Our Changing World
Stories about science and nature from out in the field and inside the labs across Aotearoa New Zealand. Winner 2022 New Zealand Radio Awards Best Factual Podcast - Episodic
Episodes
July 25, 2024 • 32 mins
An expedition to the Bounty Trough off the Otago Coast uncovers a treasure trove of deep-sea creatures – including some species new to science. Veronika Meduna meets slimy fish, snails, and tiny shrimp-like critters from the ocean depths.
Mark as Played
July 18, 2024 • 25 mins
Avocado seed powder to make snacks, fish waste skin for wound healing, and bioactive compounds made from brewer’s spent grain – Claire Concannon visits a food lab at AUT turning food waste into wealth.
Mark as Played
July 17, 2024 • 10 mins
Claire Concannon heads along to the food technology lab at the Auckland University of Technology to speak with one researcher who is aiming to turn food waste into wealth.
Mark as Played
July 11, 2024 • 28 mins
Climate-change-induced sea level rise is happening. What will this mean for our low-lying wetlands? Will they get eroded away – releasing more carbon? Or will they grow at the same rate, and hold their ground? And what will this mean for the critters that live there? A team are investigating at an Otago wetland that might be the first in New Zealand to make this change.
Mark as Played
July 10, 2024 • 10 mins
Claire Concannon visits an Otago wetland to meet those investigating its future as sea levels rise.
Mark as Played
July 4, 2024 • 27 mins
We might think deep-sea squid look a bit strange, but if they have the capacity for it, they would likely consider us monsters! Claire speaks to a squidologist and a PhD candidate about their research trying to understand more about the lives of deep-sea squid.
Mark as Played
June 27, 2024 • 30 mins
Jump onboard an alpine flight to photograph some glaciers! The annual snowline survey has been running since 1977, but today new techniques are allowing researchers to go beyond 2D photos to make 3D models of the glaciers. Claire Concannon joins the team for a long day of flying and photographing.
Mark as Played
June 25, 2024 • 54 secs
A new six-part video series highlights the state of our oceans, and efforts from researchers, Māori and other partners to develop sustainable solutions.
Mark as Played
June 20, 2024 • 28 mins
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.
Mark as Played
June 13, 2024 • 25 mins
Aotearoa 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 everything from microscopic diseases to elusive wallabies, and wilding pine trees.
Mark as Played
June 6, 2024 • 26 mins
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 future eruptions might have in store.
Mark as Played
May 30, 2024 • 28 mins
A 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, James Purtill discovers the amphibian treasures of the world’s largest tropical island, and what conservationists are doing to protect them.
Mark as Played
May 23, 2024 • 24 mins
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?
Mark as Played
May 16, 2024 • 26 mins
Could 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 finds out what we're doing to uncover their potential antibiotic properties.
Mark as Played
May 9, 2024 • 27 mins
A 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
Mark as Played
Meet 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 him the 2023 Science Communication Prize. Meanwhile, Future Scientist prizewinner 17-year-old Sunny Perry has developed a helpful soil map.
Mark as Played
April 25, 2024 • 29 mins
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 chances of success, and what will it mean for the island’s ecosystems if they manage to remove the rats once and for all?
Mark as Played
April 18, 2024 • 29 mins
Journalist 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 route to extinction. A few changes to the way we fish could save it.
Mark as Played
April 11, 2024 • 30 mins
New 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 politically fraught? How might our ideas about marine protection need to change? And why, when our seas are in need, is it taking us so long to learn to talk to each other?
Mark as Played
April 4, 2024 • 28 mins
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 to know why.
Mark as Played
Popular Podcasts
The Podium: An NBC Olympic and Paralympic podcast. Join us for insider coverage during the intense competition at the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games. In the run-up to the Opening Ceremony, we’ll bring you deep into the stories and events that have you know and those you'll be hard-pressed to forget.
In The Village will take you into the most exclusive areas of the 2024 Paris Olympic Games to explore the daily life of athletes, complete with all the funny, mundane and unexpected things you learn off the field of play. Join Elizabeth Beisel as she sits down with Olympians each day in Paris.
Listen to the latest news from the 2024 Olympics.
The 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris are here and have everyone talking. iHeartPodcasts is buzzing with content in honor of the 33rd Olympic Games and you can follow Paris Summer Games to stay up to date on all things Olympics. We’re bringing you episodes from a variety of iHeartPodcast shows to help you keep up with the action. Follow Paris Summer Games so you don’t miss any coverage of the 2024 Olympic Games, and if you like what you hear, be sure to follow each Podcast in the feed for more great content from iHeartPodcasts.
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.