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Our Changing World headlines with summaries.
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The race to save Papua New Guinea's frogs
30 May 2024A 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…
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How much of our extreme weather is due to climate change?
This week, Phil Vine dives into the science of climate attribution. How much is climate change affecting extreme weather events? And how can this new science prepare us for the future?
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Fungal foray-ing and the search for new antibiotics
16 May 2024Could 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…
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Understanding our nearshore island volcanoes - Whakaari and Tūhua
9 May 2024A 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
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The 2023 Prime Minister’s Science Prizes: Communicating volcano science and sampling soils
2 May 2024Meet 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…
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Turning the tide – what it takes to take out rats
Kate Evans visits a passionate team as they carpet a remote volcanic island in Tonga with poisoned bait, hoping to eradicate rats. What does it take to complete this kind of project, what are the…
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Summer 34 – Three decades of albatross research
18 Apr 2024Journalist 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…
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Taking on water - marine protection in Aotearoa
11 Apr 2024New 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…
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A tale of two islands – erect-crested penguins
4 Apr 2024The 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…
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The mystery of how godwits sleep in flight
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.
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The stuff of life - Carbon capture in our ocean ecosystems
21 Mar 2024What 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…
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Fish out of water - How to grow fish on land
14 Mar 2024People 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…
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Kina-nomics - The kina are taking over, what can we do?
7 Mar 2024Kina 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.
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The undersea orchestra - Ocean sounds and what they tell us
29 Feb 2024Crackle, 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…
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Watching the weather in the far southern seas
22 Feb 2024A 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…
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New Zealand’s Antipodes Islands – remote, wild, and special
15 Feb 2024An 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…
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The fate of the West Antarctic ice sheet in a warming world
How fast – and how completely – could Antarctica's smaller western ice sheet melt in a warming world? An international science team, led by Aotearoa New Zealand, set out to investigate whether two…
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Pollen, asthma and allergies
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…
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Restoring Wellington’s seaweed forests
25 Jan 2024Giant 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…
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Summer science: AI and medicinal cannabis
18 Jan 2024In the final instalment of the summer science series, science communication students tackle two controversial topics: medicinal cannabis, and AI consciousness.
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Summer science: Hybrid wildlife and mātauranga Māori
11 Jan 2024Should 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…
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Summer science: Kākā in Wellington
4 Jan 2024Kākā 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…
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Summer science: Seabirds in Auckland
4 Jan 2024The 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…
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Summer science: Death rays and radio inventions
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…
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