Our Changing World

An invasive species has taken hold in the Waikato River - and it’s multiplying fast. Gold clams, tiny but relentless, are now found along a large stretch of the awa. Through their huge, and growing… Read more Audio

New Zealand’s marine search and rescue region stretches from Antarctica to north of Samoa. If someone goes missing without any means of communication, that’s a lot of ocean to search. Now… Read more Audio

It’s been 30 years since a dramatic series of eruptions at Mount Ruapehu. In that time, there have been great advances in monitoring and modelling volcanoes - but we still can’t look inside a… Read more Audio

Two years ago, the Australasian crested grebe, the pÅ«teketeke, took out the title of New Zealand’s Bird of the Century. But when the billboard on the Champs-Elysse got swapped out, and the clips of… Read more Audio

From the public service sector to businesses to individuals, AI's uptake across New Zealand is spreading. And it’s not just large language models. Claire Concannon meets researchers that are… Read more Audio

This week, an underwater mystery connecting New Zealand and Ireland - the puzzle of the disappearing sponges of Lough Hyne. In the late 1990s/early 2000s James Bell was doing PhD research on the… Read more Audio

Voices from Antarctica Audio

In March 2024, a satellite built to detect the potent greenhouse gas methane launched into orbit â€" backed by New Zealand to the tune of $30 million. MethaneSAT aimed to pinpoint large leaks from oil… Read more Audio

In March 2024, a satellite built to detect the potent greenhouse gas methane launched into orbit â€" backed by New Zealand to the tune of $32 million. MethaneSAT aimed to pinpoint large leaks from oil… Read more Audio

In March 2024, a satellite built to detect the potent greenhouse gas methane launched into orbit â€" backed by New Zealand to a final total of $32 million. MethaneSAT aimed to pinpoint large leaks… Read more Audio

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… Read more Audio

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… Read more Audio