Navigation for News Categories
Our Changing World headlines with summaries.
-
Targeting bacteria, and health inequities
Māori and Pacific peoples are three to six times more likely to develop stomach cancer than New Zealanders with European ancestry. Claire Concannon visits a research team taking aim at this disparity.
… Audio -
Drones for pest control
13 Jun 2024Aotearoa is a country plagued by pests, but conservationists are hoping advances in drone technology could turn the tables. Producer William Ray looks at how drones are being trialled in controlling…
Audio -
Inside Auckland's lava caves
Caves created by rivers of lava underlie New Zealand’s biggest city. A new research project is documenting Auckland's lava caves, hoping to protect this hidden geological heritage and understand what…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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?
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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.
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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.
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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…
Audio -
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.
Audio -
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…
Audio
Top News stories
- Mayor takes responsibility for 'typo' that could have cost council $20m
- Dog rescued after spending 24 hours trapped in drainpipe
- Baby's body found in bin in Auckland
- E-mail to Youth MPs 'could have been clearer' - Ministry
- Civil Defence warns Nelson-Tasman flood-affected residents to plan for the worst
