Stories by Alison Ballance

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?

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.

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.

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.

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…

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…

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

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…

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…

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.

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

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

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

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

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.