornes finds out what motivates Dunedin's keen band of aurora watchers and night sky enthusiasts, and hears why they are pushing for the city to be part of a Dark Sky initiative
Science commuication student Evan Balkcom investigates the internal effects of prayer, from the point of view of psycholgists and people who regularly pray
Science communication student Guy Frederick catches up with the Otago Peninsula Biodiversity Group to hear how their plan to get rid of possums on the peninsula is coming along
Wildlife management student Hannah Murdoch investigates the issue of urban wildlife and urban biodiversity
Science communication student Steve Banks talks with clinical neurologist Martin Pollock about living with Parkinson's disease, and with neuroscientist John Reynolds about research into the disease
Science communication student Sam Fraser-Baxter investigates coastal erosion at Dunedin's famous surf beach St Clair, and talks with locals about the ongoing problems
Science communication student Siana Fitzjohn talks with climate activist Rosemary Penwarden about living a low carbon lifestyle and the 'electric-ute' car converted to run on electricity
Palmy Dirty 30 is a new parent-led initiative to get children to spend more time outdoors.
PhD student Tanya Dann has been investigating the different speed lifestyles that two New Zealand damselfly species have
Riccarton Bush in Christchurch contains the last remnant of a kahikatea floodplain forest in Canterbury, thanks to the Deans family's early conservation efforts.
The report on 'National Taxonomic Collections in New Zealand' recommends more secure funding and greater national coordination for the country's 29 significant biological collections
2015 marks the centenary of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, which explains how gravity works on objects, from falling apples to orbiting planets.
In this wrap of the Geoscience Society of New Zealand's annual conference, we explore what rocks tell us about our changing world.
Poet Janis Freegard reads 'Lichen Quartet' from her poetry book 'The Glass Rooster' (AUP 2015)
Alison Ballance joins freshwater fish expert Stella McQueen in one of New Zealand’s largest bogs – the Waikato’s Whangamarino wetland – in search of fernbirds, spotless crake and mudfish
Lampreys are eel-like jawless fish, related to sharks, that spend their lives in fresh and salt water, and at sea they use their sucker-like mouths to attach to large animals to feed
Big declines in numbers of forest birds and native moths, revelations that kiore ate moa, and the discovery of Asian as well as European house mice in New Zealand are amongst the latest ecology news
December 5 is World Soil Day and the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization is preparing for the release of the world's first report on the quality of our soils.
Researchers at Plant and Food Research are developing an array of visual and molecular tools to help combat leafroll virus in grape vines
Massey University soil scientists are investigating how taking cows off paddocks during certain times of the year could significantly reduce the amount of nitrate leaching into waterways.
Light is crucial to the creatures that live on the ocean floor around Antarctica, but they have to get by without it for several weeks. NIWA marine ecologist Vonda Cummings explains how.
Tea bags containing red and green tea leaves have been buried in the soil for three months, to give insights into tussock grassland ecosystems and how they are being affected by climate change
A group of young New Zealand is heading to Paris as part of the official Youth Delegation to observe the UN climate talks.
Research published today provides the first geological evidence for the potential of runaway ice loss in Antarctica.
The prickly dogfish is a small deepsea shark with very rough skin. Shark skin is made from 'dermal denticles' which are like teeth
The Fishes of New Zealand is the first definitive guide to all of our freshwater and marine fishes since 1872, and it includes more than 1260 species
Science historian Simon Nathan discusses his biography of Sir James Hector, New Zealand's first government scientist.
NIWA has produced some electronic field guides to coastal creatures, including one on crabs
Material scientist Martin Allen has developed wearable UV sensors that allow school children to monitor their exposure to the sun's ultra-violet radiation.
They call it the 'mussel crusher', a machine developed by NIWA to test the strength of New Zealand mussel shells and help the local aquaculture industry
The prototype of a haptic feedback glove is being used to control a flight simulator but could have future use in physiotherapy
Research into intelligence in New Caledonian crows has won Alex Taylor the 2015 Prime Minister's MacDiarmid Emerging Scientist Prize
The 2015 Prime Minister's Science Prize goes to osteoporosis researchers Ian Reid, Mark Bolland and Andrew Grey. Ian Reid also won the Rutherford Medal and Liley Medal
As NASA considers a mission to Mars, it is investigating what happens to an astronaut's brain during long-duration space travel.
Gaia Vince is the author of Adventures in the Anthropocene, which won the 2015 Winton Science Book Prize.
The WWF Conservation Innovations awards recognise the best ideas that help conservation projects to succeed.
Whaingaroa Harbour Care have planted more than 1.4 million native plants along streams around Raglan,and the harbour is much cleaner as a result
A tribute to Bill Ballantine, New Zealand's tireless campaigner for the protection of our oceans, who died this week at the age of 78.
A housing project for native fish in suburban streams is hoping to provide safe refuges for giant kokopu and long-finned eels
Psychologists and nutritionists at the University of Otago are studying how diet can have a positive impact on heart and brain health
Light has helped astronomers to discover many of the almost 2000 planets that orbit around stars outside our own solar system, thanks to Einstein.
The newly launched Endangered Species Foundation has identified some key threatened species that need urgent conservation work
Ecologist Cilla Wehi hopes that the hair and bones of kuri, or now extinct Maori dog, might hold clues to what they ate
Next generation printable and flexible solar cells, made with new materials, are part of a clean-energy revolution
Scientists set fire to blocks of wilding pines to study whether chemicals used to control the weedy trees change the fire hazard.
A team of AgResearch scientists had analysed the rumen microbiome in different animals across the world and found similar methane-producing micro-organisms.
Ultra-fast lasers - or more properly ultra short-pulsed lasers - are very accurate, which makes them useful in industry and research
Cook Strait is known for its strong tidal currents, but NIWA oceanographers have completed comprehensive measurements of subtidal residual currents.
A group of Year 13 students from Kaikorai Valley College in Dunedin have created a biotechnology company and installed a biodigestor at school
New research confirms that Antarctica will contribute sigificantly to future sea level rise unless greenhouse gas emissions are curbed from 2020 onwards.
French experts Pierre Ducret and Lucile Schmid discuss the social impacts of climate change and the challenges in building a fair, low-carbon economy.
Wellington recently joined the Rockefeller Foundation's 100 Resilient Cities programme and urban planners are now mapping out a long-term resilience plan for the capital.
Tiny skin mites are causing mange and feather loss amongst red-crowned parakeets on Tiritiri Matangi Island, and a screening programme is keeping an eye on the problem
Motu's director Adam Jaffe responds to the government's science funding strategy and discusses recent research into the efficacy of the Marsden Fund.
There are a million hectares of stony soils in New Zealand - and scientists are using lysimeters to measure how water and cow urine move through them
This week, the government announced the creation of the Kermadec ocean sanctuary, which covers 620,000 square kilometres and bans mining, prospecting and fishing.
We live in a high salt world, so how feasible is it in our current shopping environment to eat a low sodium diet
Environmental Defence Society policy analyst Marie Brown discusses the challenge of how development projects can offset biodiversity losses.
There have been hundreds of relocations of animals for conservation reasons in New Zealand and Australia - so what lessons have we learnt
The Great Barrier Island community discusses the frightening prospect that they could be the sole survivors after a global flu pandemic.
At Wildbase, New Zealand's only dedicated wildlife hospital, vets treat more than 300 native animals each year as well as doing research on conservation issues.
It takes 400 litres of freshwater to clean a seabird that has been covered in oil, but new research using ducks shows that seawater is a viable alternative
Proteins have evolved over many millions of years - but they can also evolve rapidly, in just years, and this offers insights into how evolution itself works
Many farms in New Zealand are missing deep burrowing earthworms, that can help better grass growth, so Nicole Schon is relocating worms to farms in need
An expedition to east Antarctica's Totten glacier returns with evidence suggesting that east Antarctica may not be as resistant to melting as once thought.
Ecologists at Victoria University have discovered that the invasive Argentine ants host a virus associated with bee deaths.
Bees are in trouble and to get a better idea of might be contributing to colony loses, Landcare Research is calling on beekeepers to help with a national survey.
Guy Warman, at the University of Auckland, explores how anaesthesia affects the body's biological clock and whether light therapy could help reduce sleep disruption post surgery.
A greenhouse that is also a strict containment facility allows scientists to experimentally add apple genes to apple trees to speed up the breeding of new varieties
Matthias Heyne is investigating whether the tongue positions we learn as part of our native language influences the way trombonists play their instruments
To mark the International Year of Soils, we look at New Zealand's rich diversity of soils
Jason Tylianakis is an ecologist trying to understand how our complex natural world responds to change
Food scientists are investigating breakfast cereals and combinations with kiwifruit in search of a breakfast that helps control blood sugar levels
Victoria University psychology lecturer Marc Wilson discusses why some people remain unsure about climate change, despite the overwhelming evidence.
Among the works at the recent Lux festival in Wellington was an audiovisual kinetic sculpture called Theta-R
Janis Freegard reads her poem 'Albatross' from The Glass Rooster, published by Auckland University Press
Hunting by Maori had very different effects on the Stewart Island and Otago populations of Stewart Island shags.
A new study says that 90% of the world's seabirds ingest plastic, and those seabirds that feed in the Tasman Sea are most at risk from plastic
NIWA oceanographers retrieve an autonomous ocean glider after a successful two-week deployment to explore physical and biological properties of the ocean.
To find the best plants to use in green firebreaks, biologists are testing the flammability of plants on the 'plant barbecue'
Neutrinos is a poem by Janis Freegard from her collection The Glass Rooster, published by Auckland University Press
Plant and Food Research have shown that blackcurrants can help in tasks involving memory and concentration
After a year it's time to find out what's taken up residence in Lincoln University's Bug Hotels
Mt Taranaki is one of New Zealand's most distinctive volcanoes, with a history of euptions and the potential to erupt again in the future.
On 13 March 2015, Cyclone Pam hit Vanuatu. It was the worst natural disaster in the nation's history, and four months on, we ask how people are doing.
Low-damage precast concrete bridges featuring flexible steel tendons and energy dissipators that act as fuses are being tested at Canterbury University
Computer scientist Hamidf Sharifzadeh is regenerating a natural-sounding voice for people who lost the ability to speak
Landscape architect Mick Abbott wants to involve as many people as possible in meaningful ecological restoration projects
Vikki Smith introduces Alison Ballance to a trapdoor spider called Sweetheart - and you can hear the amazing sound of a spider chewing a beetle.
Trapdoor spiders live on mud banks in long silk-lined tunnels with a camouflaged trapdoor, and Vikki Smith has developed a cunning way of luring them out
Adding air puffs that we produce during speech to mobile phones and hearing aids might make understanding conversations in noisy environments easier
Veronika Meduna joins Pacific archaeologists at the oldest cemetery in the pacific to find out about the Lapita and their epic voyage of discovery.
Environmental scientist Lin Roberts argues that nature's ecosystem services are good for our well-being as well as the planet
New Plymouth has more pockets of urban bush than any other NZ city, and ecologists study them to improve the success of ecological restorations
Geologists are using a cannon, a trebuchet and silly putty wrapped in condoms to investigate volcanic ballistics and better understand volcanic eruptions
The Blueskin Resilient Communities Trust is working towards building three community-owned wind turbines that will help build the community's resilience and energy independence
UN climate chief Christiana Figueres says a global, legally-binding agreement will be reached at Paris climate summit, but concedes it falls short of two degree target.
New Plymouth's museum Puke Ariki is catalogueing its vast natural sceinces collections to make them more accessible to the public.
The genome of the North Island brown kiwi has just been published by an international team of researchers
Ruth Beran's award-winning feature on sleep apnoea follows Maui Stewart to the sleep clinic on a journey to better health.
Do sea urchins live in a 'landscape of fear' and is the mere presence of predatory crayfish and snapper enough to change their behaviour?
Veronika Meduna visits a salmon hatchery to find out more about how salmon are bred and farmed, and about the family tree of each fish.
As young people use screens more and more, public health researcher Sam Marsh is looking into how much food they are eating when using different media like computers and TVs.
A new study in rats shows that the link between high salt intake and high blood pressure is caused by changes in the brain
A baby colossal squid, studying under-ice algae in Antarctica, New Zealand sea lions, and a better fishing trawl net.
After more than a decade of cleaning up Auckland's waterways and removing 22 shipping containers full of rubbish, the Sea Cleaners Trust is ready to tackle the rest of our coastline.
In his New Plymouth workshop, Trevor Bremner designs and produces the sshhmute, a practice mute for brass instruments
Susann Beier is using MRI and computational models to analyse flow of blood like fluid in 3D-printed replicas of coronary arteries with the aim of improving stent design
Long-nosed spookfish and other chimaeras are among a suite of weird, little known deep sea sharks that sport spiky sex organs on their head, enormous noses, fierce spines and long tails
Electronic tags used to measure the survival of spinetail devil rays released after being caught by tuna fishing boats have revealed long journeys to the tropics and deep dives
Geologist Malcolm Laird and surveyor Peter Otway reminisce during the 2014 IceFest about their early visits to Antarctica in the 1960s
New Zealand and Italian researchers have confirmed that Type C killer whales from Antarctica travel to and from northern New Zealand
The University of Otago SWIFT study is following 250 people for 2 years as they try popular diet and exercise programmes such as the Paleo diet, the 5:2 fasting diet, and high intensity exercise.
As NASA's Curiosity rover discovers liquid water on Mars, astrophysicist Duncan Steel discusses what that might mean for life on Mars.
Understanding physics and material engineering are as important as artistic skill in a technology that spans false teeth, prostheses and forensic investigations
Marine scientists in New Zealand make a significant contribution to a global register of marine life.
A new report says that the threat to public health from climate change could undermine advances made over the past 50 years.
Scientists discover that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean harbour a surprisingly rich and expansive biological diversity.
A team of marine geologists deploy multibeam echo-sounding technology to map the seabed around Kapiti Island, north of Wellington.
Over the last decade secondary school students have measured the chemical and microbiological health of Otago Harbour
An implantable device is being developed to measure intracranial pressure in children who have hydrocephalus or "water on the brain"
Heat and exercise, on their own or together, benefit the cardiovascular system by increasing blood volume and lwoering blood pressure, but could there be other benefits as well?
University of Waikato microbiologist Craig Cary describes his work on microbial communities in Antarctica's Dry Valleys.
A population of rare South Canterbury mudfish are benefiting from a community project involving the St Andrews School, the farmer and the Working Waters Trust
University of Auckland neuroscientist Melanie Cheung has developed a Maori-focused brain resilience programme which could slow the progression of Huntington's Disease
Warming ocean temperatures and increasing sediment as a result of more extreme weather events may have profound effects on the health of our coastal kelp ecosystems
Massey University researchers are looking at whether why protein after interval training could help type II diabetics with their blood sugar levels
University of Auckland neuroscientist Melanie Cheung explains how she consulted with her iwi before starting work on brain tissue
The director of the Pew Charitable Trusts' Global Ocean Legacy discusses the importance of protected marine areas.
Climate scientists are using the spare capacity of thousands of home computers to zoom in on links between extreme weather events and climate change
Masters student Dan Archer looked at metabolic biomarkers to see if there were benefits from working at standing desks
Marine biologist Nick Shears monitors marine reserves to evaluate how effective marine protection is and he is also interested in the effects of climate change on the ocean
Since 2002 the Experiencing Marine Reserves programme has been taking primary school students snorkelling so they can see for themselves how effective marine protection is
Little triplefin fish living in rock pools regularly face not enough or too much oxygen - discovering how they cope could help people suffering from brain hypoxia
University of Canterbury physicist Jenni Adams explains how high-energy neutrinos could help track the origins of cosmic rays.
Short-tailed bats are vulnerable to predation by rats - but what is the risk to the bats from toxins being used to protect them from the rats? http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/201756718/short-tailed-bats-and-a-conservation-dilemma http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ourchangingworld/audio/201755898/flower-of-the-underworld-a-parasitic-treasure
Uga or coconut crab are hunted in large numbers in Niue but to conserve them the Niuean Government has placed an indefinite ban on their export
The government has held a series of consultation meetings asking people how New Zealand should manage its greenhouse gas emissions
New Zealand's most unusual flowering plant has a strong connection with a rare nocturnal mammal - and both are thriving in the forests of Pureora.
An MRI has been developed which can be transported because it uses high temperature superconductors and does not require liquid helium
The Hop Lab in Motueka is a small research brewery, where a Plant and Food Research scientists are breeding, growing and testing new varieties of hops
The global 2015 Top 10 New Species List includes an endangered parasitic plant from the Philippines described by University of Canterbury botanists
For the first time, geologists find direct evidence for large subduction earthquakes underneath central New Zealand
Metabolite biomarkers in hair may allow scientists to advise women on what they should eat to avoid pregnancy complications
Scientists discover a new process, in which mitochondrial DNA is exchanged between cells in the body
Getting off our butts and taking regular short exercise breaks is much better for our health than continuous sitting
The ExStream system allows biologists to study how river life responds to stresses such as sediment, nutrients, and changing water temperatures and flows
A discussion held at 2015 New Zealand Association of Scientists annual conference, Going Public
Archaeologist Atholl Anderson discusses the climate conditions and socio-political circumstances that led groups of Polynesian navigators to discover and settle in New Zealand
Archaeologist Atholl Anderson explains why he thinks that the first people to make landfall in New Zealand were exiles escaping from conflict in their homelands
The vision of the Orokonui Ecosanctuary is to recreate Otago coastal forest to the way it was before humans arrived in New Zealand
Maggots are used by hospitals and veterinary clinics to treat chronic ulcers and wounds, often as a last resort, and are bred in an insectary in Upper Hutt
A discussion about the interaction between the media, the government and scientists, held at the 2015 NZAS meeting Going Public.
Alistair Knott is teaching a computer "baby" to speak different languages to see if syntax and sensory-motor experiences are linked
The exercise physiology clinic at the University of Auckland combines exercise for rehabilitation with teaching and research
A team of NIWA marine scientists investigates methane seeps that bubble up from the seabed off the North Island's east coast.
In less than 20 years a rare contagious cancer has decimated Tasmanian devil numbers by 85 percent, but a vaccine may be on the way
Space scientist Duncan Steel explains what will happen to the out-of-control Russian space capsule that failed to reach the International Space Station.
Underwater sounds as varied as sea urchins and boats, fish and whales, as well as dolphins and waves are helping build an underwater sound map of the Hauraki Gulf
Jiffin Khosa is continuing with the research on bulbing in onions to look at the difference between the short and long day varieties
University of Otago scientists have discovered the genes for bulbing in onions which may result in more reliability and bulbs better tailored to climate
Researchers hope that electrical brain stimulation, like that used to treat Parkinson's disease, may help people who've had a stroke regain their movements
An AgResearch team identifies five compounds that reduce methane emissions from livestock by up to 90 per cent in initial trials.
A discussion with organisations and individuals who decided to move their investments out of the fossil fuel industry.
Peat uncovered during major roadworks on the Kapiti Coast is shedding light on early Maori occupation, while the discovery of pumice might be the sign of an old tsunami
Physiotherapist Steve Tumilty has been trialling the use of a laser plus exercise to treat tendon injury with positive results
The pateke or brown teal population on Great Barrier Island is increasing due to cat trapping and the creation of new wetland homes
New Zealand has 28 species of native bee, that are either small, very small or extremely small in size and solitary by nature
Parry Guilford and his team are researching the genetics and chemistry of lobular breast cancer with the aim of discovering new drugs to treat it
Sixteen years and 44,000 dead rats later, the Windy Hill Sanctuary on Great Barrier Island finally has a dawn chorus
University of Auckland volcanologist Jan Lindsay discusses the DEVORA project and its aim to assess volcanic hazard and risk for Auckland's metropolitan area.
Climate scientists are using the spare capacity of thousands of home computers to zoom in on links between extreme weather events and climate change
Alison Heather is opposed to sports doping because designer steroids, such as androgen mimics, are bad for heart health
Helen Owen is analysing why different writing is perceived to be more honest and has found that connectors and simplicity play a role
Great Barrier Island's Karen Walker looks after sick, injured and orphaned birds, such as banded rails, black petrels and pateke
A new book presents a comprehensive analysis of New Zealand's biodiversity loss and the drivers behind it
The trial on a healthy volunteer continues with tests to alter blood pressure including an ice challenge, mental arithmetic and a hand grip task
A healthy volunteer is tested with drugs to study the two systems that regulate blood flow to the brain, with implications for treatment of stroke
If you want to attract native birds to your garden, putting out bread may not be the right thing to do.
Geologists samples fossils of microscopic plants and animals to study ancient climate change and extinctions.
The South Georgia Heritage Trust has just completed the third and final stage of the world's largest island rat eradication
A new gel has been developed that is 85% water but can be stretched many times and hit with a hammer without disintegrating
New Zealand is home to the world's only luminescent freshwater limpet, which lives among the rocks in North Island streams.
Katherine Clements talks about her experience of volunteering for the Department of Conservation and working with seabirds
Black petrels are a common sight at sea in the Hauraki Gulf, and are at risk from being accidentally caught by recreational and commercial fishers
This programme marks the 50th anniversary of Scott Base, New Zealand's science station in Antarctica, which was established in 1957.
The kaka from Zealandia Sanctuary are an urban success story, but they are developing lead poisoning, probably from chewing roofing nails and old lead paint.
Massey University zoologist Anne Wignall explains how web-building spiders use vibrations to communicate and to make sense of their world.
A new study shows that yellow-eyed penguins colonised New Zealand within just a few decades of the Waitaha penguin becoming extinct
A gravimeter is an instrument that measures local gravity and Mikkel Andersen is developing one that uses atoms instead of springs or light
Glenfern Sanctuary is the vision of the late Tony Bouzaid to restore the forest and wetlands of Great Barrier Island, and inspire other people to become involved in conservation
After six weeks in the Southern Ocean, scientists return with thousands of blue whale call recordings and hundreds of samples.
One of New Zealand's little known claims to natural history fame is that for its area it has more species of land snails than any other temperate country
Rod Downey highlights some of the factual inaccuracies in the movie The Imitation Game as well as describing some of Alan Turing's great achievements
Back in 2005, a team of marine biologists and geologists use a submersible to dive deep down to explore submarine volcanoes in the Kermadec Arc.
Every summer, eagle rays and stingrays hang out around Wellington's waterfront, feeding, mating and enthralling passers-by
The Punaha Matatini is a new Centre of Research Excellence focusing on complex systems and networks.
Chris Bullen describes a study comparing e-cigarettes with patches and placebos as tools to quit smoking
Shark researcher Warrick Lyon has developed his own GPS tracking system so he can follow rig sharks in the murky waters of Pauatahanui Inlet