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Our Changing World headlines with summaries.
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Celebrating the night sky on Great Barrier Island
28 Sep 2017Great Barrier Island has become the world's third International Dark Sky Sanctuary, in recognition of its outstanding star-filled night skies.
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SOFIA - a flying telescope with a unique view of space
21 Sep 2017NASA's SOFIA observatory is a 2.5m telescope mounted in the back of a plane. It observes the birth and death of stars and the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy.
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Bacteria versus virus at Queenstown Research Week
14 Sep 2017The arms race between the immune systems of bacteria and the viruses - bacteriophages - that attack them, was a feature of this year's Queenstown Research Week.
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Bringing Kirk's tree daisy back to Wellington
7 Sep 2017Kohurangi, or Kirk's tree daisy, is rare in the Wellington region, but botanists are taking on the challenge of bringing it back to the city.
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The Science Of... Vitamin C
What is vitamin C and why do we need it? Which foods have the most vitamin C? Should we pop pills when we think we're getting a cold, or are we just producing expensive urine? And can vit C really…
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The future of robots is soft
27 Jul 2017Trevor the caterpillar and Julie the dragonfly are soft robots that can walk and flap using electricity that powers artificial muscles, without a printed circuit board in sight.
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The Science of... Virtual Reality
19 Aug 2017We go beyond gaming to explore how VR works, what it's being used for (from treating a fear of spiders, to training young doctors) and ask if it's yet making any compelling case to be in every home.
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The Science of... Sweat
12 Aug 2017Simon Morton and Alison Ballance present a three-part series exploring the science of sweat, virtual reality and Vitamin C. This week, the function of a much-maligned bodily fluid that plays a vital…
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Micronutrients and their link to mental health
Julia Rucklidge is investigating whether micronutrients can relieve stress and anxiety, help people quit smoking and treat ADHD.
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Solving the mystery of the Kaikōura bubbles
3 Aug 2017Mysterious bubbles and warm water, known as Hope Springs, which appeared after the Kaikōura earthquake, appear to be coming from deep in the earth's crust.
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The low-down on electric cars in New Zealand
Flip the Fleet is a citizen science project looking at the performance of electric vehicles under New Zealand conditions.
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Filtering distraction - key to success
Neuropsycholgist Paul Corballis talks about the way our brains perceive the world, how we recognise faces, and whether or not we can really multi-task.
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A genetic helping hand for conservation
20 Jul 2017Four scientists talk about genetics and how it can help in the conservation of rare birds such as little spotted kiwi.
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Canine DNA and 'Darwin's Dogs'
13 Jul 2017Kiwi canine DNA has been collected as part of a global project, called Darwin's Dogs, investigating the genes behind the personalities of dogs.
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Migraines - much more than a headache
Migraines are debilitating headaches, and Debbie Hay says that new drugs targeting the pain hormone CGRP are showing lots of promise.
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The science of a water aquifer
6 Jul 2017What is the Waiwhetu aquifer, where does its water come from, and what does it mean for the Wellington region - Alison Ballance investigates.
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Southern island sanctuary for rare birds
29 Jun 2017Putauhinu, one of the southern Tītī Islands, has become a remarkable rat-free sanctuary, gifting rare land birds to other islands.
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Analysing wastewater reveals population health
22 Jun 2017Chemicals and drugs detected at wastewater treatment plants can be used to anonymously measure a population’s health.
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Honey, I shrunk the lab
22 Jun 2017A lab-on-a-chip developed at the University of Canterbury is allowing biologists to measure the minute force generated by a single fungal thread.
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Will your roof withstand flying volcanic rocks?
15 Jun 2017Geologists are using a vertical cannon to test how different roofing materials - and even hard hats - can withstand the impact of flying volcanic rocks.
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Insects remarkably preserved in New Zealand amber
15 Jun 2017Amber is beautiful to look at - and it is also an incredible window into the prehistoric past.
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Engineering better stem cells
Stem cells have the potential to cure many diseases, but first, we need to find the best ways of growing them in the lab - and their physical environment may be key.
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Kauri dieback and how microbes sense the world
8 Jun 2017Microbes, such as the fungi-like kauri dieback disease, use chemicals to sense their world - and understanding this might help us to develop new treatments.
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The looming crisis of antimicrobial resistance
As more microbes develop resistance to every kind of antimicrobial treatment, the threat of dying from even common infectious diseases is increasing - so what should we be doing about it?
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