Yesterday the Prime Minister handed out one million dollars worth of science prizes.
The top prize of $500,000 went to a team from Plant & Food Research, for its work fighting the kiwifruit disease PSA.
Damian Christie, who is the former host of Backbenchers, was awarded the 2017 Science Communication Prize. It's worth $100,000.
He tells Jesse how he plans to use the money to fast-track the launch of the Aotearoa Science Agency, which will showcase some of the achievements and discoveries from within New Zealand's science sector and promote the successes to new audiences here and overseas.