Our Changing World

Dr Claire Concannon follows scientists into the bush, over rivers, back to their labs and many places in-between to cover the most fascinating research being done in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Hosted and produced by Claire Concannon and Ellen Rykers

On air:

Tuesdays at 7.30pm, encore on Mondays at 1.15am on RNZ National

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The science of non-alcoholic beer

More and more of us are reaching for low or no-alcohol beers. As the market grows, the options are also expanding – but brewing beer without alcohol fermentation presents a tricky puzzle. In traditional beer brewing the conversion of sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide through yeast fermentation is a key part of the process. How can you get the same flavour into beer without it? A team at Victoria University of Wellington, including the head of research and development at Garage Project, have begun an interdisciplinary research project to address this. They’re hoping to develop a brand-new yeast strain, one that will recreate delicious beer flavours, but without the alcohol.
The science of non-alcoholic beershared with you
A man in a blue flannel shirt stands in front of large brewery equipment in a warehouse, with a sign that says 'Garage Project' visible behind him.

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Detecting cow burps from space

In March 2024, a satellite built to detect the potent greenhouse gas methane launched into orbit – backed by New Zealand to a final total of $32 million. MethaneSAT aimed to pinpoint large leaks from oil and gas fields, since plugging these is considered an easy climate win. But an add-on mission was investigating whether the satellite could pick up the smaller, more diffuse methane emissions from agriculture. Our Changing World joined the New Zealand-based team testing this capability – before disaster struck. With MethaneSAT uncontactable and lost in space, what did the mission deliver?
Artist’s rendering of MethaneSAT, the satellite EDF developed.

New Zealand science in space

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 by Dr Sarah Kessans from the University of Canterbury. Protein crystallisation is often the key first step in figuring out a protein structure, and the unique fluid conditions of microgravity in low Earth orbit helps the process. Working with several collaborators, Sarah is trying to develop a commercially viable crystallisation lab in space. Plus, Dr Brian Russell is creating AI tools to help space companies make critical decisions around astronaut health and safety.
A group of five people wearing white shirts with a logo are posing outdoors in front of a large countdown timer display and holding a New Zealand flag. In the background, there is a tall building with the NASA logo on it.

The I-spy carbon mobile

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 dioxide and methane as they drive around. This allows them to pinpoint where emissions are coming from. Plus, with radiocarbon measurements, they can understand what amount of the carbon they detect is coming from fossil fuels. It all helps to ground-truth our estimates of what’s happening in our urban environments.
A man and a woman stand in front of a white van with the words 'Carbon Watch (Urban)' written on it.

The comeback bird

Takahē were believed to be extinct not once, but twice. Today their population is just over 500 – still not a huge number, but big enough that new homes are needed for these flightless manu. The latest area to welcome takahē is the upper Whakatipu – in particular, the stunning Rees Valley. But threats remain and keeping on top of predator numbers is key for this comeback bird to survive and thrive in their new home.
Three people crouched in a shrubby tussockland next to meshed boxes with doors open, smiling as large blue birds with red beaks walk out of the boxes into the surroundings.

Powering New Zealand

Gas shortages, a reversal of the ban of offshore oil and gas exploration, and a government plan to double geothermal energy in the next 15 years… There’s been a lot in the news recently about New Zealand’s energy supply now and in the future. Claire Concannon speaks to researcher Dr Jen Purdie about our ongoing electrification of industry and transport, about our ‘dry year problem’, and what the future of supply and demand might look like in a changing climate.
Half a dozen large wind turbines on rolling green hills covered in a blanket of mist. Trees in the foreground and a blue dawn sky. Te Āpiti Windfarm, taken from the Ashhurst Domain lookout.

New Zealand’s youth vaping rates

New Zealand’s youth vaping rates are among the highest in the world. How did we get here and what will this mean for the future of our rangatahi? A 2018 court case paved the way for a loose regulatory start for vaping in New Zealand, and rapid uptake by those aged 14–24 in the years since has led to concerns that a new generation is now addicted to nicotine. New Zealand researchers are investigating how vaping affects our lungs, and the harms young people are experiencing in terms of social connections and mental health.
A woman wearing a striped shirt sits at a desk with six different colourful vapes laid out in front of her. She has a serious look and also has a laptop.

The science of non-alcoholic beer

More and more of us are reaching for low or no-alcohol beers. As the market grows, the options are also expanding – but brewing beer without alcohol fermentation presents a tricky puzzle. In traditional beer brewing the conversion of sugars into ethanol and carbon dioxide through yeast fermentation is a key part of the process. How can you get the same flavour into beer without it? A team at Victoria University of Wellington, including the head of research and development at Garage Project, have begun an interdisciplinary research project to address this. They’re hoping to develop a brand-new yeast strain, one that will recreate delicious beer flavours, but without the alcohol.
The science of non-alcoholic beershared with you
A man in a blue flannel shirt stands in front of large brewery equipment in a warehouse, with a sign that says 'Garage Project' visible behind him.

Turning Taupō green

Project Tongariro was established as a living memorial for five people who died in a tragic helicopter accident. Last November, the project turned 40 years old. Over those four decades, activities have expanded beyond Tongariro National Park and into the wider area, including urban restoration through tree planting and predator trapping. Claire Concannon visits the Taupō-based projects that Project Tongariro is supporting as they prepare for Greening Taupō Day – their biggest planting day of the year.
A woman and two children dressed in bright green capes, gumboots and green headbands hold seedlings and a spade at a planting site.

The willows and the wetland

The battle on the frontlines of conservation continues around the motu. This week we head to the central North Island to join some of the staff and volunteers of Project Tongariro. Ecologist Nick Singers is coordinating the fight against the invasive grey willow that’s taking over a wetland area, while Shirley Potter is applying a ‘let’s get it done’ attitude to reforesting a patch of public conservation land near her home in Tauranga-Taupō.
A man in a red bucket hat, fleece vest and shirt looks out onto a wetland with reeds and a film of pond weed. Next to him is a woman in a blue polo shirt, smiling as she looks out onto the water. The sky is overcast.

The dance of the lanternfish

During World War II, sonar operators discovered a ‘false seabed’ that appeared to move upwards during the nighttime. In fact, the sound waves were bouncing off huge numbers of small critters. This daily movement is the largest animal migration on the planet, consisting of deep-water animals that hide in the ocean’s twilight then move to the surface after sunset to feed. By far the most abundant fish in this crowd are the lanternfishes. New Zealand researchers are investigating what impact lanternfish migration has on the life cycle of fish we like to eat, and how it may also play a huge role in the Earth’s carbon cycle.
A man in an aubergine-coloured shirt with a white and grey pattern looks at a plastic vial of about half a dozen small silvery fish.

A New Zealand approach to nuclear fusion

For a long time, nuclear fusion was viewed as a powerful, but unachievable, energy source, because the technological challenges were just too great. But recent advances, particularly in the development of powerful magnets, have reignited the race to create the world’s first efficient nuclear fusion powerplant. Claire Concannon visits one private company just outside Wellington who have joined the nuclear fusion effort, with a unique approach they believe might be the key.
Three people wearing white jumpsuits, harnesses, helmets and respirators inside a metal chamber, gathered around a large metal donut object that has a metal pole extending from the chamber's ceiling through its centre. They are viewed through a circular opening.

Tauranga's living sea wall

In May 2024, 100 strange rocky structures were installed along Tauranga's harbour shoreline. These flower-shaped artificial rockpools, nicknamed 'sea pods', provide prime waterfront real estate for marine life – from colourful sea slugs to sneezing sponges. Justine Murray finds out how 'living sea walls' are bringing back biodiversity to urban harbours around the world, and joins a marine scientist to check out what creatures have moved into Tauranga's sea pods.
Three lines of artificial flower-shaped rocks where the "petals" are dips in the rock that can fill with water, lined up alongside the blue ocean.

Protecting ‘Jaws’ – Aotearoa’s rarest freshwater fish

Speckled, pencil-thin and sporting an underbite: the lowland longjaw galaxias is New Zealand’s rarest freshwater fish species. With just seven known populations, this species is considered nationally endangered. Join producer Karthic SS at a spring-fed stream in the wild Mackenzie Basin to meet the tiny fish, hear from a researcher studying trout-proof barriers, and chat to a ranger who for 20 years has cared for the little fish he calls 'Jaws'.
A person tips a mesh bucket-shaped trap above a white plastic bucket, dropping a small brown fish into the white bucket. Only the person's hands and legs (in dark khaki pants) are visible. The background is brown tussock.

New insights from an old vaccine

Since the 1800s, tuberculosis (TB) has been responsible for an estimated 1 billion deaths. In New Zealand today, we don’t get many cases of TB, but worldwide it is the leading infectious disease killer. In the early 1900s a TB vaccine was developed. Called the BCG vaccine, it’s still used today. While it is the best TB vaccine we have, it’s not actually great at preventing TB infection, only providing some protection for the youngest of patients. However, scientists have discovered that the BCG vaccine can boost people’s immune systems in other ways. Now researchers at the Malaghan Institute in Wellington are investigating these findings further.
A woman wearing safety glasses in a white lab coat with a Malaghan 'M' logo on it is standing in a science lab. She has her arms folded and is smiling at the camera.

Getting ready for H5N1 bird flu

2020 saw the start of two global pandemics. Covid-19, of course, but also H5N1 bird flu. The latter has swept around the world leaving millions of dead wild birds and marine mammals in its wake. It has reached everywhere – except Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific. Alison Ballance has been finding out why this strain of bird flu is so deadly, and what we are doing to get ready for its possible arrival on our shores.
A large white seabird with a long dagger-like beak, dark tail feathers and yellow-dusted head stands on a piece of grey driftwood in front of lots of other seabirds of the same kind clustered behind it.

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