It’s been almost 30 years since a team joined forces to investigate a particularly aggressive form of stomach cancer that was afflicting one Tauranga whānau. Kimi Hauora Health and Research Clinic in Tauranga and University of Otago geneticists together found the cancer-causing genetic change, helping save thousands of lives worldwide. Justine Murray is at Mangatawa Marae with Maybelle McLeod and Erin Gardiner to reflect on that time, and Professor Parry Guilford discusses those first formative years.

This week, we’re hanging out in the terahertz area of the light spectrum. Sandwiched between infrared light and microwaves, terahertz has been the long-forgotten cousin of the light family. But no longer! At the Australian Synchrotron, intense and focused beams of terahertz light are used to test new materials for carbon capture, clean energy applications, and the next generation of computing.

Electrons! High speeds! Intense beams of light! Claire Concannon takes a tour of our nearest particle accelerator - the Australian synchrotron in Melbourne. Designed to create high-energy x-ray light useful for science, the synchrotron enables an incredible diversity of research. And, because of long-standing funding support, New Zealand scientists can also use it. Claire finds out what interesting research questions some visiting New Zealanders are shining a light on.

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 regulation of gene technologies in Aotearoa?

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.

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. 

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.  

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.  

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?  

It's been one year since kakapo returned to mainland Aotearoa at the fenced Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari. Claire Concannon finds out what mischief they've been up to, and what's next for the iconic parrot.

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. 

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.  

Claire Concannon heads along to the food technology lab at the Auckland University of Technology to speak with one researcher who is aiming to turn food waste into wealth.

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.   

Claire Concannon visits an Otago wetland to meet those investigating its future as sea levels rise.

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.

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.   

A new six-part video series highlights the state of our oceans, and efforts from researchers, Māori and other partners to develop sustainable solutions.

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.

Aotearoa is a country plagued by pests, but conservationists are hoping advances in drone technology could turn the table. Producer William Ray looks at how drones are being trialled in controlling everything from microscopic diseases to elusive wallabies, and wilding pine trees. 

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. 

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.

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? 

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.

A multi-year research project aims to find out the risks from two Bay of Plenty offshore island volcanoes: Tūhua / Mayor Island and Whakaari / White Island

Meet two winners of the 2023 Prime Ministers Science Prizes. In the wake of the 2019 Whakaari eruption, Professor Ben Kennedy engaged communities with the science of volcano hazards – mahi that earns him the 2023 Science Communication Prize. Meanwhile, Future Scientist prizewinner 17-year-old Sunny Perry has developed a helpful soil map.  

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?  

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.

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?

Kuaka bar-tailed godwits make the longest non-stop flights, and researchers are using hi-tech tags to solve the mystery of how and when they sleep. 

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. 

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.  

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.

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.

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. 

A group of young New Zealanders and two meteorologists travel to South Georgia Island in the southern Atlantic Ocean to collect weather observations – continuing the scientific legacy of early Antarctic explorers like Shackleton.

An ambitious project to rid the remote Antipodes Island of introduced mice proved successful in 2018. Claire Concannon visits the spectacular subantarctic island to meet the locals – from penguins to megaherbs – and the people studying the wildlife. Plus, we learn about what's at stake in the next island eradication challenge for New Zealand.

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.

Allergenic pollen is a big trigger for New Zealand’s high rates of hay fever and asthma. But for 35 years, we’ve had no current data on pollen levels. Until now. Justin Gregory talks to a team who want to change that.

Giant kelp is disappearing from Wellington Harbour. Love Rimurimu is aiming to restore lush underwater kelp forests with an ambitious and collaborative replanting effort. Claire Concannon dives in to the wonderful world of seaweeds.

In the final instalment of the summer science series, science communication students tackle two controversial topics: medicinal cannabis, and AI consciousness.

Should we intervene to prevent hybridisation between an endangered species and its common relative? In this week's summer science episode, two students from the Department of Science Communication at the University of Otago tell stories of science controversy: the conservation conundrum of hybrids, and the relationship between western science and mātauranga Māori.

Kākā numbers are skyrocketing in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington thanks to conservation efforts. The summer science series continues with a walk through Zealandia to find out why you shouldn't feed these inquisitive parrots.

The summer science fun continues with an episode from RNZ podcast Voices. Meet Gaia Dell-Arriccia, a scientist originally from the south of France who studies the seabirds that live around Auckland's coastlines.

The summer science series kicks off with an episode from award-winning podcast Black Sheep, about a backyard inventor called Victor Penny who sparked sensational headlines about death ray inventions in 1935.

This week on Our Changing World RNZ podcast producer, and occasional dinosaur correspondent William Ray visits Ngā Taniwha o Rūpapa Dinosaurs of Patagonia, a special exhibit at Te Papa Museum to discover the surprising link between the giant dinosaurs of Patagonia, and prehistoric New Zealand.

Off the coast of New Zealand, deep underwater, the seafloor shifts in landslides and slow-motion earthquakes. Claire Concannon meets two researchers investigating geological phenomena that could pose a tsunami risk to Aotearoa New Zealand.

Go behind the scenes at the National Geohazard Monitoring Centre, where a team of analysts are on alert 24/7 for earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis and landslides. What happens when a natural disaster strikes?

Mohua are bright yellow forest birds – but despite their eye-catching plumage, they can be tricky to spot flitting high in the forest canopy. Claire Concannon visits the Makarora mohua population, where a team of conservationists and scientists are testing acoustic machine learning to identify individual birds.

Varroa mite parasites cause major problems for honey bees – and beekeepers. Now, New Zealand researchers are investigating a new type of RNA-based treatment that could make treating varroa mite infestations easier, as well as better for the bees and the environment.

New video series: A turning point in the fight to preserve Aotearoa's natural environment.

Claire Concannon meets GERALDINE, the Gigantic and Extremely Radical Atmosphere-Lacking Device for Interesting and Novel Experimentation. Plus, a team of scientists and engineers designing plasma rocket thrusters for space travel with super-conducting magnets.

A Moriori musician, an ethnomusicologist and the Hokotehi Moriori Trust are part of a team helping to revitalise Moriori culture with 3D-printed replicas of traditional bone flutes from Rēkohu the Chatham Islands. Claire Concannon finds out more about the Moriori, music and manawa project.

In the last week, Hurricane Otis hit southern Mexico with little warning, and Cyclone Lola set a record for the earliest category five cyclone in the southern hemisphere. Climate change is making work tricky for weather forecasters. What might be in store for our upcoming El Niño summer? 

Could your burger one day come with a plankton patty? Alison Ballance visits the Cawthron Institute's collection of more than 750 different strains of microalgae, where scientists are investigating these teeny organisms for new food ingredients and powerful painkillers.

In the ever-shifting streams and channels of a braided river, creatures must adapt to change. Claire Concannon joins a researcher on the spectacular Cass River near Tekapo for a spot of electrofishing and bird counting – part of a project seeking to understand this complex ecosystem and the threats it faces.

Giant penguins weighing up to 150 kilograms once roamed the waters around New Zealand. Claire Concannon speaks to a palaeontologist and learns about penguin evolution, extinct species that dwarfed today's emperors, and why Aotearoa is such a great place to study these birds that 'fly' through the water. 

What happens to our muscles as we age? Claire Concannon finds out why muscles get weaker as we get older, and speaks with a researcher investigating why Olympic athletes live up to three years longer than the general population. Claire also meets a scientist studying what happens to muscles in children with cerebral palsy, seeking clues that could help.

The southern New Zealand dotterel is a true underdog of the bird world, with just 126 individuals at last population estimate. Claire Concannon tags along with a team of researchers attaching trackers to the birds. Their mission is to figure out where the dotterels go to breed, so these "plump little tomatoes" can be protected from introduced predators.

Broccoli and chocolate. Prawns and vanilla. According to food pairing theory, these culinary matches should go together as well as macaroni and cheese, or peanut butter and jam. But do they really? Senior producer Justin Gregory meets two researchers digging into the sensory science of food.

The Great Ireland vs. New Zealand Bird-off returns for part 2 to decide once and for all which island nation boasts the best birds. Our avian aficionados return to argue their case in front of judge Claire Concannon. Who will fly to victory? Listen to find out – plus learn about the crazy life cycle of the cuckoo and the weird feathers of the kiwi, among many fascinating facts and tales from the world of birds.

Welcome to the great Ireland vs New Zealand bird-off. Two islands, a world apart – but which country has the better birds? Two bird nerds champion their nation's birds across four categories in an avian battle for the ages, with Claire Concannon judging the best of the feathered best. Which country will emerge victorious? Listen to find out.

We’ve probably all experienced a little bit of tinnitus, or ringing in the ears, at some stage in our lives. But for some people this phantom sound in their brain can be loud, and permanent, and completely debilitating. Claire Concannon speaks to a group of scientists at the University of Auckland who've been researching ways to help for years, and have developed a digital therapy with promising trial results.

Dr Kate Thomas has exercise on the brain. As an exercise physiologist, she researches how exercise and fasting can change the energy sources our brain uses. And as an ultramarathon runner, she chases that runner's high on gruelling mountain races. 

How can swaying buildings help diagnose breast cancer? Katy Gosset meets a team of engineers taking inspiration from earthquake engineering to design a new, cost-effective device to help detect breast cancer. Listen to find out how the device works, and how it could help more women get tested sooner.

This year marks the 75th anniversary of the rediscovery of the takahē. Claire Concannon sits down with former Our Changing World presenter and takahē superfan Alison Ballance to chat about her new book, Takahē: Bird of Dreams. Plus, we replay Alison's 2018 episode marking the 70th anniversary of the momentous rediscovery, and discuss what's happened in takahē conservation since.

Every year, tens to hundreds of seabirds fall out of the sky across Auckland city. Disoriented by the bright lights, Cook's petrels crash-land and collide with buildings – but a dedicated group of volunteers hit the pavement to rescue them. Join us on 'Petrel Patrol' and go behind the scenes at a bird hospital, where squid smoothies and bath time help the seabirds find their wings again.

Are all snowflakes really unique? What makes some snow better for skiing? And what's the difference between snow and hail? Join Alison Ballance and Katy Gosset as they hit the slopes of Mt Ruapehu and discover a science wonderland of snow.

Nuclear fusion is a holy grail for researchers seeking clean energy. This week we head to the south of France with ABC science journalist Carl Smith in this episode from the Strange Frontiers series. Here, a multi-billion-dollar collaboration between several countries called ITER is trying to make industrial-scale nuclear fusion a reality. 

Tauranga-based producer Justine Murray dons some gumboots and meets some teeny-tiny cockles as she joins a team surveying the Waihi estuary. Professor Kura Paul-Burke is weaving mātauranga Māori and western science together to address questions that local iwi have about the health of the estuary, and what can be done to improve it.  

Have you ever had a catchy tune you just can't get out of your head? Most of us can imagine sounds – music, voices, environmental noise – to varying degrees. But about 1% of people can't imagine sounds at all. This lack of auditory imagery is called anauralia. Claire Concannon meets a team of researchers investigating this newly described phenomenon, and speaks to a musician who experiences anauralia.

In September 2022, two New Zealand patients became the first in the world to participate in a phase 1 clinical trial testing a new therapy for a rare neurogenetic condition called myotonic dystrophy. Claire Concannon learns about the trial, and how a new Neurogenetic Registry and Biobank covering 70 conditions is helping to connect New Zealand patients with international research.

Here in Aotearoa, it's the winter solstice: the shortest day (and longest night) of the year. We're marking the occasion with an episode celebrating the starry night sky. Podcaster Max Balloch looks up in search of stories told through constellations, and finds that light pollution is smudging out the stars for many New Zealanders. What can be done to restore our connection with the night sky?

Rats giggle. Dogs wag their tail. How do other animals express joy? You can't ask them, so researchers have to find other sneaky ways of figuring out animal emotions. Professor Ximena Nelson is studying how curious and intelligent kea, New Zealand's alpine parrots, might show positive feeling.

There's nothing like a good birthday party, especially one filled with games and fun activities. The Auckland Bioengineering Institute might have missed their 20th birthday due to Covid-19, but they were determined to throw a good ole shindig. Claire Concannon visits to find out what they've been up to for the past 20 years, and what the plan is for the next two decades.

In Aotearoa we talk a lot about mammalian predators attacking our native wildlife, but other insidious pests are quietly taking over – weedy plants. Tackling these weeds using chemical and mechanical means only gets us so far, so researchers and conservationists also look towards the plants’ natural enemies to help. Claire Concannon visits a group of Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research scientists investigating biocontrol agents to assist in the fight.

This week we're digging up the dirt on the surprising complexity of soil. From top-notch compost to dung beetles to kauri dieback, join us on a fascinating tour of the world beneath our feet with presenters at the Wild Dunedin Festival of Nature.

Claire Concannon meets the latest addition to the Zealandia ecosanctuary family - toitoi, or common bully. Zealandia CEO Dr Danielle Shanahan explains why these little fish will be an important part of the freshwater ecosystem, and what their ambitious 100 year plans are to restore the mouri or lifeforce of the entire Kaiwharawhara catchment.

Claire Concannon meets the latest addition to the Zealandia ecosanctuary family - toitoi, or common bully. Zealandia CEO Dr Danielle Shanahan explains why these little fish will be an important part of the freshwater ecosystem, and what their ambitious 100 year plans are to restore the mouri or lifeforce of the entire Kaiwharawhara catchment.

What are the risks of head injury for players of contact sports like rugby? Research is increasingly linking head knocks with neurodegenerative diseases later in life. Claire Concannon meets a research team analysing every rugby training session and match across an entire season with high-tech mouthguards.

Meet the winners of the 2022 Prime Minister's Science Prizes! We go behind the scenes with the Emerging Scientist, Science Teacher and Future Scientist winners to learn about cutting-edge research, inspiring teaching and intriguing mahi worthy of these prestigious awards. 

Tropical cyclones can cause rampant destruction, but sometimes, these wild weather systems can seed life at sea too. This week we meet a storm-chasing researcher in search of phytoplankton blooms – like one that formed in the wake of 2019 Cyclone Oma.

Grab your gumboots! Alison Ballance squelches out into Nelson's mudflats with a team of Cawthron Institute researchers in search of cryptic seagrass flowers – and their seeds. Collecting the seeds is step one in an ambitious project to restore Aotearoa's ailing seagrass meadows.

The birds are back. After a long absence, 11 kiwi have returned to the outskirts of Wellington – with a little help from some human friends. Veronika Meduna heads into the field to see how the work of the Capital Kiwi Project is paying off.

The Rotopiko peat wetlands are a haven for rare and threatened wildlife. But when a flock of introduced birds numbering in the hundreds of thousands moves in – threatening the very nature of this special place – a group of people come up with some crazy-but-genius ideas to protect the wetlands and wildlife. Claire Concannon investigates.

As mountains get warmer with our changing climate, what will happen to the iconic alpine plants that live at high altitude? Claire Concannon visits the moonscape slopes of Mt Ruapehu with a team of researchers using an experimental set-up that's part-greenhouse, part-UFO.

This week, Claire Concannon returns to the Noises Islands in the Hauraki Gulf. While conservation action on the islands has led to thriving terrestrial ecosystems, under the water, it's a very different story. Listen to learn how the marine environment has declined around the Noises, and what might be done to reverse it.

The Noises are a conservation success story in the Hauraki Gulf. Claire Concannon joins a team surveying the wētāpunga, seabirds, and other flora and fauna that now thrive on these predator-free islands.

We all get some – but are you getting enough? Claire Concannon investigates the science of sleep and meets a pilot-turned-sleep-researcher helping the aviation industry ensure crew on long-haul flights get some shut-eye.

New Zealand's native long-tailed bat, pekapeka-tou-roa, is going strong in Franklin, south of Auckland. But these tiny mammals are threatened by introduced predators, especially cats. Producer Liz Garton goes on a bat hunt and learns about locals' efforts to keep their pekapeka neighbours safe.

Not everything goes to plan on research trips. And when the trip is to a remote island aboard a navy ship designed to help with disaster relief, and happens to overlap with one of the worst weather disasters in New Zealand... well, things are going to change. Claire Concannon tells the story of Operation Endurance 2023 on Campbell Island.

This week we're travelling back in time 66 million years ago with producer William Ray, to a time when dinosaurs roamed. Join William as he meets two Tyrannosaurus rex fossils at the Auckland Museum and uncovers the story behind the bones.

They can hunt, they can fish, they build little nurseries for their babies. Oh and some of them also engage in a bit of sexual cannibalism. Claire Concannon goes on a nighttime stroll in Kirikiriroa Hamilton to meet some fascinating spiders, and learn all about the weird world of spider reproduction. 

With the Bug of the Year 2023 competition coming to the closing stages, it's not surprising that things are getting heated. In this breaking news story we learn how voting preferences have caused a rift in the Painting lab.

What do marine biologists get up to? Some Evans Bay Intermediate school students are learning all about it at the Victoria University Coastal Ecology Lab. Claire Concannon tags along to listen in, and to catch up with Professor James Bell to learn more about his research on sea sponges.

Claire Concannon investigates how luminescence and specialised materials could be key to our growing data storage needs, and visits a test site for native vertical gardens that could cloak the walls of Wellington's city buildings.

In the final instalment of our summer science series, we bring you two stories from the ocean. First we have a story on marine noise pollution from Victoria University of Wellington Centre for Science in Society student, Xanthe Smith. Then, we have an episode on pāua from RNZ podcast Voices, presented by Kadambari Raghukumar.

We continue our summer science series with an episode from RNZ’s The Aotearoa History Show. In the first episode of season two, the show burrows into the story of rabbits and other pests introduced to New Zealand.

As part of our summer science series we bring you an episode of The Otago Chronicles podcast, hosted by Max Balloch. In this episode, Max talks to Associate Professor James Scott from the University of Otago Department of Geology about looking up at the night sky and the hunt for what would’ve been New Zealand’s 10th meteorite.

Two stories about genetics produced by students at the University of Otago's Department of Science Communication. Amanda Konyn investigates whether gene editing has a role in future pest control, while Richard Marks explores why the "eat less, move more" approach to weight loss isn't really working.

MethaneSAT is the first New Zealand government funded space mission. A joint project between the United States' Environmental Defense Fund and New Zealand, the project will see a methane sensing satellite launched into orbit. Science journalist Peter Griffin finds out why and how.

The kākerōri or Rarotongan flycatcher is a South Pacific conservation success story. Once reduced to just 29 birds, it has been rescued from the brink of extinction by a rat control programme managed by the land-owners of the Takitumu Conservation Area in the Cook Islands. Alison Ballance visits to find out more.

If the future of healthcare is personalised genomics, how can we ensure that it is used to lessen inequities, rather than strengthen them? This week, Our Changing World speaks to two of the co-leaders of the Rakieora programme – a pilot to develop a New Zealand specific national database for genomic research.

Genome sequencing has become a household term during this pandemic. This week, we explore how it became an important tool in the fight against Covid-19.

Sunfish are the world's largest bony fish species – and yet scientists know little about their lives. This week, Our Changing World meets a sunfish researcher unravelling mola mysteries and dives into the weird world of sunfishes as a museum specimen is examined and prepared.

Summer is on its way, and this week we're exploring both the power and the peril of the sun. First, we visit the Ultrafast Laser Lab to learn about efforts to create better solar panels. Then, we hear about one professor's quest to teach kids about sun safety using an ultraviolet dosimeter you can wear on your wrist like a watch.

Behind the scenes at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, a "menagerie" of specimens is a treasure trove for curator Dr Matt Rayner, who is researching how the Hauraki Gulf's seabirds are faring using clues from very old feathers.

How do you drill through 600m of thick Antarctic ice? Using hot water, of course. In this episode from the 2020 series Voices from Antarctica, Alison Ballance joins researchers hoping to solve the puzzle of why a giant river of ice has stalled.

Weddell seals have returned to breed near Scott Base in Antarctica after a decades-long absence. On land, they're blubbery lumps. But underwater, they're graceful dancers and ethereal singers. A team of scientists is finding out more about the under-ice lives and habits of Weddell seals. Alison Ballance joins them in this episode from the award-winning series Voices from Antarctica.

A team of NIWA scientists eagerly awaits the return of 19 emperor penguins carrying high-tech data loggers and video cameras. What will the data captured reveal about the penguins' secret lives at sea?

Revisit the frozen continent with us in this mini rerun of the Voices from Antarctica series. This week, Alison visits Cape Crozier to meet a colony of emperor penguins – and the team of scientists studying them.

It's spectacularly spiky and delivers a painful – or even deadly – sting. Why are a team of conservationists growing and planting up Orokonui Ecosanctuary near Dunedin with more and more native tree nettle, ongaonga? It's all because of a pretty little pollinator called the kahukura, or red admiral butterfly, and its prickly preferences. Claire Concannon visits Orokonui to learn more about the ongaonga-kahukura relationship, as well as new research investigating whether these native butterflies are the victims of a sneaky ecological 'trap'.

We're saying farewell to the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (aka SOFIA) this month. The mission, which was partially based in Christchurch, wraps up after a decade of observing comets, stars, planets, and the moon. In July 2017, Alison Ballance boarded the Boeing 747 with a flying telescope for one of its research flights.

In a future that is free of fossil fuels, where will we source all the products that we get from the petroleum industry? Scientists at the forest research institute Scion think that trees might provide the solutions we need.

In a room in the Manaaki Whenua building in Auckland are rows and rows of shelves, with cardboard boxes containing an array of weird and wonderful dried fungi. Claire Concannon visits to learn how and why these specimens are kept, and finds out about its sister culture collection, which is helping in the defense against invading plant pathogens.

Alison Ballance visits the Brook Waimārama sanctuary, and discovers that the old saying “many hands make light work” is particularly true when it comes to community conservation. A relatively new fenced sanctuary, the Brook Waimārama team is now at the exciting stage of bringing native wildlife back into the area, including orange-fronted parakeets -  kākāriki karaka - and giant land snails.

Claire Concannon catches up with Dr. Taniela Lolohea of Auckland University of Technology. He is researching in the relatively new field of low temperature plasma surface coatings, and explains how it can be used to create customised surfaces for many purposes. But he is also investigating ways to encourage more Pacific students in science, including by developing projects that might be more attractive for them.

While we might have heard all we ever want to know about viruses in the last few years, the truth is, known viruses represent less than zero point one percent of the estimated total of viruses out there. Claire Concannon meets a team from the University of Otago trying to increase our knowledge of virus diversity, so that we can better understand their evolution.

Edin Whitehead inherited a love of birds from her father and became captivated by the majesty of seabirds on a trip to the Subantarctic Islands. Now a PhD student at the University of Auckland, she is trying to figure out how best to help the birds of the Hauraki Gulf, who are facing many threats, including warming waters. 

The Auckland University of Technology Living Laboratories project is all about investigating how best to grow back native forest. At Pourewa creek, this collaboration between AUT and Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei involves planting blocks with different nursery plants and measuring individual tree growth and biodiversity indicators over time. They hope to figure out the recipe to cheaper and faster regeneration of native bush.

The most extreme places in Antarctica give rise to the toughest and weirdest types of life. From creatures living a very different chemical life to ours at underwater methane seeps to the secret tools bacteria use to keep their DNA safe from the harsh conditions of the dry valleys.

The eruption of Hunga Tonga Hunga Ha‘apai in January triggered a tsunami of unprecedented proportions, impacting the entire Pacific. How did this volcanic eruption lead to a tsunami detected across the globe, including as far away as the Mediterranean? Science communicator Ellen Rykers speaks to the scientists unravelling the secrets of this rare phenomenon.

With their antler-like mandibles, Helm's stag beetles often get stuck in to one another. But they are fighting a bigger battle too - against predators and habitat loss. PhD student Luna Thomas is studying these little known endemic insects. She hopes her work will add to our sparse scientific knowledge, and maybe help some of the other native stag beetle species, some of which are critically endangered.

The New Zealand data science programme, Taiao, aims to help researchers make sense of environmental data so they can make useful predictions to guide good decisions. Claire Concannon meets the team at the University of Waikato where the programme is hosted.  And a group in the Auckland Bioengineering Institute are researching a new needle-free jet injector design that they think might lead to a happier future for those with needle phobia.

PhD student Kiamaia Ellis describes crayfish as a ‘vulnerable tāonga species’. Local iwi in Tauranga believe the crayfish population is decreasing because of urban, industrial and harvesting pressures. But Kiamaia is keen to be a part of the solution, so she’s studying the resilience of pēpi kōura / baby crayfish. She wants to understand how these tiny species – that take eight years to become an adult – are able to thrive based on a kaitiakitanga or guardianship approach.

Working with the community and local schools, the Karioi Project aims to turn the tide on biodiversity loss in their area. In recent years they've rallied around the grey-faced petrel, or ōi, who they hope to help return to the maunga.

Two stories about the promise and perils of chemistry research. From a team recreating Renaissance beauty recipes in the hopes of rediscovering a 'miracle ingredient', to a researcher investigating New Zealand's deadliest synthetic cannabinoid.

The Nevis Fault is a sleeping giant fault, one that awakens only every 10,000 years or so. This week, a team of geologists use paleoseismic trenching to answer questions about this fault and to figure out the pattern of past earthquakes.

It's Prime Minister's Science Prize time! We meet some of the people awarded the 2021 prizes for their mahi.

Researchers from the University of Waikato are tackling the tricky question of how to restore native biodiversity in our urban areas.

We join Marine Science PhD student Namrata Chand on her Autumn field work collecting seaweed samples to learn more about this 'underdog of the ocean'.  

Pūtahi Manawa / Healthy Hearts for Aotearoa has an ambitious goal - to close the inequity gaps in heart health. Researchers in this Centre of Research Excellence explain the gaps that exist & how they plan to address them.

Claire Concannon meets with some of the people working to protect Aotearoa’s naturally rare ecosytems and the endangered plants found within them.

Alison Ballance joins the kākāpō recovery team on Pukenui Anchor Island to hear how the 2021/2022 kākāpō breeding season is going.

A visit to Scott's Terra Nova hut to learn about the care given to the objects by Antarctic Heritage Trust conservators. This is an edit of the Antarctic Heritage Trust's podcast 'Frozen in Time: Scott's Antarctic Legacy'.

Justin Gregory finds out about a study investigating how pre-term babies are fed during their first few weeks, and whether there is a better way.

Stories about looking our warming world in the eye, and preparing for what is coming next. Collecting data about extreme temperatures in estuaries to help manage shellfish populations. Plus what might managed retreat of marae threatened by sea level rise mean for Māori communities.

At the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research a team of scientists are working on what they believe will be the future of cancer treatment in New Zealand.

Two stories on addressing our energy problem - using AI to maximise locally produced renewable energy and reducing the carbon footprint of ammonia production.

A story of a community taking the lead to investigate their own history. Near the small fishing village of Moeraki, whānau members are doing the work of excavating, sorting, and identifying artifacts from an old Māori archaeological site.

This sea week Our Changing World joins Dr. Kim Currie on the Munida transect time-series - a long running investigation of how the chemistry of the oceans off New Zealand is changing.

Creating safe spaces for wildlife to thrive means benefit for the local community too. This week, two stories on that theme.

Alison Ballance catches up with two earthquake researchers. Geologist Carolyn Boulton is a ‘fault finder’, interested in how faults slide. And geophysicist Martha Savage eavesdrops on the earth to better understand why earthquakes do what they do.

Claire visits a macroalgae research facility in Tauranga to learn how and why the team there are growing large quantities of seaweed and freshwater macroalgae.

Claire learns about honey fingerprinting while Katy Gosset meets a scientist studying the anti-microbial properties of some native plants.

Claire joins a meteorite hunt on the South Island’s West Coast and learns what these rocks from space can tell us about the early formation of our solar system.

The story of titipounamu, New Zealand's smallest bird, on Otago Peninsula, told by Karthic SS, a wildlife film maker and podcast producer based in Dunedin.

Summer science continues with a play of a science related episode from RNZ's Voices podcast. In 'To spray or not to spray' we meet Tim Vandervoet as he investigates ways to reduce insecticide use in orchards. 

Centre for Science Communication student Laura McDonald speaks to Dr. Mike Palin about lead contamination in the environment.

Summer science continues with a play of a science related episode from RNZ's Black Sheep podcast. Invasive tells the story of one man who released thousands of invasive fish into New Zealand's rivers, lakes and streams.

Centre for Science Communication student William Bowden speaks to Dr. Mike Joy & Dr. Tim Chambers about the issue of nitrates in New Zealand's waterways.

How to deal with unwelcome visitors. Katy Gosset learns about a native fungus that might help in the battle against wilding pines. And two national research programmes combine on an expedition to protect our oceans from plastics and invasive species.

Chemical isotope analysis is a powerful technique - Dr. Charlotte King explains to Claire how she uses it to reconstruct past lives of forgotten people from the Otago gold rush.

Sci Fi / Sci Fact is a new podcast series in which scientists from New Zealand's MacDiarmid Institute talk to RNZ host Bryan Crump about whether some of science-fiction's most popular concepts could actually come true.

Two stories on keeping an eye on river flow - helping fish to migrate back upstream, and development of a national river flow forecasting tool.

A team of scientists are installing an array of seismic sensors along the South Island's Alpine Fault. Claire Concannon joins them to find out how and why.

Katy Gosset speaks to a PhD student designing new tech to catch predators and Claire Concannon meets the team who are working to restore a unique landscape on the South Island's West Coast.

On the 100th anniversary of radio in Aotearoa, Claire Concannon learns about the very first broadcast, explores how radio works, and finds out about current research into communicating using light.

Claire visits the team at K9 Medical Detection Charitable Trust to learn how their dogs are being trained to detect bowel and prostate cancer.

Claire Concannon hits the Central Otago hills with Botany PhD student Ben Teele to imagine the landscape as it use to be, and to follow the clues to find leftover pockets of tōtara trees.

Claire Concannon hears how the the New Zealand Plant Conservation Network's favourite plant competition is shaping up, while Katy Gosset learns about research to improve the quality and growth efficiency of grapevines.

This week on Our Changing World, Aotearoa Science Agency's Damian Christie speaks to three scientists about the world of data.  

Claire Concannon hears from Dr. Brigid Ryan of the University of Auckland about the New Zealand genetic frontotemporal dementia study and speaks to some of the family members involved in this unique research study.

Stories about the potential of bioengineering to transform health care. A new tracheostomy kit design that has halved the time for emergency operations and 3D bioprinting of tissues to help healing.

Stories of physics research in Antarctica - into, under, and from within the ice. Claire finds out about measuring sea ice thickness and supercooling. Katy Gosset learns how scientists detect neutrinos from outer space.

Claire Concannon learns about experiments aimed at slowing Parkinson's Disease progression. Sonia Yee explores research into our perception of emotions in a mask-filled world.

The return of South Island kākā to the the Ōtepoti Dunedin area has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride. Claire Concannon hears about the tragedies and the triumphs, and the plans for what comes next. 

Native mangroves in Aotearoa are expanding, putting them in conflict with some local communities & councils. A wade into the research about the value of mangroves & how they are managed.

Katy Gosset finds out how researchers investigate the plant penetration powers of myrtle rust. Claire Concannon speaks with the caretaker of a tropical forest and hundreds of butterflies

Two stories of looking to the skies. Claire Concannon joins a hunt for planets outside of our solar system. Katy Gosset reveals the results of the annual New Zealand Garden Birds Survey.

This week, how information flows in the cell from DNA to proteins, and how scientists have tapped into this to enable a new way to make vaccines using messenger RNA.  

How do you find a tiny robin in a whole lot of forest? Researchers have been tracking the movements of forty North Island robins, or toutouwai, that have been reintroduced to a large reserve area near Palmerston North. Claire Concannon finds out how these Massey University researchers monitor them, and what they are learning.

How do you get in the zone to achieve your very best in an activity? And does a cheering crowd help? This week, two stories about the psychology of performance - the advantages of being at home, and how to find your flow.

Researchers from the University of Waikato talk about Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) – a condition in which athletes don't take in the right amount of calories to do the exercise they are doing. Katie Schofield & Holly Thorpe explain why the problem is much more complex than just calorie intake, and why it is important to research this condition in a multidisciplinary way.

Scientific research can be thought as on a spectrum from blue sky to applied - this week, two stories that span this. Claire Concannon learns about a blue-sky research project on bacterial evolution while Katy Gosset watches testing of a new system of base isolation designed to help homes during earthquakes.

On this week’s Our Changing World - how songbirds learn their song, and how researchers in the Southern Hemisphere are trying to correct a long-standing male bias in the songbird world.

Mathematical equations can help us get new perspectives, but sometimes can be difficult to understand. This week, one story about how maths has helped the understanding of a enigmatic quirk of heart rate control and another on how crafts can be used to better understand maths.

Researchers at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute are working on what they hope will be the first New Zealand designed Class 3 medical device – a pressure sensor for the brain, to help people with hydrocephalus. The team explain the sensor design, how it works and how they test it.

Two stories of Aotearoa New Zealand conservation communities who are caring for the flora and fauna in their backyards. Claire learns about the Catlins Bats on the Map project while Katy learns about saving scurvy grass.

Claire Concannon meets a group of researchers who are determined to do the best science they can, to try to help the people they love.  

Two stories about science pathways - Katy Gosset heads to the University of Canterbury STEM careers fair to find out what the future might be for science students, while Claire Concannon learns about the weird world of parasite life cycles.

In the series finale, Hope, we get a glimpse of what a predator-free Aotearoa could look like, and look at the breakthrough technologies and innovations taking us towards that goal.

Community-led projects are leading the charge to halt biodiversity decline, while researchers make break-throughs in their quest to remove predators and protect borders from reinvasion.

New Zealander’s have drawn a line in the sand, announcing they will rid the nation of rats, stoats and possums by 2050, but what will it take to get there?

Loss looks at the devastating effect introduced mammals have had on New Zealand's unique wildlife.

Alison Ballance revisits a favourite story from the archives: southern island sanctuary for rare birds.

In her final trawl through the audio archives, Alison Ballance heads to Putauhinu Island, a southern sanctuary for rare birds.

Alison Ballance revisits a 2013 feature on kauri dieback disease and talks to Nick Waipara to find out how the northern kauri forests are coping with the disease in 2021.

Alison Ballance revisits a 2013 story about kauri dieback disease and gets an update of the disease's impact in 2021.

Alison Ballance's foray into the vaults finds a feature on ocean acidification, The Acid Test and adds a 2021 update.

In this week's retrospective, Alison Ballance revisits an ocean acidification special feature called The Acid Test.

There are some familiar names as well as some new faces among the winners of the 2020 Prime Minister's Science Prizes.

2020 Prime Minister's Science Prize winners talk about their research and teaching.

Alison Ballance digs into Our Changing World's Antarctic treasure chest and finds part 2 of Voice of the Iceberg.

Alison Ballance digs into the Our Changing World archives for an Antarctic blast from the past with Voice of the Iceberg 2: Revelation.

Alsion Ballance revisits a story looking at the complexity of the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake.

In this week's retrospective, Alison Ballance looks at the 'big ones': a big earthquake in Kaikōura in 2016 and a big science effort to understand it.

With more than a thousand conservation stories under her waterproof parka, science journalist Alison Ballance is retiring from RNZ's Our Changing World programme. 

Alison Ballance looks back at the 1,000+ stories she has made, and revisits stone-eating spotted shags and urban eagle rays

Alison Ballance plays favourites from the archives - stone-eating spotted shags and urban eagle rays.

The story of a seabird translocation to Mana Island, involving fluffy white-faced storm petrel chicks, artificial burrows and sardine smoothies.

Seabird species are being reintroduced to Mana Island to help restore the ecology of the island.

The Far Out Ocean Research Collective has been surveying for whales and dolphins in the seas off Northland.

Rare dolphins and whales were among the discoveries when the Far Out Ocean Research Collective surveyed the seas off Northland.

Fertility researchers are developing a new way of testing IVF embryos that have too many chromosomes.

Shaun Eaves talks about glaciers in the North Island and how evidence left behind by glaciers can help reconstruct past climates.

Developing a new test for detecting IVF embryos carrying too many chromosomes, and what past and present glaciers can tell us about climate.

Much of New Zealand's freshwater flows underground, and a team from GNS Science is in the process of mapping it.

University of Canterbury freshwater biologists are using a joint mātauranga Māori and western conservation science framework for their work translocating species.

Mapping the hidden reservoirs of underground water across New Zealand and a mātauranga Māori view on moving freshwater species.

Ornithologist and author Ralph Powlesland is intimately acquainted with the weka families on the regenerating Marlborough Sounds farm where he lives.

University of Canterbury's John Hopkins and Toni Collins explain disaster law and shortcomings in NZ's legal system highlighted by the Canterbury earthquakes.

The natural history of Marlborough's weka and disaster law: what it is and its role in disaster resilience.

Misko Cubrinovski is interested how the ground and the structures on - and in - it behave during an earthquake.

Biotechnologist David Leung finds ways to make plants solve environmental issues.

Liquefaction lessons from the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, and biotechnologists doing interesting things with plants.

University of Canterbury engineers plan to 3D print the next generation of wastewater treatment filters.

Victoria University of Wellington's Wokje Abrahamse talks about environmental behaviour change, and projects to get people to save energy and use their cars less.

Designing a new kind of filter to treat wastewater and how to encourage people to behave in a more environmentally friendly way.

Summer students from Victoria University of Wellington have been helping the Innermost community gardens in Wellington put numbers on their social and environmental values.

Each year Jo Bonner and the team at Coastlands Plant Nursery in Whakatane grow 300,000 spinifex and pingao plants for dune replanting at beaches around the North Island.

Measuring the value of a community garden and the challenges of growing dune plants for restoring sand dune communities.

University of Otago student Ruby Parker says it's important to talk about abortion. She is in conversation with researcher Emma Harcourt.

University of Otago student Jenny Stein is finding out how rising sea levels are a growing problem for many coastal settlements, including the densely populated suburb of South Dunedin.

When University of Otago student Asia King got the call to take part in a study using ketamine to treat depression, she said yes - and made a podcast about the experience.

Discover the hidden world of arboreal plants, which get a leg-up in the world by living on trees.

Low-damage buildings don't just save lives in an earthquake - they are designed to be resilient so they can stay in use.

Epiphytes are the high rise experts of the plant world, and resilient buildings should save lives and still be useable after an earthquake.

When it comes to having a 'good life', there are several key elements - strong intimate relationships and time to relax.

Information from past earthquakes can be used to prepare a more resilient society that will be better able to cope with future shakes.

An earthquake engineer talks about modelling strong ground motions in an earthquake and a psychologists talks about what it takes to have a good life.

Two self-driving underwater robots are making surprising discoveries about where river water ends up at sea, far from land.

Cancer epidemiologist Brian Cox, from the University of Otago, talks about studying the causes of cancer and new research on diet and bowel cancer.

How river water reaches out to sea and an epidemiologist talks about work into the causes of cancer.

NIWA's Richard Querel talks about the ozone hole, including this year's large one, and Ben Liley explains why NZ has such high UV levels.

NIWA experts explain the science behind this year's large ozone hole and New Zealand's high UV levels.

Iwi representatives & conservationists journey to Zealandia sanctuary to plant seeds of the mysterious parasitic flowering plant Dactylanthus or flower of the underworld.

Returning the mysterious parasitic flowering plant Dactylanthus or pua o te reinga to Zealandia sanctuary, in Wellington.

Geneticist Neil Gemmell has won the 2020 Hutton Medal for using DNA & new genomic technologies to better understant plants & animals.

The 2020 Tahunui-A-Rangi Award goes to David Tipene Leach for the wahakura, a woven bassinet to address the problem of sudden unexpected death in infancy.

The invention of a woven bassinet to save babies' lives & a geneticist seeking to understand plants & animals have won awards at the 2020 Research Honours Aotearoa.

NZ's top research award, the Rutherford Medal, has gone to Brian Boyd, whose work spans Shakespeare to Nabokov to Popper, & weaves arts and sciences together.

Maria Bargh's work on political economies and the environment is focused on Māori communities and has won her the 2020 Te Puāwaitanga Award.

Unravelling how genes control colour in petunias has won Nick Albert the 2020 Hamilton Award and could help breed more nutritious fruit.

A group of Dunedin students talk about what they learned making an Otago Museum exhibition about climate change inequality.

The 2020 Research Honours go to a Nabokov expert, a Maori political economist & a colourful plant breeder, and students talk climate change.

Deep sea corals are being put to the test at NIWA to find out how they cope with sediment.

NIWA ecologists have been stress testing deep sea corals to find out they cope with sediment.

Jocelyn Turnbull from GNS Science is measuring how much CO2 we're producing in NZ towns - and she's doing it by cutting the grass.

GNS Science is measuring how much carbon dioxide we're producing in different towns as part of the Carbon Watch NZ project.

Dave Lowe on measuring CO2 in New Zealand for 50 years, and how Carbon Watch NZ is a bird's eye view on our carbon balance.

Fifty years ago Dave Lowe started measuring carbon dioxide in New Zealand's atmosphere. And Gordon Brailsford and Sara Mikaloff Fletcher talk about Carbon Watch NZ project.

A replay of a story from May 2018: a citizens' jury on euthanasia.

When is the Covid-19 vaccine coming? Will it work? William Ray talks to NZ experts charting our path towards immunity.

Lawn owner William Ray looks at the ecological benefits of not mowing and letting your grass grow longer.

Emily Parker and her team at Victoria University of Wellington are identifying the genes that allow fungi to create natural medicinal compounds.

Unlocking the genetic secrets of natural compounds and the evolution of tieke calls.

An ecologist and a mathematician discover that teaching a computer to recognise bird calls from acoustic recorders is an interesting challenge.

An ecologist and a mathematician are collaborating on open source software called AviaNZ that will allow a computer to identify bird calls.

Ten years after the Darfield earthquake, three seismologists from GeoNet reflect on a decade of big earthquakes and what we've learnt from them.

Three seismologists from GeoNet reflect on the decade of big earthquakes that began 10 years ago with the Darfield earthquake in Canterbury.

Dead corals cast up the shore of Aitutaki, in the Cook Islands, provide a window into the Pacific Ocean's marine climate hundreds of years ago.

A time-travelling climate scientist is using dead corals to investigate past marine climates in the Pacific.

From safer solvents to make better batteries, to catalysts that can clean up wastewater, green chemists are developing better ways of making stuff.

Scientists at the Centre for Green Chemical Science at the University of Aukalnd, are developing cleaner greener processes and products.

Food scientist Nazimah Hamid from AUT says that the sound of the space we eat in can have surprising effects on the taste of food.

The sensory lab at AUT is used for food testing and tests can involve all the senses, including sound.

'Covid-19 unmasked: understanding the outbreak' is a panel discussion from the 2020 New Zealand International Science Festival.

A panel of virologists from the University of Otago discuss research into covid-19.

Emma Carroll talks about the return of southern right whales from the edge of extinction and a project asking the public to report whale sightings.

Take some old weather records. Add citizen scientists. Mix in machine learning. Result = something that might help predict future weather patterns.

In search of southern right whales and digitising old weather records to predict future climate.

Tiny plants that live on the underside of sea ice form an upside-down garden that feeds krill and is the base of the Antarctic food web.

Researchers are using hot water to drill through the Ross ice shelf, to discover what has happened to Antarctic ice during previous periods of warm climates.

Alison Ballance eavesdrops on the songs of the world's southern-most mammal, the Weddell seal, and finds out about sea ice.

A team finding links between melting ice sheets in Antarctica and rising sea levels in NZ has won the 2019 Prime Minister's Science Prize.

Student Thomas James wanted to help his elderly neighbour, so he invented a wheelie bin robot to take her large recycling bin to the kerb.

Michelle Dalrymple, winner of the 2019 Prime Minister's Science Teacher's Prize, says being mathematically literate is an important life skill.

Winners of the 2019 Prime Minister's Science Prizes include a team studying melting ice and rising seas, a maths teacher and a young inventor.

Emperor penguin researchers are waiting for tagged birds to return, and an elderly radar system sheds light on a very windy part of the atmosphere.

Alison Ballance meets a colony of Emperor penguins and their NIWA researchers, and finds out about making water on the frozen continent

Keeping Scott Base warm and well-lit no matter the weather outside, and a physics experiment that eavesdrops on messages to submarines.

Alison Ballance has her first day at New Zealand's Antarctic station, Scott Base, and visits the historic Hillary's Hut.

Alison Ballance dons her extreme cold weather clothing for a trip to Antarctica - but getting to the frozen continent can take time.

Two gems from Our Changing World's Antarctic archive - restoring Shackleton's hut at Cape Royds and hunting for extremophile microbes high on Mt Erebus.

Scientists warn that a small amount of sea-level rise could have big consequences for some low-lying parts of New Zealand.

Experts discuss the findings from a recent NIWA report that shows a small amount of sea-level rise will cause more coastal flooding.

Ocean floor rock cores drilled into the sunken continent of Zealandia are revolutionising our understanding of Earth's history and how continents form.

Geologists are probing the secrets of the hidden continent of Zealandia, and ants and viruses from the archives.

More than four months after it formed, a large blob of sooty dust from Australia's massive bushfires is still circling the southern hemisphere.

There is a fine art to how pedestrians, cyclists, and cars and buses navigate the shared thoroughfares of our towns and cities.

Dust from Australia's bush fires is still circling the globe in the stratosphere, and studies into cyclists and their use of city streets.

Modern-day citizen scientists are following in the footsteps of a well-known Wellington naturalist, collecting moths to document a century of change.

Wellington naturalist George Vernon Hudson collected thousands of moths and a century later a group of citizen scientists are following in his footsteps in Zealandia sanctuary.

Mathematician Alex James, from Te Pūnaha Matatini & the University of Canterbury, explains the art and science of modelling the coronavirus pandemic.

Alison Ballance chats with mathematician Alex James, who has been helping model the coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand.

The human immune system is a complex system where T cells, B cells and antibodies battle invaders such as bacteria and viruses such as the one that causes COVID-19.

Immunologist Jo Kirman introduces us to our immune system and how it fights viruses such as the one that causes COVID-19.

Is New Zealand’s environment benefiting from the lockdown?

Virus expert Kurt Krause, from the University of Otago, gives us the lowdown on viruses, and on coronaviruses in particular.

Virus expert Kurt Krause, from the University of Otago, gives us the lowdown on viruses, and we hear about a rare plant and the viruses that are killing it.

GNS Science monitors levels of air pollution around New Zealand, especially small particles that can have severe health effects.

GNS Science monitors levels of air pollution around New Zealand, and why soap is the ultimate coronavirus buster.

When it comes to virus-busting, soap is an oldie but a goodie - because it turns out that soap is particularly effective against coronaviruses such as the one that causes Covid-19.

The 2019 kākāpō chicks are becoming independent and birds sent to be scanned for aspergillosis are getting clean bills of health, in part 8 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

A deadly fungal disease strikes the kākāpō population on Whenua Hou and the Kākāpō Recovery team calls on New Zealand wildlife vets to help, in part 7 of Voice of the Kākāpō..

The kākāpō eggs are hatching, and chicks are being hand-reared or returned to their mother's nest ... but not every chick is thriving, in part 6 of Voice of the Kākāpō .

The tally of infertile eggs is climbing and the kākāpō team is using artificial insemination - and a drone - to try and counter the problem, in part 5 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

Most of the female kākāpō have bred and the team is carrying precious fertile eggs to the 'egg room' for incubation, in part 4 of Voice of the Kākāpō .

Kākāpō breeding is in full swing after an early start, and DOC's Deidre Vercoe and Andrew Digby are checking to see if eggs are fertile, in part 3 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

The kākāpō team know all the signs are good for a big kākāpō breeding season - the question is exactly how big and when will it start? Part 2 of Voice of the Kākāpō.

The kākāpō is a giant flightless parrot whose fortunes are tied to the rimu tree and to a dedicated team of rangers from the Department of Conservation.

Official advice in an earthquake quake is to 'drop, cover, hold.' But is this what we actually do? And what happens if we do something else?

Social scientist David Johnston investigates the way people behave during and after earthquakes, and what the consequences of their behaviour is.

Yeast is one of the key ingredients in beer and wine - and local yeasts could add a distinct Kiwi flavour.

Peter Griffin and two Wellington entrepreneurs are in search of local yeasts to impart distinctive NZ flavours to craft beers, and the wine indusry is on a similar hunt.

Sonia Sly is in search of psychopaths. Are they born or are they made? What are the traits that a psychopath exhibits? And is everyone a psychopath to some extent?

Sonia Sly is in search of the psychopathic mind with psychology researcher Hedwig Eisenbarth, from Victoria University of Wellington.

Bush fires are growing in severity and frequency. William Ray finds out about the latest research into how fires burn and how people react when flames threaten.

Fire researchers from Scion talk about the latest wild fire research that is giving new insights into how fires burn and how people behave when flames threaten.

The tiny rock wren lives year-round in the alpine zone of the South Island mountains and research shows that predator control is important for the species' survival.

The rock wren is a little bird with several big claims to fame. It belongs to an ancient group of birds and is New Zealand's only truly alpine bird.

What if there was a magic number that proved you right? There's no such thing, but we do have the p-value which is the probability that your scientific hypothesis is right.

Science communication student Amy Archer, from the University of Otago, investigates recommendations from the South-East Marine Protection Forum for marine reserves on the Otago coast.

Zirconium is a shape-shifting tough cookie, that is a tale of gemstones, medical implants and nuclear reactors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 96 of Elemental.

Zinc is a very useful metal that turns up in everything from sunscreen to paint, & galvanised metals to cereals, as well as brass instruments, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 95 of Elemental.

Damian Christie is in search of his origins - from the beginning of the universe, to human evolution & Polynesian settlement in the Pacific.

Damian Christie is in search of origin stories - from the beginning of the universe, the earliest humans and the Polynesian settlement in the Pacific.

Yttrium is yet another element named after the village of Ytterby and is important in the development of high temperature superconductors, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 94 of Elemental.

Ytterbium is yet another lanthanoid named after the Swedish village of Ytterby, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 93 of Elemental.

Charlie Dreaver investigates the issues around strengthening apartment buildings to make them more resilient to earthquakes.

Charlie Dreaver investigates apartments and earthquake resilience in 'Living the high life on shaky ground' & the chemical element vanadium.

Xenon is a noble gas that turns up in various lights, gets used in xenon ion propulsion systems for spacecraft & plays a key role in the search for dark matter, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 92 of Elemental.

Vanadium makes steel stronger & lighter, is being used in what will be the world's largest battery, and sea squirts are full of it, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 91 of Elemental.

Named after the planet Uranus & associated with Hiroshima & nuclear bombs, uranium is the highest-numbered element found naturally in significant quantities on earth, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 90 of Elemental.

A satellite tracking programme is revealing, for the first time, where New Zealand's Pacific golden plovers or kuriri migrate to breed.

Miranda shorebird enthusiasts are on the trail of the elusive Pacific golden plover or kuriri.

Tungsten's very high melting point made it an ideal filament for incandescent light bulbs, & as it is in some enzymes it is the heaviest element used in nature, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 89 of Elemental.

Titanium is light, strong, corrosion resistant & is used to repair broken limbs as it is able to get integrated into the bone, says Allan Blackman from AUT speaking from personal experience in ep 88 of Elemental.

380 New Zealand lakes are in the spotlight, and Marcus Vandergoes from GNS Science explains what happens to the thousands of sediment cores that will reveal a 1000-year history for each lake.

Sediment cores from the Lakes380 project, which is building a 1000-year history for 10 percent of New Zealand's lakes, are housed at GNS's National Isotope Centre.

The element tin turns up in all sorts of alloys, but tin cans are - mostly - not made from tin, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 87 of Elemental.

Isolating the element thulium was a truly laborious process that took many years, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 86 of Elemental.

Named after Thor, the Norse God of Thunder, thorium could provide a cleaner source of nuclear power in the future, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 85 of Elemental.

Susie Wood from the Cawthron Institute talks about Lakes 380, which will reveal a 1000-year history of 10 percent of NZ lakes, plus the element terbium.

Susie Wood from the Cawthron Institute says that sediment cores & eDNA will reveal a 1000-year history for 380 NZ lakes.

Thallium is most famous for some infamous poisoned family cases & its appearance in an Agatha Christie novel solved a medical mystery, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 84 of Elemental.

A discovery from the chemically prolific Swedish village of Ytterby, terbium produced the green on old TV sets & adds security to Euro notes, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 83 of Elemental.

By the end of this year Predator-Free Wellington hopes that the eastern suburbs on the Miramar Peninsula will be free from rat and stoats.

Predator-free Miramar Peninsula kicked off in the middle of the year and aims to get rid of rats and stoats. It is part of a wider to goal to make Wellington a predator-free capital city.

Tellurium is a metalloid often found with gold and the US town Telluride is named after it, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 82 of Elemental.

Technetium was the first element on the periodic table to be synthesised. It is rare, radioactive and has only a few uses, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 81 of Elemental.

Victoria University researchers are radio-tracking urban rats in Wellington city suburbs to find out how large their home ranges are, to help improve predator-free trapping efforts.

Radio-tracking urban rats in Wellington city suburbs to find out how large their home ranges are, and the chemical element tantalum.

The metal tantalum is usually found with the element niobium, has a very high melting point but is a 'conflict mineral', says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 80 of Elemental.

Sulfur is responsible for some very bad smells, is the number one industrial chemical and is also an essential element, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 79 of Elemental.

Kākā and kea are well-known for being intelligent, and PhD student Daniel Donoghue is interested in how they learn new things.

PhD student Daniel Donoghue is working out whether a video clip can help kaka learn faster.

Named after a Scottish town, strontium can be highly radioactive & glow-in-the-dark, but also used in toothpaste, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 78 of Elemental.

Sodium is vital for life & usually found in combinaton with other more interesting elements, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 77 of Elemental.

Italy is suffering from a brown marmorated stink bug invasion. Damian Christie heads there to find out what New Zealand learn from their experiences.

Italy is experiencing an invasion of brown marmorated stink bugs that is crippling the fruit industry. What can New Zealand learn from their experience?

Silver is widely used in jewellery, has interesting light sensitive abilities and has antimicrobial properties, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 76 of Elemental.

Silicon is a blockbuster metalloid with many uses, from glass to computer chips & bathroom sealants, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 75 of Elemental.

New Zealand soils lack the vital element selenium, which also used to be important in photocopiers and bathroom plumbing, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 74 of Elemental.

Prof Jane Harding has won New Zealand's top science award, the Rutherford Medal, for ground-breaking research that has improved the lives of countless babies and mothers.

Dr Ocean Mercier's work bridging the worlds of science and traditional Māori knowledge has been recognised with the 2019 Callaghan Medal for science communication.

Dr Lisa Te Morenga has won the 2019 Hamilton Award for her internationally significant research on sugar and its impacts on health.

New Zealand's 2019 Research Honours winners include Lisa Te Morenga for her work on sugar, Ocean Mercier for science communication and Rutherford Medal winner Jane Harding for work with babies & mothers.

Predicted by Mendeleev & useful for alloying with aluminium, scandium was involved in a famous cricket scandal, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 73 of Elemental.

Samarium magnets are used in headphones & guitar pickups, and samarium was the first element named after a real person, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 72 of Elemental.

Ruthenium is a 'sort of' precious metal that is a useful catalyst and alloy. It is toxic and smells like ozone, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 71 of Elemental.

University of Otago psychology professor Ted Ruffman says ageing brains means older men become less able to recognise emotions in other people.

A psychology professor talks about men getting older & why they become less able to recognise other's emotions, and the element rubidium.

Rubidium is a reactive metal with few uses, named 'deepest red' due to its beautiful red spectral lines, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 70 of Elemental.

Rhodium is an expensive precious metal that is used in catalytic convertors, to make the Parkinson's drug L-DOPA, create shiny jewellery and add the menthol taste to toothpaste, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 69 of Elemental.

From cutting-edge genetic treatments to computer-brain interfaces that are still in the realm of science fiction, Silicon Valley is on a quest to let us live forever.

Peter Griffin investigates the ethics and possibilities around achieving immortality, and Allan Blackman looks at the chemical element radium.

Named after the Rhine river, rhenium is a metal with very high boiling and melting points, and it was the last naturally occuring, non-radioactive element to be discovered, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 68 of Elemental.

The radioactive gas radon can be a risk in the basements of stone houses and used to, erroneously, be touted for its health benefits, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 67 of Elemental.

Radium was famously found by the Curies, and was once widely used in face creams, drinks and luminous watch dials, despite being highly radioactive, says Allan Blackman in ep 66 of Elemental.

As the world considers taking more action to combat climate change we revisit Antarctica with the Voice of the Iceberg podcast & hear about protactinium.

Protactinium is a rare, radioactive element that has no uses and may be the most boring element, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 65 of Elemental.

Despite its gruesome mythical name, the radioactive element promethium has no particular claim to fame, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 64 of Elemental.

The 20-metre long wind tunnel at the University of Auckland is used to test the aerodynamics of objects as varied as Olympic cyclists and buildings, as well as drones, ancient building designs & tiny gas turbines.

The largest wind tunnel in New Zealand is used to test everything from the effects of turbulence on drones to ancient building designs and tiny gas turbines.

The youngest kākāpō chick has passed 150 days old, bringing the number of living juveniles to 71 and the overall  kākāpō population to 213, in ep 24 of the Kākāpō Files.

Praseodymium is a metal wirh the second longest name on the periodic table and not many uses, says Prof Alan Blackman from AUT in ep 63 of Elemental.

From levitating burnt buttocks, to excitable nerves and sure-to-rise baking, potassium is highly reactive and vital to life, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 62 of Elemental.

Better solar panels and efficient carbon capture technology will help shape the impact and look of cities in the future, say MacDiarmid Institute scientists.

MacDiarmid Institute scientists talk about how their work improving solar panel efficiency and developing carbon capture and storage techniques might shape cities of the future.

Polonium will be forever linked with the names Curie and Litvinenko and has negligible desirable features, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 61 of Elemental.

A radioactive heavyweight associated with nuclear bombs & power, which is powering the Voyager spacecraft, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 60 of Elemental.

Toxic algae expert Jonathan Puddick has a Marsden Grant to find out if toxic cyanobacteria share their toxins with non-toxic species.

Cyanobacteria are responsible for toxic algal blooms in lakes and rivers, and Cawthron Institute scientists are trying to better understand them.

Platinum is useful in catalytic convertors, is used to treat testicular cancer and will be useful in hydrogen fuel cells, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 59 of Elemental.

Phosphorus, chemical symbol P, was first isolated as an element from thousands of litres of urine. Also found in guano, aka bird poo. Allan Blackman from AUT has the full story in ep 58 of Elemental.

New Zealand has one of the highest rates of domestic violence in the world, but sociology research shows life post- separation can still leave women feeling trapped.

Research into relationships and their break-ups, and oxygen is very friendly with other chemical elements.

Palladium is a pricey precious metal most commonly used in catalytic convertors on car exhausts, says AUT's Allan Blackman in ep 57 of Elemental.

Oxygen is very friendly with other chemical elements & very helpful for life on Earth, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 56 of Elemental.

What happens if you play a Viennese waltz or death metal to beer as it brews? Experimenting with musical ways of making better beer.

Does playing different sounds to fermenting yeast change the taste of beer and osmium, the densest chemical element.

Osmium is extremely rare and expensive. It is the densest chemical element, rivals diamond as being the least compressible of all known substances & has a distinctive 'pong' according to Allan Blackman in ep 55 of Elemental.

Most important biological molecules contain nitrogen, even though it takes lots of energy to make or break its chemical bonds, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 54 of Elemental.

Electronic gaming machines, or the pokies, are highly addictive. Sonia Sly investigates why problem gambling develops and how it is associated with other disorders.

Why playing pokie machines can easily lead to a gambling addiction, and the chemical element nickel is in more than just five cent coins.

Niobium is a metal that is useful at both very high temperatures, as in jet engines, and very low temperatures as a superconductor, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 53 of Elemental.

The chemical element nickel is named after a German word for Satan or the Devil, but nickel is now more usually thought of as a North American five cent piece, says Allan Blackman in ep 52 of Elemental.

Detector Gadget is a dog with a job. She is a conservation dog trained by her handler Sandy King to sniff out rodents on predator-free islands.

Gadget is a conservation detector dog, trained to sniff out rats, and the chemical element neon is not just found in neon signs.

The kākāpō chicks are graduating to being juveniles and only seven birds are still sick with aspergillosis, in ep 23 of the Kākāpō Files.

There are no known compounds of the noble gas neon, which does however produce the brilliant crimson of red - and only red - neon lights. Ep 51 of Elemental with Prof Allan Blackman from AUT.

Neodydmium magnets include the strongest permanent magnets known and are found in devices like speakers & headphones, says chemistry professor Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 50 of Elemental.

Professor Ciara Cremin explores the politics of cross-dressing and gender identity in both her personal and her professional life.

The politics of cross-dressing and gender identity, and the chemical element molybdenum.

Molybdenum has an essential role as a catalyst at microbial and industrial scales and is an important element in enzymes, says Prof Allan Blackman, in ep 49 of Elemental.

Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature and atmospheric pressure, says Allan Blackman in ep 48 of Elemental.

The Department of Conservation and volunteer groups, including the Coal Island Trust, are hard at work removing pests such as stoats and deer from Fiordland's many islands.

The Department of Conservation and groups such as the Coal Island Trust are taking pests off Fiordland islands and reintroducing rare species.

The metal manganese is a vital part of photosynthesis and is found in aluminium drink cans, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 47 of Elemental.

Magnesium is loved by plants, folk suffering constipation and boy-racers, as Allan Blackman reveals in ep 46 of Elemental.

After a fierce struggle for naming rights, the last lanthanoid element to be discovered was eventually named after Paris, says Allan Blackman in ep 45 of Elemental.

Electroclear is a start-up company at the University of Auckland using electric fields to deter small marine organisms from settling on boats and underwater structures.

Chris Walker explains how they plan to use electricity to prevent underwater fouling, and DOC announces the results of kakapo paternity testing.

Paternity testing has revealed who the top kākāpō dads are, as well as the success of the artificial insemination programme, in ep 22 of the Kākāpō Files.

Lithium is the lightest metal, and it is used in batteries and for the treatment of bipolar disorder, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 44 of Elemental.

Lead is the element that took down an empire, and its sweet taste belies a metal that is dangerous for human & animal health. All this and more with Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 43 of Elemental.

Prof Harlene Hayne investigates childrens' artworks: are they just a picture or do they offer insights and clues into the kid's emotional world?

What insights can children's drawings give us, and deadly tales from the chemical element lead.

Despite giving its name to a whole group on the periodic table, chemists can't agree if lanthanum even belongs in that group, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 42 of Elemental.

In real life krypton is a noble gas which is commonly used in neon signs and laser light shows, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 41 of Elemental.

Professor Rangi Mātāmua talks about the 120-year-old book which has preserved his ancestors' knowledge of Māori astronomy.

To mark Matariki, the Māori New Year, we join Dr Rangi Matamua from the University of Waikato to hear about Māori astronomy.

Iron is formed in stars, makes up most of the Earth's core & as a result enables life as we know it to exist, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 40 of Elemental.

The kākāpō health crisis is stable, with no further cases of aspergillosis diagnosed, and seven hand-reared chicks have been successfully released in the wild, in ep 21 of the Kākāpō Files.

Iridium is the second-densest element on the periodic table and the most erosion-resistant metal. A layer of iridium in rocks marks the demise of the dinosaurs, according to Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 39 of Elemental.

NIWA scientists are putting freshwater fish such as inanga through swimming trials, to find out how they cope with water moving at different speeds.

NIWA is putting freshwater fish through their paces in a swimming test, and the story of indium, the chemical element that is the Queen of the touchscreen.

A lack of iodine causes goitre, and seafood and iodised salt are good sources of this important trace element, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 38 of Elemental.

Indium is a very soft metal, and as indium-tin-oxide it is an indispensable part of the swipeability of touchscreens, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 37 of Elemental.

A panel of five experts debate what it will take to turn the idea of a predator-free New Zealand by 2050 from a dream into a reality.

A panel discussion on 'Predator Free New Zealand - dream or reality' with five experts in pest biology and large scale eradication porjects.

Hydrogen is the first element on the periodic table. It is the oldest, lightest and most abundant element in the universe, but on earth it is usually found in compounds such as water, says AUT's Allan Blackman, in ep 36 of Elemental.

Holmium has interesting magnetic properties and is an important part of precise surgical lasers known as the 'Swiss Army knife' of lasers, according to Prof Allan Backman from AUT, in ep 35 of Elemental.

Behind-the-scenes at Auckland Zoo with sick kākāpō, and the chemical element holmium.

Kākāpō death toll from aspergillosis rises by one to seven, while nine birds have been given a clean bill of health. Sad and positive news from the frontline of the fight to save kākāpō, in ep 20 of the Kākāpō Files.

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe and possibly the most unreactive element on the periodic table, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 34 of Elemental.

Hafnium is named after Copenhagen and as it has a very high melting point it was used in the thruster nozzles of the Apollo Lunar modules, according to Elemental's Allan Blackman from AUT.

Twice a year tawaki or Fiordland crested penguins make migrations of many thousands of kilometres to the south to feed at the Polar Front.

Eight years ago volunteers began translocating fluttering shearwater chicks to Wellington's Matiu Somes Island to establish what is now a growing seabird colony.

The NZ bird atlas will be a 5-year project counting common & rare birds from the Kermadecs to the far south.

The NZ Bird Atlas is launched, a successful effort to create a new fluttering shearwater colony, Fiordland's tawaki penguins go for record-breaking long swims, and the chemical element gallium.

Gold is highly valued for its colour as well as for being malleable and ductile, and as a noble metal it is unreactive and doesn't rust, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 32 of Elemental.

Germanium is a metalloid that was a key element in early transistors and is now used in optical fibres and infrared night vision scopes, says Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 31 of Elemental.

New research shows Wellington's underground streams are important homes and highways for freshwater fish.

Many of Wellington's streams now run in pipes under the roads, and the aspergillosis crisis in the kakapo population grows.

The number of cases of aspergillosis in the kākāpō population continues to rise, with 30 birds on the mainland for testing & treatment. The deaths of Huhana and Merty drop the adult population to 142, in ep 19 of the Kākāpō Files.

Gallium is the second element named after France, is a key element in mobile phones & Blu-ray players & melts at body temperature, says Prof Allan Blackman in ep 30 of Elemental.

Gadolinium has interesting magnetic properties and is used as a contrast agent in MRI scans, according to AUT's Prof Allan Blackman in ep 29 of Elemental.

Francium was the last naturally-occurring element to be discovered and has never been seen, says Prof Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 28 Elemental.

The Southland accent has a distinctive burr, and new research is revealing how those 'rolled Rs' have changed over time.

Southlanders are rolling their Rs more - and less - than 100 years ago, and the chemical element fluorine.

Fluorine is a highly toxic green gas that is the main ingredient in non-stick teflon coatings. In ep 27 of Elemental, Prof Allan Blackman from AUT, says that fluorine has very different properties from fluoride.

Europium is named after Europe and is responsible for a forgery-busting aspect of the Euro banknote, reports Prof Allan Blackman in ep 26 of Elemental.

NIWA freshwater ecologists hope sophisticated satellite tags will solve the msytery of where New Zealand's longfin eels go to breed in the Pacific.

A 23-year million year old volcanic crater in inland Otago that is a treasure trove of exquisiute fossils is facing the threat of being mined for animal feed.

NIWA is tagging longfin eels to try and find their mysterious breeding grounds, and Foulden Maar is one of NZ's premier fossil sites.

A spate of kākāpō chicks deaths from a fungal pneumonia caused by aspergillosis has DOC's Kākāpō Recovery Team very worried. Two further adult deaths bring the population to 144 birds with 73 living chicks, all in ep 18 of the Kākāpō Files.

Erbium is named after a chemically famous Swedish village, and adds a rose-tinted glow to the periodic table, in ep 25 of Elemental with Allan Blackman from AUT.

Dysprosium earned its name by being very hard to separate from other elements and has become very important in electric car motors. Join Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 24 of Elemental.

The Kea Conservation Trust & the Arthur's Pass Wildlife Trust have combined forces to band kea as part of a citizen science project & are working to make the village a safer place for the curious birds.

The Kea Conservation Trust is working with South Island communities to better understand kea and find ways to keep them out of trouble.

There are only two chemical elements on the periodic table named after women: curium, in honour of Marie & Pierre Curie, & meitnerium after Lise Meitner. Allan Blackman from AUT introduces the women and their elements in ep 23 of Elemental.

Copper is a soft metal that is an essential element for enzymes and life, gives octopuses their blue blood and was often used to make coins. Allan Blackman from AUT has the lowdown on copper in ep 22 of Elemental.

Famous as the colour of blue glass and important in red blood cells, cobalt can form a permanent magnet and is vital for livestock. Allan Blackman from AUT talks about his favourite element in ep 21 of Elemental.

ESR is using a laser to scan crime scenes, allowing police and juries to 'fly through' the scene long after the event.

ESR is laser scanning crime scenes, and the kakapo breeding has been busy on Anchor Island.

The death of Hoki from a fungal infection brings the number of adult kākāpō to 146, while there are 77 chicks. Ep 17 of the Kākāpō Files includes a visit to Anchor Island & all the latest news.

Chromium is a transition metal that gives colour to precious jewels, the shine to your car fender and your kitchen bench, but can also be a killer. All this and more in ep 20 of Elemental with Allan Blackman from AUT.

Chlorine is the culprit in the 'case of the exploding trousers'. It is also well-known as a disinfectant and chloride ions are essential for life, but as DDT & CFCs, chlorine is bad news. Allan Blackman from AUT gives us the lowdown in ep 19 of Elemental.

University of Canterbury's Lava Lab, plans to drill into a volcano's magma chamber and a Curious Mind volcano drilling game for schools.

University of Canterbury's Lava Lab, plans to drill into a volcano's magma chamber and a Curious Mind volcano drilling game for schools.

Cerium is the most abundant rare-earth element and pops up in self-cleaning ovens, cigarette lighter flints and spectacle glass. Find out more with Allan Blackman from AUT in ep 18 of Elemental.

Carbon underpins life as we know it, fuels our world and gets its own branch of chemistry, according to AUT professor Allan Blackman, in ep 17 of Elemental.

A new method of finding DNA in fingerprints could take some of the guesswork out of crime scene analysis.

ESR is finding DNA from fingerprints and the latest kakapo news, brings chick tally to 75 with three still to hatch.

With 75 living chicks and the final three eggs due to hatch this week, the 2019 kākāpō breeding season is set to be the longest on record. All this & the sex ratio of the first 49 chicks, in ep 16 of the Kākāpō Files.

Calcium creates objects that are strong and beautiful, from caves, to teeth and bones, and coral reefs. Find out more in ep 16 of Elemental, with Allan Blackman from AUT.

A second, the basic unit of time, is defined by caesium, which is also useful for dating things. Find out more about caesium's role as a timekeeper, in ep 15 of Elemental with Allan Blackman from AUT.

Biology professor Vic Arcus is trying to tease out how enzymes are able to speed chemical reactions up.

Research into how enzymes are able to speed up reactions as much as they do, and the chemical element cadmium.

Cadmium has featured in red traffic lights, rechargeable batteries and now has a role in quantum dots, according to Allan Blackman, from AUT, in ep 14 of Elemental.

The story of bromine is one of the color purple, the Dead Sea and an early poison gas used in the First World War, says Allan Blackman from AUT, in ep 13 of Elemental.

This summer has seen a 'mega-mast' mass seeding event in New Zealand's forests and DOC is now planning its largest-ever predator control operation to save rare birds.

The science of a mega mast year: predicting mass seeding events in New Zealand's forests and how DOC is planning large-scale predator control to save at-risk native birds.

Most of the 72 kākāpō chicks are thriving in wild nests, the males are winding down their booming, and there are 7 fertile eggs still to hatch, in ep 15 of the Kākāpō Files.

Made by cosmic rays and supernovae, used in ovenproof cookware, and a key ingredient in the strongest acid ever made. Allan Blackman from AUT explores boron in ep 12 of Elemental.

Bismuth is a heavy metal that expands when frozen, and can be used to levitate trains and soothe upset guts, as Allan Blackman from AUT explains in episode 11 of Elemental.

Caves are a subterranean library of past climate change records, captured as water dripping from above creates flowstones and stalactites.

Caves hold a record of past climate change captured in flow stones, and the synthetic heavyweight elements at the bottom of the periodic table have only ever existed fleetingly.

You'll find beryllium in precious jewels and a space telescope mirror, but just don't inhale the dust - all in episode 10 of Elemental, with AUT's Professor Allan Blackman.

Kākāpō chick numbers continue to climb. The latest tally is 64 chicks, including one named Kotahitanga, meaning unity and solidarity. Ep 14 of the Kākāpō Files.

The heaviest elements on the periodic table have only ever existed fleetingly in the lab, so Allan Blackman from AUT has grouped them all together in episode 9 of Elemental.

Barium is a chemical element that hates being on its own, and experts from Orana Park and Auckland Zoo are looking after hand-reared kakapo chicks.

Barium is never found on its own in nature, as it loves buddying up - but a version of it is found in hospitals. Allan Blackman from AUT reveals barium's secrets in episode 8 of Elemental.

Thirty four kākāpō chicks are putting on plenty of weight in wild nests as the rimu fruit ripens, and 23 chicks are also being hand-reared, in episode 13 of the Kākāpō Files.

No one has ever seen astatine, which shares the distinction of being one of the rarest naturally-occurring elements on earth. Find out more with Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 7 of Elemental.

An ESR software package that analyses complex crime scene samples containing DNA from multiple people, has won the 2018 Prime Minister's Science Prize.

James Renwick loves talking about the science underlying climate change, and this willingness has won him the 2018 Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize.

Modelling granular materials such as corn and salt has earned Onslow College physics student Finn Messerli the school's third Prime Minister's Future Scientist Award.

The 2018 Prime Minister's Science prizes have gone to crime-busting software, a climate change communicator and a young physicist.

Arsenic is a well-known killer that was once dubbed 'succession powder'. Join Allan Blackman from AUT in episode 6 of Elemental, a journey through the periodic table.

Argon is in every breath you take and its inertness is its best feature, as we discover with AUT chemistry professor Allan Blackman, in episode 5 of Elemental.

New research shows that bull kelp along a tectonically uplifted stretch of coast south of Dunedin has a surprisingly different genetic signature to the kelp on either side.

We've a story about bull kelp and earthquake uplift for Seaweek, and we meet some volunteer kakapo helpers.

Volunteers from around the world are helping the kākāpō team, with tasks ranging from feeding birds and people, looking after the power system on Whenua Hou and studying kākāpō sperm. We meet them in episode 12 of the Kākāpō Files.

Antimony can be used to take lives - and to save lives. Check out episode 4 of Elemental with Professor Allan Blackman from AUT.

There is a hard-working team of island rangers helping save kākāpō, working day and night, and the chick tally has reached 44, in episode 11 of the Kākāpō Files.

Professor Allan Blackman from AUT explores the chemical elements actinium and americium, and the Kakapo Files podcast catches up with the work of the island rangers.

Invented during war, radioactive americium has become a bit of a do-gooder that is in most homes. Find out more with AUT's Allan Blackman in episode 3 of Elemental.

Aluminium is a light, well-known metal with lots of useful properties. Join AUT chemistry professor Allan Blackman for episode 2 of Elemental.

The first alphabetical element in the periodic table is actinium. It is a heavy radioactive element, as we discover in episode 1 of Elemental, with Professor Allan Blackman from AUT.

NIWA freshwater scientist Amanda Valois is co-opting citizen scientists to work out where plastic rubbish in streams is coming from.

A citizen science project on plastic pollution in streams and flying kākāpō sperm takes to the air.

In a world-first for kākāpō conservation, a drone (nicknamed the 'spermcopter') has flown kākāpō sperm across Whenua Hou / Codfish Island - the Kākāpō Files was there for episode 10.

In the prequel to Elemental, AUT's Allan Blackman introduces us to Dmitri Mendeleev and chemistry's periodic table of elements.

The distinctive New Zealand accent and why young women lead the way in the evolution of a uniquely Kiwi way of talking.

The evolution of the Kiwi accent, and many more kakapo eggs and chicks.

More than 160 kākāpō eggs have been laid and the first 21 chicks have hatched, but there is also news of the first chick death, in episode 9 of the Kākāpō Files.

The King Country population of the highly threatened Archey's frog is thriving, thanks to years of rat control.

Archey's frogs are thriving thanks to rat control, and the first kakapo chicks have hatched and their mothers are mating again.

The chicks that have hatched are off to Dunedin, the females have started mating again, and there is breeding action on Hauturu, all in episode 8 of the Kākāpō Files.

An octopus squeezing through a small space and a squishy ball have inspired a new way of delivering drugs through the skin that is being developed at the University of Otago.

How to squish drugs through the skin using nanotechnology, and keeping up with the kakapo.

The first two chicks of the 2019 kākāpō breeding season have hatched and the exciting news keeps coming in, in episode 7 of the Kākāpō Files.

Forty eight out of fifty kākāpō females on the southern islands have mated, nesting is well underway and the first AI has been carried out, all in episode 6 of the Kākāpō Files.

Fish ear bones are tiny treasure troves of information about a fish's life, its environment and even local weather.

Fish earbones are tiny treasure troves of information about a fish's life and where it lives, and catching up on all the kakapo breeding action in the first month of the Kakapo Files podcast.

The most popular kākāpō males will get a chance to do it all over again as the females are encouraged to mate and nest for a second time, in episode 5 of the Kākāpō Files.

Otago University science communication student Karthic Sivanandham investigates urban nature and how we relate to it.

Our brand-new 2019 opening theme is made from 20 eclectic sounds of science & nature that have featured on Our Changing World, ranging from birds to robots.

Don't count your kākāpō chicks until they hatch, kākāpō leaky homes and lots more kākāpō sex, all in episode 4 of the Kākāpō Files.

Woof Woof the talking tui inspired University of Otago student Joel Zwartz to find out how birds and people talk.

Kākāpō breeding action really kicked off on Christmas Eve and in episode 3 of the Kākāpō Files we discover it is in full swing.

Science communication student Mary Rabbidge takes a look at the brains of teenage boys, to find out why they behave the way they do.

In episode 2 of the Kākāpō Files we find out that when it comes to kākāpō breeding the early birds are, well, very early.

The kākāpō is one of the world's rarest birds, and in the first episode of the Kākāpō Files we learn about the giant flightless parrot's 'love triangle.'

The 'jelly soup' that many New Zealanders experienced at the beach last summer was caused by blooms of salps.

An accidental encounter with the tree nettle, ongaonga, and some self experimentation may lead to a new pain treatment.

Salps are a little known but important part of the ocean's plankton, and self-experimenting with the painful stinging nettle, ongaonga.

Rare native New Zealand falcons are thriving in some unexpected places, including recently logged pine forests.

Rare native New Zealand falcons are thriving in some unexpected places, including recently logged pine forests.

Our muscles lose strength and mass as we age, and old age expert Debra Waters says we should do resistance training so we won't develop sarcopenia.

Place names turn out to be a good record of where plants and animals once occurred and where they have been lost.

Resistance training is the best way to keep muscles strong as we age, and what place names tell us about plants and animals that used to be found there.

Scion entomologists are trialling a parasitic wasp that they hope will control a growing nuisance: the giant willow aphid.

Tiny, noisy gas bubbles produced by a tropical seaweed are part of the soundscape of a coral reef.

On the hunt for a way to control giant willow aphids which are a sticky nuisance, and noisy seaweeds on coral reefs.

The Department of Conservation celebrates 70 years since the momentous rediscovery of takahē in Fiordland with the families of the original discovery party members.

The Department of Conservation and special guests celebrate the dramatic rediscovery of the takahē in Fiordland, 70 years ago.

New Zealand has a growing population of older drivers and an important issue is 'when do they give up driving?'

Warren Tate has jointly won the 2018 Marsden Medal for a lifetime of molecular discoveries about proteins and the genes that code them.

Judith Bateup has been awarded the Cranwell Medal for science communication, for running hands-on microbiology classes for school students.

Older drivers, and the 2018 winners of the Cranwell and Marsden Awards from the NZ Association of Scientists.

Yoram Barak says there are some simple ways of maintaining a healthy brain into old age. Good social relationships are key.

Melting polar ice will be the biggest contributor to sea level rise in future - but will it come from Greenland or Antarctica?

An expert says loneliness is the biggest risk for brain health, and ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica.

Te Awaroa o Porirua Whaitua committee is a group of locals thinking about freshwater quality in the Porirua catchment and harbour.

Te Awaroa o Porirua Whaitua committee has been thinking about freshwater in the Porirua catchment and what could be done to improve its health.

A Honey Landscape Map for New Zealand could help beekeepers find the best flower-rich sites for their beehives.

Scientists are working to better understand the invasive plant disease myrtle rust, and how it might impact native plants and ecosystems.

A project to map manuka flowering and help bee keepers pick the best places for their hives, and screening native plants to find resistance to myrtle rust.

Rod Downey, a mathematics professor at Victoria University of Wellington, has won New Zealand's top science honour, the Rutherford Medal.

Maren Wellenreuther, from Plant and Food Research, has won the 2018 Hamilton Award for her work developing snapper as a future aquaculture species.

Lisa Matisoo-Smith, from the University of Otago, has won the 2018 Mason Durie Medal for her work using DNA to understand the migration of people to Aotearoa.

Among the 24 researchers honoured with science awards this year are mathematician Rod Downey, molecular anthropologist Lisa Matisoo-Smith and aquaculture expert Maren Wellenreuther.

George Hobson is a teenager with a passion for birds - especially the banded dotterels that nest on Eastbourne's beach.

Mei Peng is investigating whether we each have a 'sensory fingerprint' that determines how we react to food.

The seaside community of Eastbourne has banded together to keep an eye on banded dotterels, and the reason we over-eat might be in our brains.

Scion scientists are developing ways to safely convert human faecal waste into bioplastic.

Scientists at Scion are developing ways of treating human waste to make it safe, then using it to make bioplastic.

Melanie Bussey studies concussion in sport, and how the human body reacts to impacts that might cause damage to the brain.

Many of New Zealand's threatened seabirds are at danger from fishing across the Pacific.

A study into whether getting concussed while playing rugby makes players more likely to get concussion in the future, and trans-Pacific efforts to stop seabirds getting killed by fishing boats.

Twenty-five years of bird counts have revealed an unexpected consequence to the creation of the predator-free Zealandia Sanctuary.

Community groups descend on Wellington's south coast each spring to pick up rubbish - including lots of plastic and cigarette butts.

For Conservation Week, the Friends of Taputeranga Marine Reserve celebrate their 10th anniversary by helping with Wellington's annual south coast clean-up, and how native bird numbers in Zealandia have changed over 20 years.

Scientist Quentin Atkinson has looked at how the structure of Pacific societies determined how quickly they converted to Christianity - but an historian is not so sure of his conclusions.

A scientist and a historian debate the role of science in determining how quickly different Pacific societies converted to Christianity in historic times.

Wellington company Swibo is making physiotherapy exercises more interesting using video games, mobile phones and balance boards.

3D and 4D printing could be a nimble tool for New Zealand manufacturers that also uses wood-based bioplastics.

Smart phones, video games and balance boards are making physiotherapy exercises more exciting, and 3D and 4D printing offer interesting possibilities for small manufacturers.

Long-tailed bats are thriving in gullies and bush along the Waikato River, where it flows through central Hamilton.

Long-tailed bats are thriving in gullies and bush along the Waikato River, where it flows through central Hamilton.

Research shows that nerves play a surprisingly important role in muscle loss, while exercise helps us maintain our strength.

Cardboard boxes are the workhorse of the economy, and Scion has a special facility to test them and better understand why they sometimes fail.

Research into ageing muscles show that nerves play an important role and exercise is protective, and a special facility to test the strength of cardboard boxes.

Field notebooks from some of NZ's first surveyors are among 1000s of historic documents digitised by LINZ in one of the world's largest cultural heritage projects.

LINZ has almost completed one of the largest cultural heritage archiving projects in the world, of notebooks and plans that underpin property boundaries in NZ.

After years of trials, Scion entomologists believe New Zealand could safely introduce a parasitic wasp to control the eucalyptus tortoise beetle.

Tiny grains of fossil pollen are helping GNS Science researchers piece together the big picture of past environments.

Finding out if an introduced parasitic wasp could be a biocontrol agent for a pest of eucalpytus trees, and how fossil pollen can tell us about lost worlds.

Kākahi or freshwater mussels are being moved to Zealandia sanctuary in Wellington as part of an ambitious restoration project.

Te Papa says it will undertake an internal review of the way it manages its collections, and an international external review of its natural history collections.

Scion has developed a bio-based adhesive to make fibreboard that is environmentally friendly and even compostable.

Kākahi or freshwater mussels on the move to Zealandia, Scion's green bio-based wood adhesive, and Te Papa announces international review of its natural history collections.

Bags of bone fragments are casting a genetic spotlight on New Zealand's lost natural world, and on the impact of early Polynesians on its biota.

A world-renowned fossil expert is concerned about the impact of a restructure at Te Papa on its important natural history collections.

Ancient e-DNA from bits of old bones is shedding new light on New Zealand's "lost world" and the impact of humans, and concerns about Te Papa's natural history collections.

A humanoid robot called Nao, and swarms of bio-inspired little robots that behave like social insects, wowed crowds at Dunedin's International Science Festival.