Our Changing World

00:26:07

Detecting cow burps from space

Our Changing World ·

2025/09/22

In March 2024, a satellite built to detect the potent greenhouse gas methane launched into orbit – backed by New Zealand to a final total of $32 million. MethaneSAT aimed to pinpoint large leaks from oil and gas fields, since plugging these is considered an easy climate win. But an add-on mission was investigating whether the satellite could pick up the smaller, more diffuse methane emissions from agriculture. Our Changing World joined the New Zealand-based team testing this capability – before

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00:29:51

New Zealand science in space

Our Changing World ·

2025/09/15

In March 2024, a rocket launched from Florida carrying New Zealand’s first science payload to the International Space Station. The small cube, named Lucy, is a protein crystallisation lab developed by Dr Sarah Kessans from the University of Canterbury. Protein crystallisation is often the key first step in figuring out a protein structure, and the unique fluid conditions of microgravity in low Earth orbit helps the process. Working with several collaborators, Sarah is trying to develop a

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00:26:05

The I-spy carbon mobile

Our Changing World ·

2025/09/08

An elaborate game of carbon ‘I spy’ is happening on the streets of Wellington. With their brand-new mobile carbon lab, Earth Sciences New Zealand (formerly GNS) can detect things like carbon dioxide and methane as they drive around. This allows them to pinpoint where emissions are coming from. Plus, with radiocarbon measurements, they can understand what amount of the carbon they detect is coming from fossil fuels. It all helps to ground-truth our estimates of what’s happening in our urban

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00:27:47

The comeback bird

Our Changing World ·

2025/09/01

Takahē were believed to be extinct not once, but twice. Today their population is just over 500 – still not a huge number, but big enough that new homes are needed for these flightless manu. The latest area to welcome takahē is the upper Whakatipu – in particular, the stunning Rees Valley. But threats remain and keeping on top of predator numbers is key for this comeback bird to survive and thrive in their new home.Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science

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00:27:04

Powering New Zealand

Our Changing World ·

2025/08/25

Gas shortages, a reversal of the ban of offshore oil and gas exploration, and a government plan to double geothermal energy in the next 15 years… There’s been a lot in the news recently about New Zealand’s energy supply now and in the future. Claire Concannon speaks to researcher Dr Jen Purdie about our ongoing electrification of industry and transport, about our ‘dry year problem’, and what the future of supply and demand might look like in a changing climate.Sign up to the Our Changing World

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00:28:42

New Zealand’s youth vaping rates

Our Changing World ·

2025/08/18

New Zealand’s youth vaping rates are among the highest in the world. How did we get here and what will this mean for the future of our rangatahi? A 2018 court case paved the way for a loose regulatory start for vaping in New Zealand, and rapid uptake by those aged 14–24 in the years since has led to concerns that a new generation is now addicted to nicotine. New Zealand researchers are investigating how vaping affects our lungs, and the harms young people are experiencing in terms of social

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00:26:17

The science of non-alcoholic beer

Our Changing World ·

2025/08/11

More and more of us are reaching for low or no-alcohol beers. As the market grows, the options are also expanding – but brewing beer without alcohol fermentation presents a tricky puzzle. In traditional beer brewing the conversion of sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide through yeast fermentation is a key part of the process. How can you get the same flavour into beer without it? A team at Victoria University of Wellington, including the head of research and development at Garage Project, have

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00:25:37

Turning Taupō green

Our Changing World ·

2025/08/04

Project Tongariro was established as a living memorial for five people who died in a tragic helicopter accident. Last November, the project turned 40 years old. Over those four decades, activities have expanded beyond Tongariro National Park and into the wider area, including urban restoration through tree planting and predator trapping. Claire Concannon visits the Taupō-based projects that Project Tongariro is supporting as they prepare for Greening Taupō Day – their biggest planting day of the

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00:26:05

The willows and the wetland

Our Changing World ·

2025/07/28

The battle on the frontlines of conservation continues around the motu. This week we head to the central North Island to join some of the staff and volunteers of Project Tongariro. Ecologist Nick Singers is coordinating the fight against the invasive grey willow that’s taking over a wetland area, while Shirley Potter is applying a ‘let’s get it done’ attitude to reforesting a patch of public conservation land near her home in Tauranga-Taupō. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for

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00:25:40

The dance of the lanternfish

Our Changing World ·

2025/07/21

During World War II, sonar operators discovered a ‘false seabed’ that appeared to move upwards during the nighttime. In fact, the sound waves were bouncing off huge numbers of small critters. This daily movement is the largest animal migration on the planet, consisting of deep-water animals that hide in the ocean’s twilight then move to the surface after sunset to feed. By far the most abundant fish in this crowd are the lanternfishes. New Zealand researchers are investigating what impact

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00:27:30

A New Zealand approach to nuclear fusion

Our Changing World ·

2025/07/14

For a long time, nuclear fusion was viewed as a powerful, but unachievable, energy source, because the technological challenges were just too great. But recent advances, particularly in the development of powerful magnets, have reignited the race to create the world’s first efficient nuclear fusion powerplant. Claire Concannon visits one private company just outside Wellington who have joined the nuclear fusion effort, with a unique approach they believe might be the key. Sign up to the Our

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00:25:30

Tauranga's living sea wall

Our Changing World ·

2025/07/07

In May 2024, 100 strange rocky structures were installed along Tauranga's harbour shoreline. These flower-shaped artificial rockpools, nicknamed 'sea pods', provide prime waterfront real estate for marine life – from colourful sea slugs to sneezing sponges. Justine Murray finds out how 'living sea walls' are bringing back biodiversity to urban harbours around the world, and joins a marine scientist to check out what creatures have moved into Tauranga's sea pods.Sign up to the Our Changing World

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00:25:31

Protecting ‘Jaws’ – Aotearoa’s rarest freshwater fish

Our Changing World ·

2025/06/30

Speckled, pencil-thin and sporting an underbite: the lowland longjaw galaxias is New Zealand’s rarest freshwater fish species. With just seven known populations, this species is considered nationally endangered. Join producer Karthic SS at a spring-fed stream in the wild Mackenzie Basin to meet the tiny fish, hear from a researcher studying trout-proof barriers, and chat to a ranger who for 20 years has cared for the little fish he calls 'Jaws'. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter

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00:26:34

New insights from an old vaccine

Our Changing World ·

2025/06/23

Since the 1800s, tuberculosis (TB) has been responsible for an estimated 1 billion deaths. In New Zealand today, we don’t get many cases of TB, but worldwide it is the leading infectious disease killer. In the early 1900s a TB vaccine was developed. Called the BCG vaccine, it’s still used today. While it is the best TB vaccine we have, it’s not actually great at preventing TB infection, only providing some protection for the youngest of patients. However, scientists have discovered that the BCG

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00:26:24

Getting ready for H5N1 bird flu

Our Changing World ·

2025/06/16

2020 saw the start of two global pandemics. Covid-19, of course, but also H5N1 bird flu. The latter has swept around the world leaving millions of dead wild birds and marine mammals in its wake. It has reached everywhere – except Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Alison Ballance has been finding out why this strain of bird flu is so deadly, and what we are doing to get ready for its possible arrival on our shores. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories,

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00:00:33

Wild Sounds: The new podcast feed for nature

Our Changing World ·

2025/06/11

If you like Our Changing World, you should find and follow Wild Sounds: RNZ's new podcast feed dedicated to incredible natural science stories from New Zealand! Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

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00:28:47

Tracking turtles

Our Changing World ·

2025/06/09

In late 2024 a cluster of sick green sea turtles washed up around the Rangaunu Harbour on the east coast of the Far North. It was just another mystery in a long line of all the things we don’t know about these ocean taonga. But a new telemetry study, using these very turtles, could change all that. The study has officially kicked off with the release of five satellite-tagged honu. Liz Garton finds out what secrets the researchers hope to uncover.From now on Our Changing World will appear on Tuesdays

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00:26:00

The Chatham Island tūī translocation

Our Changing World ·

2025/06/02

One from the archives! By the 1990s Chatham Island tūī had all but disappeared from the main island. Slightly different to their mainland counterparts, these songbirds had survived on nearby Pitt and Rangatira islands. So a local conservation group decided to try bring them back. In this episode from 2010, Alison Ballance joins the ‘tūī team’ tasked with moving 40 birds from Rangatira island back to the main island. From now on Our Changing World will arrive in your podcast feed first thing on a

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00:25:53

Wildfire science heats up

Our Changing World ·

2025/05/28

Smoke explosions. Fire tornadoes. Burning couches. It all happens in the fire lab: a purpose-built facility where researchers can safely set stuff on fire and study how it burns, for science. New Zealand experiences 4,500 wildfires every year, with the risk ramping up due to climate change. We visit the fire lab to watch a large gorse bush go up in flames and learn how this helps us prepare for future wildfires. Sign up to the Our Changing World monthly newsletter for episode backstories, science

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00:26:09

Dissecting the world's rarest whale

Our Changing World ·

2025/05/21

How do you go about dissecting the world’s rarest whale? In December 2024, images from a concrete room in Mosgiel, just south of Dunedin, spread around the world as a team of people spent a week doing a scientific dissection on a spade-toothed whale that had washed up five months before. Claire Concannon joins them to find out what’s involved, what they have learned, and how the arrangements between local iwi and visiting scientists enabled knowledge sharing. Sign up to the Our Changing World

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