Our Changing World

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. Godwits hold the record for non-stop long-distance flight - and scientists are wondering when they find time to sleep on the wing. The long-distance godwit migration Eastern bar-tailed godwits or kuaka spend up to six months every year in Australasia....

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 t...

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.  To avert the worst of the climate crisis we need to reduce our emissions. One way...

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. Many of our fisheries are under pressure. At the same time people are eating more fish. Could farming iconic New Zealand species be the future? And what are the advantages of...

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. The kina are out of control. As many as 40 urchins crowd into a single square metre of rock, devoid of other life. A kina barren is a symptom of an ecosystem out of balance. Could we eat our way to a solution? Kina zombies...

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. Symphony in the sea Journalist Kate Evans and presenter Claire Concannon discover a world of snapping shrimp, singing whales and barking John Dory. Researchers Professor Craig Rad...

A collaboration between Our Changing World and New Zealand Geographic, the Voice of Tangaroa series explores the state of our oceans, and the extraordinary variety of life that calls it home.  93% of New Zealand is covered in salt water. 80% of our biodiversity is in our seas. And yet this is the part of our realm we understand the least and treat the worst. A collaboration between Our Changing Wo...

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. Clarification: In this episode there is a discussion about comparing notes about icebergs taken by Shackleton's team aboard the Aurora to that of the current expedit...

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. Excitement rises on board the expedition yacht Evohe as...

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. Antarctica is losing ice at an accelerating rate, particularly in some parts of West Antarctica. How did the small and more v...

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. The view is what you notice first. It's takes time to get up to the roof of the Auckland War Memorial Museum Tamaki Paenga Hera but once you're there, it's worth it. A...

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. The aquarium room at NIWA is awash with sound. A pump system hums, clicks and splashes as it circulates water through large tanks like the Wellington bucket fountain....

In the final instalment of the summer science series, science communication students tackle two controversial topics: medicinal cannabis, and AI consciousness. In our final instalment of the summer science series, we have two more stories from science communication students. Each year, science communication students at the University of Otago's Department of Science Communication are tasked w...

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. Each year, science communication...

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. Our summer science series continues with a story from Samantha Lloyd-Evans, a student from the Centre for Science in Society at Victoria University of Wellington. Samantha take...

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. A seabird colony at night is a noisy place. But it's also an incredible experience to have thousands of birds flying around you, says seabird scientist Gaia Dell'Arriccia. The su...

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. In 1935, a series of extraordinary newspaper articles claimed a backyard inventor called Victor Penny was trying to build a death ray for the New Zealand government. Follow Our Changing World...

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 exhibition at Te Papa Museum to discover the surprising link between the giant dinosaurs of Patagonia, and prehistoric New Zealand. Follow Our Changing World on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRADIO, Google Podcasts, RadioPub...

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. Follow Our Changing World on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRADIO, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic or wherever you listen to your podcasts Underwater lan...

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? It could be the headquarters for a rocket launch, or the control centre for a highly coordinated operation. One wall is full of large monitors, information updating in real time. Camer...

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. Follow Our Changing World on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRADIO, Google Pod...

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. Varroa destructor mites are bad news for honey bees. Not only do they attack the bees by chewing on a vital organ called the fat body...

New video series: A turning point in the fight to preserve Aotearoa's natural environment. If you enjoy listening to Our Changing World, we reckon that you might be keen on a new video series just released on RNZ. The Turning Point is about the new generation of kaitiaki across Aotearoa taking on the challenge of protecting and restoring our natural environment, paving the way to a more hopeful fu...

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. GERALDINE loiters at one end of the giant lab space. Metal, shiny, round and very large, she's been purposely built to help scientists...

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. A born and bred Chatham Islander, from the largest island, Rēkohu, musician Ajay Peni says the wildness, the...