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- 1976 - Restoring Te Awarua o Porirua
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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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 RangatiraBrian Thomas, Porirua City CouncilBryce and Jacqueline WatkinsLisa Casasanto and Jon Bluemel, Kahotea stream Restoration GroupJohn McKoy and Simon Glover, Guardians of Pauatahanui InletGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 08 Dec 2025 - 25min - 1975 - The best use of your time
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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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 TechnologyDr Anantha Narayanan, Auckland University of TechnologyTom Bolus, University of OtagoGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 01 Dec 2025 - 26min - 1974 - Return of the kākāpō files!
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
Wed, 26 Nov 2025 - 02min - 1973 - Restoring freshwater forests
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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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
Mon, 24 Nov 2025 - 25min - 1972 - Mixing oil and water, the greener way
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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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 CanterburyGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 17 Nov 2025 - 26min - 1971 - Resurrecting Wellington's Flowers of the Underworld
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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- First Up interviewed Avi Holzapfel about Te Pua o Te Rēinga in 2024In 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 CouncilAvi Holzapfel – Department of ConservationRhys Mills - Ngā Manu Nature ReserveBart Cox – Wellington City CouncilGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 10 Nov 2025 - 26min - 1970 - The rise of the gold clam
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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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 nativekākahi from the threats of introduced fish.Guests:
Dr Michele Melchior, Earth Sciences New ZealandKarl Safi, Earth Sciences New ZealandGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 03 Nov 2025 - 25min - 1969 - SAR4SaR - The folding, floating search and rescue device
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
Mon, 27 Oct 2025 - 26min - 1968 - What makes Ruapehu tick, and boom
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
Mon, 20 Oct 2025 - 26min - 1967 - When the fame fades
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 HayesMarkus Hermanns, The Lake Wānaka Grebe Project
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 13 Oct 2025 - 26min - 1966 - Putting AI to use in Aotearoa
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
Mon, 06 Oct 2025 - 26min - 1965 - The Lough Hyne sponge mystery
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 photoson 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
Mon, 29 Sep 2025 - 27min - 1964 - Now on Wild Sounds: Voices from Antarctica
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
Thu, 25 Sep 2025 - 00min - 1963 - Detecting cow burps from space
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 airfield05:38 – 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
Mon, 22 Sep 2025 - 26min - 1962 - New Zealand science in space
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 CanterburyDr Brian Russell, Auckland Bioengineering Institute and AUTLearn 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
Mon, 15 Sep 2025 - 29min - 1961 - The I-spy carbon mobile
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 ZealandHayden Young, Earth Sciences New ZealandLearn 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
Mon, 08 Sep 2025 - 26min - 1960 - The comeback bird
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
Mon, 01 Sep 2025 - 27min - 1959 - Powering New Zealand
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 journalistLearn 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
Mon, 25 Aug 2025 - 28min - 1958 - New Zealand’s youth vaping rates
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.
Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 18 Aug 2025 - 28min - 1957 - The science of non-alcoholic beer
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.
Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 11 Aug 2025 - 26min - 1956 - Turning Taupō green
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 TongariroRobyn Ellis, Greening Taupō and Predator Free TaupōRachel Thompson, Kids Greening TaupōHeidi Pritchard, Kids Greening TaupōCelia Bocket, Wicked WeedersZara, Jack, Taylor and Emily, students of Taupō Intermediate SchoolLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode: 40 years of Project TongariroProject 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
Mon, 04 Aug 2025 - 25min - 1955 - The willows and the wetland
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 TongariroShirley PotterNick SingersLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode: 40 years of Project TongariroWillow 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
Mon, 28 Jul 2025 - 26min - 1954 - The dance of the lanternfish
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 WellingtonAlisha Gill, Victoria University of WellingtonNiamh Smith, Victoria University of WellingtonLearn more:
Read the article for this episode: Lanternfish: small fish, big impactBelow 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
Mon, 21 Jul 2025 - 25min - 1953 - A New Zealand approach to nuclear fusion
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 TechnologiesEmily Hunter, Lead Engineer Cryogenics and Docking, OpenStarThomas Berry, Deputy Direct of Plasma Science, OpenStarLearn 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
Mon, 14 Jul 2025 - 27min - 1952 - Tauranga's living sea wall
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 Lee10:25 – 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
Mon, 07 Jul 2025 - 25min - 1951 - Protecting ‘Jaws’ – Aotearoa’s rarest freshwater fish
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 ConservationMartha Jolly, PhD candidate, University of CanterburyLearn 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.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 30 Jun 2025 - 25min - 1950 - New insights from an old vaccine
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 InstituteRebecca Palmer, Malaghan InstituteLearn 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
Mon, 23 Jun 2025 - 26min - 1949 - Getting ready for H5N1 bird flu
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 ConservationDr Megan Jolly, Wildbase Hospital, Massey UniversityDr Mary van Andel, Ministry for Primary IndustriesRob Schuckard, Birds New ZealandDavid Melville, Birds New ZealandLearn 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
Mon, 16 Jun 2025 - 26min - 1948 - Wild Sounds: The new podcast feed for nature
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!
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 11 Jun 2025 - 00min - 1947 - Tracking turtles
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.
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Guests:
Dr Karen Middlemiss, Department of ConservationDr James Chatterton, Auckland ZooCeline Campana, Auckland ZooKim Evans, SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton’sLearn 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 turtlesGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Mon, 09 Jun 2025 - 28min - 1946 - The Chatham Island tūī translocation
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.
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In this episode:
00:00 – 02:30 Introduction and background info
02:30 – 12:14 Catching tūī on Rangatira Island12:15 – 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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Mon, 02 Jun 2025 - 26min - 1945 - Wildfire science heats up
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 future19:08–23:32 – Kate's experience as a wildland firefighter in Canada…
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Wed, 28 May 2025 - 25min - 1944 - Dissecting the world's rarest whale
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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Wed, 21 May 2025 - 26min - 1943 - The missing black petrels of Great Barrier Island
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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Wed, 14 May 2025 - 28min - 1942 - The 2024 Prime Minister’s Science Prize winners
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 OtagoRena Misra, Epsom Girls’ Grammar School in AucklandDr Linda Johnson, Endophyte Discovery Team, AgResearchIn 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…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Tue, 06 May 2025 - 26min - 1941 - Fiordland's underwater world
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 WellingtonMiriam Pierotti, Victoria University of WellingtonAmber Kirk, Victoria University of WellingtonLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode: Studying Fiordland's iconic black coralsOur 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.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 30 Apr 2025 - 26min - 1940 - Helping New Zealand’s understated orchids
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 TongarewaDr Karin van der Walt, conservation advisor, Ōtari Wilton’s BushJennifer Alderton-Moss, plant conservation researcher, Wellington City CouncilLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 23 Apr 2025 - 26min - 1939 - Bonus: RNZ climate correspondent Eloise Gibson
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 correspondentLearn more:
Read Eloise’s recent analysis about New Zealand’s international climate targets, or New Zealand'sglacier 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
Tue, 15 Apr 2025 - 47min - 1938 - Keeping up with the kākahi
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 CouncilBelinda Studholme, Senior Biosecurity Advisor – Freshwater, Auckland CouncilEbi Hussain, Submerged Environmental and Aotearoa LakesAndrew Simpson, Global DiveLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 16 Apr 2025 - 26min - 1937 - Voice of the Sea Ice 06 | Where to?
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 correspondentDr Jess Berentson-Saw, Director of Narrative Research and Strategy, The WorkshopLearn 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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Wed, 09 Apr 2025 - 33min - 1936 - Voice of the Sea Ice 05 | Changing times
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 WellingtonDr Greg Leonard, University of OtagoDr Daniel Price, University of Canterbury and Kea AerospaceDr Inga Smith, University of Otago Dr Michelle LaRue, University of CanterburyLearn 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 Icebergminiseries.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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Wed, 02 Apr 2025 - 28min - 1935 - Voice of the Sea Ice 04 | More life!
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 CanterburyDr Michelle LaRue, University of CanterburyProfessor Steve Wing, University of OtagoLearn 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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Wed, 26 Mar 2025 - 27min - 1934 - Voice of the Sea Ice 03 | Life!
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 WellingtonDr Greg Leonard, University of OtagoLizzy Skelton, University of CanterburyDr Aimee van der Reis, University of AucklandSalvatore Campanile, Victoria University of WellingtonLearn 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 yearAlison 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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Wed, 19 Mar 2025 - 26min - 1933 - Voice of the Sea Ice 02 | Antarctica's heartbeat
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 OtagoProfessor Wolfgang Rack, University of CanterburyLearn 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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Wed, 12 Mar 2025 - 28min - 1932 - Voice of the Sea Ice 01 | A land of ice and ambition
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 AerospaceNgā Taonga Sound and Vision archival audioLearn 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 aircraftHear 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.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 05 Mar 2025 - 30min - 1931 - Keeping tabs on Fiordland’s sharks and researching our deep-sea realm
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, GNSLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 26 Feb 2025 - 26min - 1930 - Recruiting the birds to help reforestation, and investigating ADHD and fidgeting
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 InstituteDr Gil Newburn, Mātai Medical Institute Professor Dame Anne Salmond, Waikereru EcosanctuaryLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 19 Feb 2025 - 26min - 1929 - Trapping to help whio and searching for extreme life
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 LinkProfessor Matthew Stott, University of CanterburyLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 12 Feb 2025 - 26min - 1928 - Your friendly local environment centre
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 CentreSam Rowland, Manager, Tairāwhiti Environment CentreLauren Beatty, Gizzy Kai RescueDr Sarah Boyle, Wai Connections TairāwhitiLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 05 Feb 2025 - 25min - 1927 - Trapping smarter not harder
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 SanctuaryPhilip Green, field and technical advisor, Southern Lakes SanctuaryLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 29 Jan 2025 - 26min - 1926 - Summer science: 'Nature's itching to put the bush back'
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.
Hugh Wilson, botanist
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Wed, 22 Jan 2025 - 23min - 1925 - Summer science: Bird bandit
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-makerSign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 15 Jan 2025 - 44min - 1924 - Summer science: The underdogs under the ledge
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, COETCarey Knox, herpetologist, Southern ScalesKathryn Longstaff, Department of Conservation (DOC) Central OtagoRoss Curtis , senior ranger, DOC Central OtagoJoanna, ranger, DOC Central OtagoThis 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 08 Jan 2025 - 25min - 1923 - Summer science: Plants don't know borders
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 BarcelonaDr Pieter PelserHere 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 threatenedSign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 01 Jan 2025 - 11min - 1922 - Summer science: Mice in Predator Free 2050, and kaimoana for communities
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 WellingtonDr Araceli SamaniegoBrent Bevan, Department of ConservationChris Jupp, Kai IkaVera, Kokiri Marae Naenae HubLearn more:
Listen to more episodes of Catch On, a podcast by Xanthe Smith for the Office of the Prime Minister's Chief Science AdvisorFind out about the Kai Ika ProjectDr Araceli Samaniego's paper, Small mice create big problemsListen to Voice of Tangaroa for more exploration of ocean issuesWatch Fight for the Wild, a series about Predator Free 2050Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 25 Dec 2024 - 26min - 1921 - New Antarctic methane seeps and what they might mean
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, NIWADr Leigh Tait, NIWALearn 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 2022There’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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 18 Dec 2024 - 28min - 1920 - The bacterial world inside New Zealand's 'living fossil'
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 AucklandChye-Mei Huang, Ectotherm ranger, Auckland ZooLearn 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 11 Dec 2024 - 26min - 1919 - Diving into the world of Antarctic glass sponges
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 WaikatoDr Jürgen Laudien, Alfred Wegener Institute, GermanyKatherine Rowe, University of WaikatoDr Erik Wurz, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands,Andreas Schmmider-MartÍnez, Universidad Mayor, ChileLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episodeListen to The secret life of sea spongesFind out what it takes to live and do science in Antarctica with the award-winning 2020 Voices from Antarctica series by Alison BallanceSign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 04 Dec 2024 - 26min - 1918 - Pacific Scientific: Samoa's scientists unlocking the power of plants
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 SamoaMaserotaOfoia, Scientific Research Organisation of SamoaBenaiah Une, Scientific Research Organisation of SamoaSekotilani Aloi, University of Samoa LecturerPacific Scientific credits:
Series Creator: Carl SmithReporter: Adel FrueanProducer: Shelby TraynorSeries Producer: Jordan FennellExecutive Producer: Will OckendenABC Science Editor: Jonathan WebbLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode.Listen to more Pacific Scientific episodes.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 27 Nov 2024 - 27min - 1917 - Turning the tide – what it takes to take out rats
Kate Evans visits a passionate team as they carpet a remote volcanic island in Tonga with poisoned bait, hoping to eradicate rats. What does it take to complete this kind of project, what are the chances of success, and what will it mean for the island's ecosystems if they manage to remove the rats once and for all?
Rat eradication from islands is a team sport. It's not a competition - but if it were, New Zealand would surely be up there. That's why on most pest removal teams around the world you can probably find one or two Kiwis right in the thick of things.
It takes a village
A team lined up to complete the rat eradication project for the island of Late in the kingdom of Tonga is no different. The New Zealand Department of Conservation is supporting the operation and have provided some skilled staff. The helicopter team (pilot, engineer, ground crew) are all Kiwi too.
They're joined by a project manager from the NGO Island Conservation, and Tongan conservationists from the national environment department.
Years of feasibility studies, finding funding, planning and logistics have come down to this - a second, and final, aerial application of poisoned bait across the island.
Island paradise
It may not be what you picture when you think of a tropical island, but its jagged basalt cliffs and remoteness has made volcanic Late a potential wildlife haven.
Here you can find the Tongan whistler and ground dove, two rare birds on the IUCN red list of threatened species. And it has the habitat needed for the malau - the Tongan megapode - to breed. Malau don't incubate eggs by sitting on them, instead they bury them in warm volcanic soils and sands, and Late's smoking surface is perfect.
Rat eradications elsewhere have allowed forests to rejuvenate, land birds to rebound and seabirds to return. The bird guano ripples the effect out further - feeding the coral reefs and allowing nearby ocean ecosystems to flourish.
Science journalist Kate Evans joins the team on the last day of bait spreading, in what they hope will be the first day of a bright future for the island and its inhabitants. …
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 24 Apr 2024 - 29min - 1916 - Summer 34 – Three decades of albatross research
Journalist Rebekah White meets two people who have been counting albatrosses on remote islands in the subantarctic for more than three decades. Their research shows that at least one species is en route to extinction. A few changes to the way we fish could save it.
Gibson's and Antipodean albatrosses are citizens of no one nation. They are ocean birds, living on the wind and waves, travelling massive distances, passing back and forth over the high seas and the imaginary boundary lines we draw on maps.
But when they land to chat, to flirt, to lay an egg and raise a chick, they come to two of New Zealand's subantarctic islands.
Three decades of albatross study
And when they return, some of them meet with two familiar human faces.
Across the last 34 years, Department of Conservation researchers Kath Walker and Graeme Elliott have been visiting these islands to count the birds, and to study them.
At first everything seemed fine. In the early 1990s numbers were low but increasing. Things were positive. Then came the summer of 2006/2007. There was a population crash, reason still unknown, and on both islands, albatross numbers plummeted.
These albatrosses don't breed until they at least eight-years-old, only breed every two years, and tend to mate for life. Since the crash, Gibson's albatross numbers have come back slightly, but Antipodean albatross numbers continue to decline.
And adult birds, especially females, are still going missing.
Hooks don't discriminate
Tuna fishing boats use a method called surface longlining to catch their prey. The lines can be up to 100 kilometres long, with thousands of hooks.
Squid is used as bait, a tasty morsel for tuna. Unfortunately, albatrosses agree.
Using satellite tags Graeme and Kath have watched missing albatrosses' paths overlap with those of boats, and in one case, in which leg bands and the satellite tag were returned to them, follow the path of the boat.
Listen as science journalist Rebekah White explores the albatross bycatch problem, and what we could do about it. …
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 17 Apr 2024 - 29min - 1915 - Taking on water - marine protection in Aotearoa
New Zealand once led the world in marine protection. Now it looks like we will fail to meet our international promise to protect 30 percent of our ocean estate by 2030. Why is stopping fishing so politically fraught? How might our ideas about marine protection need to change? And why, when our seas are in need, is it taking us so long to learn to talk to each other?
This is an updated excerpt from the July - August 2023 New Zealand Geographic feature article 'Taking on water'.
In 1975 five square kilometres from Cape Rodney to Okakari Point was made a marine reserve, the first in New Zealand, and possibly, the world.
"Nothing to do at Goat Island anymore," declared the local newspaper.
Three hundred thousand people now visit every year. And research indicates that this small, protected patch is helping to contribute fish to surrounding areas.
Lunching on experiments
The Marine Reserves Act was created in 1971 in response to campaigning by the late Bill Ballantine, among others. He was director of the University of Auckland's Leigh Marine Laboratory which was established in 1964. But staff and students soon discovered people were eating their experiments.
So that's what the Act was created for: 'the purpose of preserving, as marine reserves for the scientific study of marine life, areas of New Zealand that contain underwater scenery, natural features, or marine life, of such distinctive quality, or so typical, or beautiful, or unique, that their continued preservation is in the national interest.'
Today, with our ocean ecosystems under increasing pressure from commercial and recreational fishing, sedimentation, pollution, and warming, we need our marine protection to do more than preserve small areas for scientific study.
But it's not an easy task. Most marine protection proposals face extensive push back that delays the process for years, sometimes decades.
"It's really, really hard to manage it appropriately," says Professor Chris Hepburn, marine scientist at the University of Otago. "It's land, sea. It's different user groups, it's rights, it's things like the settlement, it's people not understanding each other's points of view."
The act that ignored the Treaty
'The settlement' is the Treaty of Waitangi (Fisheries Claims) Settlement Act 1992, an attempt to restore some of the rights taken from Māori when it comes to fisheries…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 03 Apr 2024 - 30min - 1914 - A tale of two islands – erect-crested penguins
The Bounty Islands are tiny in terms of area - just some bits of granite jutting out of the ocean. But they are huge in terms of seabirds. James Frankham joins a team researching the erect-crested penguins who breed in this remote archipelago. Recent counts suggest the penguins of the Bounties are doing fine. But this is not the case on the Antipodes Islands, and the researchers desperately want to know why.
The Bounty Islands jut out of the water like giant granite fins. Steep and sheer, with no greenery in sight. They are covered instead by a mottled white - guano or bird poo from the tens of thousands of penguins and albatrosses that come here to breed.
The least studied penguin
The Bounty Islands is one of two remote, subantarctic island groups home to the erect-crested penguin. Stout and handsome, with bright yellow crests that look like elaborate punk rock hairdos, their remote breeding sites means they've not been studied in depth.
But Dr Thomas Mattern of the Tawaki Project plans to change that.
Good news and bad
Using drones to make photo mosaics of all the Bounty islands, Thomas has counted each penguin breeding pair and arrived at a number that suggests the Bounty Island population of penguins has remained relatively stable since the mid-1990s. Good news.
Not the case for their other breeding sites at the Antipodes Islands, where early evidence suggests a significant decline.
But these island groups are a mere 200 kilometres apart - a hop, skip and a jump in penguin swimming distance. How is one group seemingly doing fine while the other is in trouble?
New Zealand Geographic's James Frankham joins an expedition to these remote and wild islands as the scientists begin to unravel this mystery.
Learn more:
Read the accompanying New Zealand Geographic article by James Frankham, with photography by Richard Robinson. As part of this expedition Claire Concannon also visited the Antipodes Islands to learn how they have fared since mice were eradicated.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 27 Mar 2024 - 28min - 1913 - The stuff of life - Carbon capture in our ocean ecosystems
What roles do our ocean ecosystems play in capturing carbon? Kate Evans speaks to iwi Māori working to improve the health of an estuary in the Bay of Plenty, and to scientists studying the fiords of New Zealand's southwest coast. There's potential for huge amounts of carbon to be locked away, if we don't mess it up.
To avert the worst of the climate crisis we need to reduce our emissions. One way is to phase out fossil fuels, to leave forms of carbon like oil and gas locked up in the ground. But we can also look at ways to lock up more carbon, long term. And some options for this are in our oceans.
The champ of champs
Between 6-10 metres of rain falls in Fiordland each year. An incredible amount. It's part of what powers the forest-to-fiord carbon storage pump that makes Fiordland exceptionally good at locking away large amounts of carbon long-term. Something scientists are only beginning to understand.
Return of the wetland
Luckily, National Park status on land and marine protection in part of the sea have meant that Fiordland has remained relatively untouched.
Not so for some of our other carbon-burying ocean ecosystems. Salt marshes and seagrass meadows in estuaries have taken big hits. But Te Whakapū o Waihī, a collective of local iwi and the Bay of Plenty Regional Council, are fighting back.
Listen as Kate Evans learns about Fiordland's secrets, the plans to restore Waihī wetlands and estuary, and what this all means for our blue carbon potential.
Learn more:
Read the accompanying New Zealand Geographic article by Kate Evans, with photography by Richard Robinson. Alison Ballance previously reported on the work of the Cawthron Institute to collect and grow seagrass seeds. Justine Murray joined Professor Kura Paul-Burke out on the Waihī estuary mud flats last year to learn about tohu (signs), nana (seagrass) and tuangi (cockles). Parts of the Southern Ocean also acts as a carbon sink, but there are concerns this might change.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 20 Mar 2024 - 32min - 1912 - Fish out of water - How to grow fish on land
People and livestock gobble so much fish that the seas soon won't keep up. Is the answer to grow fish on land? Kate Evans meets scientists figuring out the puzzles of how to farm some of New Zealand's iconic ocean creatures.
Many of our fisheries are under pressure. At the same time people are eating more fish. Could farming iconic New Zealand species be the future? And what are the advantages of growing fish on land?
A new lease of life
Ocean Beach used to process lambs, a record of 20 000 in one day, but now it's gullies and troughs run with seawater, not blood. Home to the New Zealand Abalone company and Manaaki Whitebait it's become one the frontiers of New Zealand aquaculture - growing fish indoors.
Pāua puzzles and whitebait mysteries
It's not an easy task. Growing fish on land means taking responsibility for their needs throughout their life cycle. First you must identify those needs, account for them in an indoor setting, and make the whole process as efficient as possible so you can still turn a profit. It takes trial and error, and patience.
Learn more:
Read the accompanying New Zealand Geographic article by Kate Evans, with photography by Richard Robinson.Seaweed is also being farmed in a specialised warehouse space in Tauranga.Recently the green light has been given for an open ocean salmon farm in the Cook StraitGo to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 13 Mar 2024 - 32min - 1911 - Kina-nomics - The kina are taking over, what can we do?
Kina numbers are exploding on some of our reefs, decimating seaweed habitats. Could this problem be solved by eating them? Kate Evans investigates the potential of kina-nomics.
The kina are out of control. As many as 40 urchins crowd into a single square metre of rock, devoid of other life.
A kina barren is a symptom of an ecosystem out of balance. Could we eat our way to a solution?
Kina zombies
Kina numbers have exploded as we've eaten too many of their predators - like big snapper and crayfish - that usually keep them in check.
The urchins munch through kelp and seaweed, leaving bare rock and little else. The kina themselves end up suffering too - they persist in these zones as zombies, eating little and barely producing any roe.
Luckily, these barrens can be reversed and kelp forests restored when the kina are removed.
Putting kina on the table
Kina-nomics involves taking starving kina off reefs, fattening them up and selling them to an East Asian market.
But how can the kina be made more consistently tasty? And can economic and conservation goals really align?
Listen to the episode to dive under the water with a kina harvester, taste some kina, and untangle whether a commercial harvest of these spiky taonga can really fix kina barrens.
Learn more:
Read the accompanying New Zealand Geographic article by Kate Evans, with photography by Richard Robinson.Check out another effort to restore kelp forests with the Love Rimurimu project in Wellington, profiled in a recent Our Changing World episode.Jesse Mulligan spoke to another researcher studyingkina removal in the Marlborough Sounds.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 06 Mar 2024 - 28min - 1910 - The undersea orchestra - Ocean sounds and what they tell us
Crackle, pop, woof, crunch, click. In the ocean, an undersea orchestra is in full swing. Journalist Kate Evans discovers who's playing in it and why, and what happens when human noise drowns out this symphony in the sea.
Symphony in the sea
Journalist Kate Evans and presenter Claire Concannon discover a world of snapping shrimp, singing whales and barking John Dory.
Researchers Professor Craig Radford and Dr Jenni Stanley are uncovering more about the orchestra harmonising under the waves - who's playing in it, and why they are making these sounds.
Plus, what impact is our human noise - like boats - having on ocean creatures?
Learn more:
Read the accompanying New Zealand Geographic article by Kate Evans, with photography by Richard Robinson.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 28 Feb 2024 - 31min - 1909 - Introducing: Voice of Tangaroa
A collaboration between Our Changing World and New Zealand Geographic, the Voice of Tangaroa series explores the state of our oceans, and the extraordinary variety of life that calls it home.
93% of New Zealand is covered in salt water. 80% of our biodiversity is in our seas. And yet this is the part of our realm we understand the least and treat the worst.
A collaboration between Our Changing World and New Zealand Geographic, the Voice of Tangaroa series explores the state of our oceans, and the extraordinary variety of life that calls it home.
From kina-nomics, to the undersea sound, from growing fish on land, to the debates around our marine reserves - science journalist Kate Evans has been diving into the complexities of how we think about, enjoy, manage and use our oceans, and what this means for the creatures that live in it.
Now, with production help from RNZ's Our Changing World team, and original music composed by Wellington band Grains, you will be able to hear the voices of the characters involved and experience the sounds of our underwater realm.
Voice of Tangaroa is a joint production between RNZ's Our Changing World and New Zealand Geographic.
Reporting for this series is Public Interest Journalism funded through NZ On Air. You can learn more and read the articles for free at www.nzgeo.com/seas
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Sun, 25 Feb 2024 - 01min - 1908 - Bringing ngutukākā back from the brink
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 TrustMere Tamanui, Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā TrustHōhepa Waenga, East Coast Myrtle Rust Response TeamNatalie Robertson, artist and Associate Professor at Auckland University of TechnologyEmma Giesen, Trees That CountStephanie Gardner, Trees That CountTamariki from Te Kura Kaupapa Māori o MangatunaLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode.Visit the Tairāwhiti Ngutukākā websiteGraeme 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.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 20 Nov 2024 - 25min - 1907 - A tricky trap for redback spiders
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.
Guests:
Dr Andrew Twidle, Plant & Food ResearchTom Sullivan, Plant & Food ResearchLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode.Redbacks aren’t the only spiders to engage in a spot of sexual cannibalism. Claire Concannon enters the weird world of spider reproduction on a spider hunt in this episode.Back in 2016, Alison Ballance reported on the threat to Cromwell chafer beetles posed by red4KU24B9_Female_Redback_Spider_PFR3471_jpg
back spiders.Coming up with clever ways to lure pests is also a big focus of Predator Free 2050, as Katy Gosset finds out in this 2021 episode.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 13 Nov 2024 - 26min - 1906 - The advances in MRI coming out of Gisborne
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.
Guests:
Dr Samantha Holdsworth, research director and chief executive of Mātai Medical Research InstituteTaylor Emsden, MRI technologist at Mātai Medical Research InstituteLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode.One of the studies underway at Mātai looks at how brains and hearts are damaged by meth use, and also how they can recover.One of the pilot research projects that Mātai hosted involved investigating muscle development in children with cerebral palsy.The Mātai concussion study involves teen rugby players, learn more about other research on this issue from the University of Canterbury.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 06 Nov 2024 - 25min - 1905 - The fight for the forest and the fernbird
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.
Guests:
Gavin White, pest control for Forest & BirdFrancesca Cunninghame, project manager for Forest & BirdLearn more:
Watch Fight for the Wild, a documentary series exploring Predator Free Aotearoa 2050.Listen to Deer Wars, a podcast telling the story of the 50-year struggle to control red deer.Drones are a new tool in the battle against introduced pests, William Ray reports in this Our Changing World episode.Find out more about the Tautuku Ecological Restoration Project.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 30 Oct 2024 - 26min - 1904 - Lead bullets - a health risk for humans and kea
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.
Guests:
Dr Eric Buenz, biomedical researcher at Nelson Marlborough Institute of TechnologyProfessor Gareth Parry, Nelson Marlborough Institute of TechnologyAdjunct Professor Myra Finkelstein, University of California, Santa CruzTom Brookman, Department of ConservationDr Kerry Weston, Department of ConservationLearn more:
Read the web article for this episode. In Kea get a helping hand, Alison Ballance joins kea researchers at Arthur’s Pass.The kea’s close relative the kaka is also at risk from lead poisoning – check out Alison’s story on The dark side of being an urban parrot - kaka and lead.Find out more about the element lead in “Lead – sweet tasting but deadly” from the Elemental podcast series, which investigates the periodic table of chemical elements.Read the research mentioned in this episode about X-ray screening, and the latest research about kea and lead.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 23 Oct 2024 - 26min - 1903 - Can birds adapt their nest building for a warming world?
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.
Guests:
Dr Iliana Medina Guzman, University of MelbourneKane Fleury, Tūhura Otago MuseumLearn more:
See nest pictures and read the related article for this episode here. Iliana’s colleague Dr Claire Taylor spoke to Nine to Noon about some of this work in July, their work has been written up by the University of Melbourne, and their investigations of the role of climateand the analysis of variationin nest design have been published. Some birds use spikes as weapons around their nests, while in Wellington, some kākā might be trying to nest in unhelpful places.Explore the Our Changing World bird episodes back catalogue, for heaps more bird and nest stories.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 16 Oct 2024 - 26min - 1902 - Why we are still monitoring the ozone hole
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.
Guests:
Dr Richard Querel, NIWADr Ben Liley, NIWADr Olaf MorgensternLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode.This year’s World Meteorological Organization ozone bulletin was positive about the recovery trend for the ozone layer.In Ozone holes & UV radiation Alison Ballance investigates the particularly large ozone hole of 2020, and why New Zealand has such high UV levels.The University of Otago researchers who published findings indicating a growth in the ozone hole in some parts of the stratosphere spoke to Morning Report last year.Thanks to Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision for some recordings from the 1980s and 1990s used in this episode.
Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 09 Oct 2024 - 26min - 1901 - Looking after our four-legged friends
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.
Guests:
Dr Mia Cobb, University of MelbourneEllen Rykers, RNZLearn more:
See more cute dog photos in the article that accompanies this episode.Mia coordinated on a Map of the Month project to check if Melbourne is a dog-friendly city.Listen to what it takes to train a dog to detect cancer, or traina sheepdog, or how to train a puppy and interpret dog signals.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 02 Oct 2024 - 32min - 1900 - Anxiety and the brain-body connection
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. …
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 25 Sep 2024 - 27min - 1899 - The teamwork that solved a life-and-death puzzle
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.
Guests:
Maybelle McLeod, CEO and Nurse at Kimi Hauora Health and Research ClinicErin Gardiner, Nurse at Kimi HauoraHealth and Research ClinicProfessor Parry Guilford, Department of Biochemistry, University of OtagoLearn more:
Read the accompanying article, Solving a genetic cancer puzzle.Read the press release about the 2023 Prime Minister's Science PrizesRead here about the history of Mangatawa MaraeRNZ interview following the 2023 Prime Ministers Science PrizesSign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 18 Sep 2024 - 26min - 1898 - Some of the light we cannot see
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.
Travel to Australia for reporting on this story was supported by the New Zealand Synchrotron Group Ltd.
Guests:
Nicholas Page, PhD candidate at the University of OtagoKiri Van Koughnet, PhD candidate at Robinson Research Institute, Victoria University of WellingtonKane Hill, physics master's student at the University of AucklandDr Freddy Lyzwa, the Photon Factory, University of AucklandDr Dominique Appadoo, senior beamline scientist at the Australian SynchrotronLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode, Using light to study materials.Listen to a previous OCW episode about the future of long-term data storage.The Dodd-Walls Centre for photonics and quantum technologies got a boost of funding in 2023 for its quantum technologies programme of research.Learn more about MOFs in this Nine to Noon interview.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 11 Sep 2024 - 26min - 1897 - The fate of the West Antarctic ice sheet in a warming world
How fast - and how completely - could Antarctica's smaller western ice sheet melt in a warming world? An international science team, led by Aotearoa New Zealand, set out to investigate whether two degrees of warming could already be a tipping point for the frozen continent.
Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate, particularly in some parts of West Antarctica.
How did the small and more vulnerable West Antarctic Ice Sheet behave during past periods of natural warming? Geological evidence is sparse, but an ambitious sediment-drilling project aims to change that.
Drilling back in time to explore past periods of warming
SWAIS2C - short for Sensitivity of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet to 2°C - is an international collaboration, co-led by Aotearoa New Zealand. During its first season this summer, the team set up camp close to the grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf, where the world's largest slab of floating ice is at its thickest. Below more than 580 metres of ice, only about 50 metres of ocean separate the bottom of the ice from the ocean floor.
The team used hot water to thaw a hole through the ice to reach the seafloor where layers of mud and rock have been accumulating for millennia, building up one of Earth's memory banks of environmental conditions at the time they were deposited.
Saving the world's largest ice shelf
The SWAIS2C team successfully retrieved the longest sediment core ever extracted from the remote Siple Coast, which holds clues about the ice sheet's more recent past. Next season, the team hopes to drill deeper and further back in time to the last interglacial period, some 125,000 years ago, when Earth was around 1.5°C warmer than pre-industrial temperatures - similar to the warming we are approaching now.
The goal is to track whether the grounding line of the Ross Ice Shelf retreated or advanced during this and even earlier periods of natural warming, and what that tells us about the risk of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet breaking up partly, or even completely, in the future.
If the floating Ross Ice Shelf were to melt, it would have no impact on sea levels. But the ice shelf acts as a buttress, holding the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in place. If the shelf goes, the ice sheet would likely follow - and the consequence could be 3-5 metres of sea level rise. …
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Wed, 07 Feb 2024 - 28min - 1896 - The 'science shed' across the ditch
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.
Travel to Australia for reporting on this story was supported by the New Zealand Synchrotron Group Ltd.
Guests:
Dr Emily Finch, Australian SynchrotronDr Helen Brand, Australian SynchrotronDr Rosie Young, Australian SynchrotronBen Krinkel, University of AucklandShayhan Chunkath, University of AucklandLearn more:
Read the article that accompanies this episode - The 'science donut' across the ditchPhysicist Suzie Sheehy spoke to Nine to Noon about synchrotrons as part of the conversation about the 12 physics experiments that changed our world.For more on the Australian Synchrotron, you can visit their website, read this piece on The Conversation, or learn about the New Zealand Synchrotron group.Jamie Morton of the NZ Herald wrote a piece about the New Zealand research aimed at the life on Mars question.The scientific report about the Degas painting is available here. While the writing is quite technical, the images are pretty neat. One of the synchrotron scientists wrote this piece for The Conversation that’s an easier read.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 04 Sep 2024 - 28min - 1895 - Our Changing World for 22 April 2021
In this week's retrospective, Alison Ballance revisits an ocean acidification special feature called The Acid Test.
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Thu, 22 Apr 2021 - 31min - 1893 - Genomics and the future of gene technology in Aotearoa
Advances in the field of genomics (the study of DNA and genomes) have meant big leaps in our ability to sequence, understand and manipulate the genomes of living things. Damian Christie explores research happening now in New Zealand in this area. Plus, with a recent announcement that the government is introducing new legislation, what’s next for the regulation of gene technologies in Aotearoa?
Guests:
Damian Christie of Aotearoa Science AgencyProfessor Emily Parker, Ferrier Institute, Victoria University of WellingtonLearn more:
Watch the What if….? video series on genomics in AotearoaListen to the recent episode of The Detail on Modifying our gene modification lawsPrevious Our Changing World episodes have investigated the future of genomic medicine in Aotearoa and the use of genome sequencing during the pandemic.Visit the gene technology regulation page on the MBIE website to learn more about the proposed regulations, and learn more about gene editing on the Royal Society webpage.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 28 Aug 2024 - 31min - 1891 - What else can we learn from wastewater
Wastewater testing became part of our daily lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, but what else can it tell us about what’s happening in our communities? From looking for illicit drugs, to monitoring alcohol consumption and health biomarkers, Claire Concannon meets scientists tapping into the rich research potential of what’s in our pee.
Read the article:
Learn more:
The Detail also did an episode on this topic in 2022, delightfully called ‘Spying on our sewage’For more about drugs and alcohol in New Zealand, watch/read/listen to Wasted and ProofOur Changing World also covered New Zealand’s world leading approach to Covid-19 sequencing during the pandemic.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science analysis and more.
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Wed, 21 Aug 2024 - 28min - 1890 - Imagining the next generation of robofish
They will look like fish, swim like fish and even sense like fish. Liz Garton meets a research team designing robofish and smart wetsuits to monitor the state of our oceans.
Learn more:
Claire Concannon checked out more of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute’s research last year in Digital twins and beating hearts.The podcast Voice of Tangaroa takes a deep dive into the state of New Zealand’s oceans.Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 14 Aug 2024 - 29min - 1889 - Our musical minds
Making and processing music is something unique to human brains, says Dr Sam Mehr. But why are we so attuned to rhythms, melodies and matching tones? Claire and Sam take a deep dive into the universal language of music, and how our minds make sense of it.
Spotify is open on Dr Sam Mehr's work computer. He's halfway through Billie Eilish's new album, which he's enjoying.
"I listen to every Billie Eilish album that comes out. I mean, she's great and it's kind of wild, why she's great to me."
It's one of his side interests, homing in on supremely popular music to figure out the secret sauce of what makes it so well-liked.
But his main research focus is the basic psychology of music - why and how our brains process music.
The psychology of an everyday thing
Think of the space that music occupies in your life. Do you listen daily? On your commute? To get pumped up in the gym? Do you hear it all around - radios, cafés, the supermarket, TikTok videos? Maybe you sing or play an instrument. But have you ever stopped to wonder... why?
"No species other than humans have something like music. Other species have vocalisations that might sound a bit like music, but they're very, very different in their functions and in their design than the human music faculty is," says Sam.
"Just the fact that we're doing it in the first place is like, wait a minute, what's that about?"
Based now at the University of Auckland, Sam's own musical background paved the way for what he researches. He played piano from a young age, saxophone at school and then went to a music conservatory to study music education at third level. It was while running classes for very young kids with their parents that he started to ponder about the psychology behind it all.
Is it a universal language?
While a highly produced Billie Eilish album might be an entertaining listen, when it comes to answering the fundamental psychological questions about how humans interact with music, Sam focuses on more basic forms of music that have been around for much longer.
Something he and collaborators have been working on for over a decade now is the Natural History of Song project - a collection of vocal music from all around the world, with recorded context for each piece of music. There are 118 recordings, divided into four categories - lullaby, love, dance, and healing songs. (You can explore the recordings in this interactive visualisation of the project.) …
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Wed, 07 Aug 2024 - 34min - 1888 - Bonus: Kākāpō update with Dr Andrew Digby
Claire Concannon and Dr Andrew Digby talk about all things kākāpō: that habitat trial and where the birds are now, the next breeding season, and Andrew's hopes for the future of this iconic manu.
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Wed, 31 Jul 2024 - 41min - 1887 - A year of mainland kākāpō
In July 2023 four male kākāpō were released into the fenced Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari - part of a new habitat trial to investigate suitable locations for the growing kākāpō population. But after a further six were introduced, the kākāpō began to wander - beyond the fence. A year on, and several escapes later, what's been learned? And what's next for kākāpō in Maungatautari?
There are plenty of night-time wanderers in New Zealand that you might expect to come across driving on back roads - rats, mice, a seemingly endless number of possums.
But it's not often that you round a corner to come face to face with a kākāpō.
Elwin's escapade
This was the surprising sight that faced Tyler James Lindsay very early one morning in January 2024.
A Cambridge local, Tyler was driving a milk tanker along Scott Road, northeast of Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari, when suddenly he saw before him a strange shape.
"Just a big green bird. Just in the middle of the road looking straight at my lights, I think it was rather confused," he says.
Luckily, Tyler is into native birds, so he was aware that kākāpō had been introduced to the fenced sanctuary six months earlier. He knew exactly what he was looking at.
The next day, Tyler's report made its way to Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari kākāpō ranger Dan Howie, who quickly began the search for the elusive Elwin.
"Such an incredible interaction that he saw this bird out there - in the middle of the road no less - which is absolutely terrifying as kākāpō ranger," says Dan.
But this was not the first time, nor the last, that Dan would feel that fear.
The habitat trial
Kākāpō numbers are growing. In 1995 there were just 51 kākāpō and the threat of losing them forever was all too real.
A decade ago, around the time that Dr Andrew Digby joined the Kākāpō Recovery team, there were just over 120 kākāpō. Today there are 247.
Intensive management and three quite successful breeding seasons have enabled this doubling of kākāpō numbers in the last 10 years. Initially, the challenge was to save the charismatic, flightless parrots from extinction. Now, the team also has an added challenge: where to put them.
To date, the majority of kākāpō have lived on offshore predator-free islands in the rohe of Ngāi Tahu - Whenua Hou / Codfish Island next to Rakiura / Stewart Island, and Pukenui / Anchor Island in Fiordland. But these islands are getting full. …
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Wed, 31 Jul 2024 - 28min - 1885 - A voyage of deep-sea discoveries
An expedition to the Bounty Trough off the Otago Coast uncovers a treasure trove of deep-sea creatures - including some species new to science. Veronika Meduna meets slimy fish, snails, and tiny shrimp-like critters from the ocean depths.
The Bounty Trough is one of the world's least explored deep-ocean ecosystems.
Earlier this year, an expedition set off to explore this deep underwater rift valley off the Otago coast as part of the international Ocean Census project, under the umbrella of the United Nations Ocean Decade.
In partnership with Te Papa and NIWA, the voyage aimed to fill gaps in our knowledge of what lives in the deep.
Hundreds of new species discovered
Onboard the research vessel RV Tangaroa were different sets of traps and samplers as well as a deep-tow camera system to allow the scientists to watch what goes on at depths of up to 5,000 metres. The expeditioners returned with hours of video footage and 1,800 specimens. Hundreds of them are new to science - including a slender, slimy bottom-dwelling fish known as an eelpout.
The number of new fish species may be countable on one hand, but Dr Rachael Peart expects to identify several new small crustaceans known as amphipods and isopods. They look a bit like tiny shrimp and dominate life in the deep ocean.
Te Papa mollusc curator Kerry Walton has already identified 78 new species of snails and mussels from the Bounty Trough, including a parasitic snail stuck to a gummy squirrel - a weird sea cucumber with a large sail-like extension.
Te Papa fish curator Andrew Stewart says the museum's collection is limited to shallower depths of about 1,200 metres and mostly commercial species. Being able to explore the Bounty Trough opened up a treasure trove of sightings and catches from the deep.
It also brought home the importance of ocean life.
"This is the world's largest habitat, by a vast margin. It plays a massively important role," he says. "We really need to know what's down there because shifts down there are the canary in the coal mine. We lose those, we're in trouble. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but we're in trouble."
Why explore the deep sea?
Professor Alex Rogers, the science director of the Ocean Census programme, says there are many reasons why we need to know what lives in the deep.
About half of the oxygen we breathe is produced by tiny plants that live in the ocean. They also kick off the marine food web - from microorganisms to fish - which ultimately feeds millions of people. …
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Wed, 24 Jul 2024 - 32min - 1884 - Turning food waste into wealth
Avocado seed powder to make snacks, fish waste skin for wound healing, and bioactive compounds made from brewer's spent grain - Claire Concannon visits a food lab at AUT turning food waste into wealth.
Food is usually a no-no in a science lab, but this lab at the Auckland University of Technology is different.
One fridge is labelled 'beer research'. There's a drawer full of stick blenders, and a coffee machine.
"Well, it is a food lab," says senior lecturer Dr Rothman Kam. "It would be quite sad if you do experiments and were not able to eat the food that you make."
Food scraps to snacks
Rothman and his food science lab group are interested in turning food waste into high value products (a process called 'food waste valorisation').
For example, tonnes of avocado seeds are a waste product of making avocado oil. Rothman and his team have set their sights on transforming seeds into snacks.
They've worked out a method of blending the seeds and processing them to make them fit for human consumption, resulting in an avocado seed powder.
This powder can then be added to breads or biscuits, or used with other grains to make puffy snacks.
Arti-fish-al skin for wound healing
A second project, led by PhD candidate Edward Quach, is investigating the use of fish waste products to create artificial skin. This skin can be loaded with drugs to help burn victims heal faster.
While the method of using fish gelatine in this way isn't new, Edward is trying a novel technique that bypasses the need to extract the gelatine, and instead goes straight from the freeze-dried ground-up fish waste to the jelly-like skin.
A second life for spent grain
The lab's 'beer research' focuses not on the alcoholic drink, but on the spent grain generated in the beer brewing process.
PhD candidate Ha Minh Quoc uses a freeze-drier to remove any moisture from the brewer's spent grain. Once he has dried out the grains, and ground them to a powder, he adds bacteria in. The bacteria (and the enzymes they contain) chop up proteins found in the grain, producing molecules with bioactive properties.
These bioactive molecules are small bits of protein (peptides) that can carry out many different important functions in our cells. For example, bioactive peptides might help fight off germs, reduce high blood pressure, lower blood fats, act as antioxidants, or help ward off obesity, diabetes or ageing. …
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Wed, 17 Jul 2024 - 25min - 1882 - Looking to the future for a low-lying wetland
Climate-change-induced sea level rise is happening. What will this mean for our low-lying wetlands? Will they get eroded away - releasing more carbon? Or will they grow at the same rate, and hold their ground? And what will this mean for the critters that live there? A team are investigating at an Otago wetland that might be the first in New Zealand to make this change.
From Lake Waihola, not far south of Ōtepoti Dunedin, fingers of water run down the plains, converging with the Waipori river coming from Lake Waipori.
Dr Chris Kavazos, a freshwater technical advisor for the Department of Conservation, stands in one of these fingers. Waders on, he rummages in the muddy bottom for a logging device that has sat there for the last four months.
Tracking the change
In that time, the device has been taking measurements of pressure and conductivity every ten minutes. From here, the water will complete its journey by joining the Waipori River, which connects with the Taiari (Taieri) river, and then empties into the ocean ten kilometres away.
But it's not just a one-way trip.
The area is extremely low-lying, just centimetres above sea level. Despite the distance from the coast, these waters experience tidal changes, and influxes of sea water. By measuring tiny pressure changes that equate to water depth, plus a conductivity reading that gives an indication of salinity, these logging devices are tracking the impacts of rising tides on these inland wetland areas.
As sea levels rise - a result of human-induced climate change - these wetlands might be the first in New Zealand to experience significant impacts. Chris and others are keen to understand what it might mean for the area, and its inhabitants.
The Waipori-Waihola wetland complex
From a map the approximately 2,500-hectare Waipori-Waihola wetland complex is easy to spot.
Two lakes mark the north and south boundaries. The darker patches of lagoons, pools, swampy areas and meandering channels that connect them are easy to distinguish from the bright green rectangles of cultivated land that form the borders.
And off a gravel road on the inland side of the wetland complex is a small collection of buildings – an office, accommodation, equipment sheds and a native plant nursery – this is the working space of Te Nohoaka o Tukiauau Trust…
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Wed, 10 Jul 2024 - 28min - 1880 - The world through squid eyes
We might think deep-sea squid look a bit strange, but if they have the capacity for it, they would likely consider us monsters! Claire speaks to a squidologist and a PhD candidate about their research trying to understand more about the lives of deep-sea squid.
When you picture where creatures live on Earth, what do you see?
A tropical jungle? A highland pasture? An inland lake? Maybe a rocky seashore?
All of it combined - ecosystems on land, plus shallow coasts - makes up just 5% of the liveable space on our planet.
Instead, maybe you should be picturing somewhere dark, cold, and under hundreds of metres of water.
The deep-sea world
"If aliens would come to planet Earth and sample the habitats here to find out what our biodiversity is like, they could conceivably have to sample 95 times before they would find a habitat that was not deep sea," says Associate Professor Kat Bolstad from Auckland University of Technology.
This is why scientists are still finding new species of deep-sea squid.
When Kat says deep-sea, she means the part of the ocean below the sunlight ("photic") zone, where photosynthesis can take place. But even without sunlight, there are plenty of creatures down there making their own light though bioluminescence.
It's a very different world to our up-top, dry-air, UV-intense spaces, which makes it tricky for us to visit and study. You can lower submarines or equipment down there. But squid are alert to anything strange in their environment and tend to make themselves scarce.
Kat does make use of such exploration methods and has even been down to depths of 1,000 metres in a bubble submarine in the Antarctic herself. But to unravel the secret lives of squid, she also relies on other avenues. Like "squid Christmas".
'It's the most wonderful time of the year'
Every year, Kat and some of her research team travel to Wellington for "squid Christmas" - a clean out of NIWA's freezers that sometimes yields "presents" in the form of "squidsicles" - frozen squid specimens.
It's always a time of excitement.
"Anytime you look at samples from the deep sea, there's a reasonable chance that you will see something that no human has ever seen before," says Kat.
As well as NIWA, Kat collaborates closely with Te Papa and Auckland Museum, who also have marine collections filled with deep-sea treasures collected by research vessels on fishing surveys, biodiversity sampling, or discovery expeditions.
Focusing on squid eyes…
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Wed, 03 Jul 2024 - 27min - 1879 - The annual snowline survey
Jump onboard an alpine flight to photograph some glaciers! The annual snowline survey has been running since 1977, but today new techniques are allowing researchers to go beyond 2D photos to make 3D models of the glaciers. Claire Concannon joins the team for a long day of flying and photographing.
It's a bright blue morning in Queenstown. Summer has been and gone, and the first hints of autumn are starting to appear. Leaves turning, a sharpness in the mornings, the first overnight frosts.
And as this shift begins, it's also time for another annual event - the end of summer snowline survey flight to monitor New Zealand's glaciers.
How to build a glacier
A glacier forms when snow builds up over time, turns to ice and then begins to flow downwards under the pressure of its own weight. For this to happen, you need snow accumulating.
The snowline is an imaginary line that traces along mountain slopes and marks the lower limit of permanent snow cover. Below this line, snow and ice melt away, above it, snow sticks around.
At the change of seasons, snow below this line from the previous winter will have melted, and if you time it right, and no new snow has fallen, you can fly a plane past a glacier and photograph the end-of-summer snowline. By repeating this each year, researchers can track changes happening to our glaciers over time.
'Trev used to run on excitement and liquorice'
The survey began in 1977. Back then, it was designed and led by a scientist called Trevor Chinn. After completing an inventory of all New Zealand's glaciers, and coming up with a total of more than 3100, Trevor realised that it just wasn't practical to monitor every individual glacier.
Instead, he developed a list of 51 'index' glaciers that would be surveyed each year. Using aerial photographs that showed the end of summer snowline height, they would be able to estimate ice volumes of the glaciers year-on-year - and keep an eye on changes.
Though the survey baton was passed on to Dr Drew Lorrey of NIWA in 2009, Chinn continued to go on the annual flights until his passing in 2018. As a nod to him, there's still a bag of liquorice opened and passed around on each flight.
"Trev used to run on excitement and liquorice," says Lorrey . "There's a really rich legacy that we've got to do justice to, in terms of carrying on, but also making sure that the science grows and that it actually is applied with a purpose." …
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Wed, 26 Jun 2024 - 30min - 1878 - Introducing: Turning The Tide
A new six-part video series highlights the state of our oceans, and efforts from researchers, Māori and other partners to develop sustainable solutions.
Check out this new series of short video documentaries, Turning The Tide.
Across six episodes, Turning The Tide shows what's happening beneath the ocean surface, and highlights mahi across the motu to restore marine ecosystems.
We hear firsthand from researchers, iwi, hapū, community leaders and others who are coming together to devise sustainable solutions for the sea, and ensure healthy and resilient oceans for generations to come.
From kina barrens to restoring mussel beds to engaging rangatahi, Turning The Tide traverses a raft of fascinating marine stories that will take you deeper into our oceans.
Watch Turning The Tide on the RNZ website, RNZ Facebook page, or the RNZ YouTube channel.
Turning The Tide was made by Tauihu Media and funded by the Sustainable Seas National Science Challenge.
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Mon, 24 Jun 2024 - 00min - 1877 - Targeting bacteria, and health inequities
Māori and Pacific peoples are three to six times more likely to develop stomach cancer than New Zealanders with European ancestry. Claire Concannon visits a research team taking aim at this disparity.
Dr Tom Mules wears two hats. He's a researcher at the Malaghan Institute for Medical Research, but he's also a gastroenterologist at Hutt Valley hospital. It's there that he meets patients suffering from stomach cancer.
"It's a horrible disease. A large number of people are diagnosed when the treatment options are limited, when it's too late for surgery," he says.
This is what has motivated him to take on his latest research challenge - one that he hopes will reduce stomach cancer rates and disparities in Aotearoa.
What's a bacterium got to do with stomach cancer?
Worldwide, stomach cancer was responsible for more than 660,000 deaths in 2022. In Aotearoa New Zealand it’s the eighth leading cause of cancer death for men. But when you look into the data, the picture gets more complicated. Māori and Pacific peoples are three to six times more likely to develop stomach cancer, and chances of survival are worse.
There are some well-established risk factors for stomach cancer, and one of these is infection with the stomach bacterium Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori). Many people around the world are infected with H. pylori, between 40–50% of the global population, and a lot of people are asymptomatic. However, in some people H. pylori can cause inflammation of the stomach lining, and, if left untreated, this can lead to tissue damage, ulcers, and eventually, for some people, stomach cancer.
As Tom explains, we don’t have up-to-date data on the rates of infection of H. pylori in New Zealand, the best information we have comes from a small South Auckland study from over a decade ago.
Looking at just shy of 600 people, the researchers found that around 30% of Māori and Pasifika had H. pylori infection, while for New Zealand Europeans it was just under 8%.
A team at the University of Otago is currently running a study to find out how common H. pylori is in New Zealand, so that we have better numbers.
The rise of resistance
Of course, because it is a bacterium, we can target it with antibiotics. The current strategy in New Zealand is a kind of scattergun attack: patients diagnosed with an infection will be given a mixture of three antibiotics to take. …
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Wed, 19 Jun 2024 - 28min - 1876 - Drones for pest control
Aotearoa is a country plagued by pests, but conservationists are hoping advances in drone technology could turn the tables. Producer William Ray looks at how drones are being trialled in controlling everything from microscopic diseases to elusive wallabies, and wilding pine trees.
A ghostly grey image appears on the laptop screen. "You see these deer?" asks Jordan Munn, pointing at a corner off the screen where a pair of animals are highlighted in bright white.
"I have directed a hunter to these deer. He's actually just shot this one, this deer to the right, and it's about to fall over," he says.
The brilliant silhouette of the first deer tumbles to the ground, the second follows a few moments afterwards.
Hunting with heat
Jordan is professional hunter and owns a company called Trap and Trigger based in Upper Hutt. The company has contracts with several regional councils for eliminating everything from deer to wallabies to wilding pines
And Jordan says there's a new technology revolutionising the industry - small commercially available UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles), or as they are more often called: drones.
"We're becoming more and more reliant on them," Jordan says. "It's amazing how the pest control industry has reshaped in the last decade. Ten years ago, basically non-existent."
When mounted on a drone, the thermal vision of an infrared camera makes warm-blooded deer, wallabies and other mammalian pest species stick out like a sore thumb - even when the animal is mostly obscured by scrub.
A decade ago, Jordan says, even a thermal imaging camera or scope was beyond the budget of most commercial hunters. But costs have come down radically over the past decades, and they are still dropping.
"Within a few years, every contractor will have a thermal handheld camera and a thermal scope and a thermal drone. And if you don't have one of those or all of those, you're lagging behind," Jordan says.
It all seems very science fiction, and Jordan speculates it could be possible to use drone technology to remove the hunter from the equation entirely.
"We haven't yet got guns on them," Jordan says. "But if we could legally use a firearm from a drone safely.... It would work. It would work very well. But there will be a few issues, social issues and legal issues to get to that point."
While weaponised drones aren't likely to arrive in New Zealand any time soon, Otago Regional Council is already experimenting with fully autonomous drones for a different type of pest.
Tree terminators…
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Wed, 12 Jun 2024 - 25min - 1875 - Inside Auckland's lava caves
Caves created by rivers of lava underlie New Zealand's biggest city. A new research project is documenting Auckland's lava caves, hoping to protect this hidden geological heritage and understand what future eruptions might have in store.
Known for its iconic maunga like Rangitoto and Maungawhau Mt Eden, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland is a city built on an active volcanic field that has erupted at least 53 times.
But beneath streets, houses and parks, there are other - hidden - remnants of the city's fiery past: hundreds of lava caves.
The backyard cave
Lava caves form when hot flowing lava meets air and crusts over, creating a tunnel. Eventually the lava drains away, leaving behind a cavity.
Formed as far back as 200,000 years ago and as recently as 550 years ago (when Rangitoto erupted), lava caves in Auckland range from small cracks to lengthy tunnels. The longest, located in Wiri, stretches to 290 metres.
The lava cave in Sean Jacob's Mt Eden backyard is about 100 metres long. "For something that's so quiet and so peaceful when you're down here, it was sort of created by so much violence," he says.
The Jacob family bought the property in 2008 - in part so the cave would be protected, unlike many others across the city which have been destroyed or infilled with concrete in years gone by.
The speleologist
Peter Crossley is perhaps the only person who went inside some of those caves that no longer exist. A speleologist, Peter has spent 50 years documenting Auckland's lava caves.
"Some people would say that they're muddy, grotty, dark, infested with rats and all the rest of it. But when you look at it, you realise: it's a tunnel which has been filled with lava, almost yellow in heat, that could frazzle you in a microsecond," he says.
Over the decades, Peter has seen surveying methods advance from compasses to state-of-the-art 3D scanning, giving scientists unprecedented detail and valuable insights into past eruptions.
Now he's passed on his knowledge of 180 lava caves to a new research effort.
A new lava cave every month
Jaxon Ingold, a master's student at the University of Auckland, is collating everything we know about Auckland's lava caves - drawing on Peter's records, historical sources, and mātauranga Māori - so this geological heritage can be better protected and respected.
"What I'm currently working on is: is it possible to predict where as-yet undiscovered lava caves may be located? So that we can be more careful in those areas," says Jaxon. …
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Wed, 05 Jun 2024 - 26min - 1874 - The race to save Papua New Guinea's frogs
A deadly frog fungus has decimated frog populations around the world, but frog biodiversity hotspot Papua New Guinea remains untouched - for now. In this episode of ABC podcast Pacific Scientific, James Purtill discovers the amphibian treasures of the world's largest tropical island, and what conservationists are doing to protect them.
Frog populations around the world have been decimated by a deadly fungus. But one place that has remained unaffected - so far - is Papua New Guinea.
It's home to the world's most diverse array of tropical frogs, including many species unknown to science. Conservationists are racing to safeguard these amphibian treasures before the fungus inevitably reaches Papua New Guinea.
The frog-killing fungus
The deadly fungal pathogen, called chytrid fungus, has swept around the world in recent years, causing mass mortality in some frog species and populations.
Chytrid fungus has been detected in New Zealand in both introduced and native frogs. It might be one factor behind the decline of the endangered Archey's frog, but its impact here is still not well understood.
When the worldwide chytrid epidemic began to accelerate in 2015, Yolarnie Amepou from the Piku Biodiversity Network in Papua New Guinea joined a search for the fungus. No evidence of chytrid was found, but scientists believe it's just a matter of time before the pathogen arrives on the world's largest tropical island.
A frog paradise
Papua New Guinea is home to rare and unique species, with many still unknown to science. In this episode from the ABC podcast Pacific Scientific, reporter James Purtill joins Yolarnie and her friend Heather for a frog hunt in the jungle near the capital city, Port Moresby.
James also checks out a captive frog facility where conservationists are raising an insurance population for if - or when - chytrid fungus hits.
Pacific Scientific is a podcast series covering science and scientists from across the Pacific. It is a co-production between ABC Science and Radio Australia. This episode was reported by James Purtill and produced by Tamara Cranswick.
James spoke to Yolarnie Amepou, director of the Piku Biodiversity Network, and Ryan Reuma, wildlife officer at the Port Moresby Nature Park.
The series producer is Jordan Fennell and executive producer is Will Ockenden. Jonathan Webb is the ABC science editor.…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 29 May 2024 - 28min - 1873 - How much of our extreme weather is due to climate change?
This week, Phil Vine dives into the science of climate attribution. How much is climate change affecting extreme weather events? And how can this new science prepare us for the future?
For a long time when asked this question, climate scientists simply shook their heads.
They had been telling people that global warming was making many storms, floods, and weather events worse - but when asked: "by how much?" - they didn't have an answer.
Then one day Oxford University physics professor, Myles Allen, experienced one of those extreme weather events.
As the River Thames flooded and threatened to pour water through his kitchen door, on the radio the Met Office was saying it was impossible to accurately link the event with climate change. He said to himself: "we need to do better than that".
Famously, rather than search out sandbags to keep the floodwaters at bay, he sat down and wrote a journal article - making that connection between global warming and specific weather events.
And a branch of science was born: extreme event attribution studies, or climate attribution for short.
In Aotearoa, there's a whole gang of scientists from different institutions carrying out world-leading research in this new field.
2023: the year of storms
Few in the upper North Island will forget the beginning of 2023.
The Auckland Anniversary Floods arrived at the end of January. Four people dead. Seven thousand homes damaged.
Less than two weeks later came Cyclone Gabrielle. Eleven people killed. A staggering 850,000 landslides.
After Cyclone Gabrielle, Dr Luke Harrington from the University of Waikato and an international team from the World Weather Attribution project worked round the clock on rainfall data and climate models.
They were endeavouring to find out if, and how, climate change had affected the devastating tropical cyclone.
And they broke with scientific tradition. Rather than wait and publish a paper in a year's time, they sought to get a report out while Cyclone Gabrielle was still in the news.
"If it's 12 to 18 months after the event happened, the public doesn't really care," says Luke.
The project team worked out that 10-15 per cent more rain fell because of global warming.
"It demonstrates that climate change isn't a future problem. It is not something that you are going to see play out in 50 years' time, it's already playing out now," Luke says.
The cost of climate damage…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 22 May 2024 - 24min - 1872 - Fungal foray-ing and the search for new antibiotics
Could the answer to one of our most pressing health needs be hiding in Aotearoa's bush? On Our Changing World this week, Liz Garton heads out on a foray to discover some of our fungal gems, and she finds out what we're doing to uncover their potential antibiotic properties.
Could the answer to the global problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria be in our backyard?
It's a question being given serious time and consideration by Dr Siouxsie Wiles and Dr Bevan Weir, with help from fungi enthusiasts around Aotearoa.
The problem
The World Health Organization describes antimicrobial resistance as one of the top global public health threats, responsible for an estimated 1.27 million deaths in 2019.
"Life is always fighting, so bacteria will find a way to fight against antibiotics," says Dr Bevan Weir, head of Mycology and Bacteriology Systematics Research at Manaaki Whenua / Landcare Research. "They'll evolve chemistry to cut the molecule and render it inactive or other forms of resistance - they can change their cell walls and pump out the antibiotic more."
"They're always finding a way to evolve around antibiotics, so we do need to find more," he says.
The foray
On a cool but sunny autumn morning in May 2023, Liz Garton joined The Fungal Network of New Zealand's annual foray at Maungatautari Sanctuary Mountain. The 2024 fungal foray is taking place now, from 12-18 May in Havelock.
Each year the foray is held in autumn when the fungi fruits, and it can be spotted.
Each fungus begins as a miniscule spore. From that grows the mycelium, a network of fungal strands, like string, and from those you get the fruiting body. The fruiting body is the bit we see sprouting out of the ground, or whatever the organism is growing on - what we call a mushroom.
Bevan says one of the main reasons for the foray is to take samples for the national culture collection (which he curates) and to try identify and describe what is found.
"That's one of the big questions we don't know; what fungi is native and what are not," he says. "We have probably only described or identified about a third of the fungal biodiversity in New Zealand."
With that unidentified diversity comes diversity of chemistry too. A fungus growing on a piece of wood needs to defend itself and compete with bacteria.
"So it will be producing an antibacterial to kill that bacteria and we might be able to discover what that is and use it for us in a medical context," says Bevan.
The (possible) solution
This brings us to the work Bevan is doing with microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles at the University of Auckland…
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details
Wed, 15 May 2024 - 26min
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