Jemma Geoghegan

Claire Concannon sits down with Professor Jemma Geoghegan, winner of the Prime Minister's Te Puiaki Whakapā Pūtaiao Science Communication Prize, to chat about Covid-19, bird flu and her virology lab.

Scientists in Aotearoa are planning environmental sampling to act as an early alert system for a highly infectious strain of bird flu.

The strain has killed millions of birds and marine mammals… Audio

Professor Jemma Geoghegan says the flu has already killed millions of animals globally and there are fears it could pose a real threat to Aotearoa's endangered bird life. Audio

New research has found a respiratory disease is what caused high numbers of hoiho / yellow eyed penguin chicks to die over the last three years. 

The collaborative study by Otago and Massey… Audio

Genome sequencing has become a household term during this pandemic. This week, we explore how it became an important tool in the fight against Covid-19. Audio

Genome sequencing was New Zealand's superpower during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic. Our Changing World gets the inside story of our remarkable use of this tech, and what it revealed about… Audio

While we might have heard all we ever want to know about viruses in the last few years, the truth is, known viruses represent less than zero point one percent of the estimated total of viruses out… Audio

Claire Concannon speaks to University of Otago researchers investigating virus diversity, how viruses evolve, and what might be causing some diseases affecting our native wildlife. Audio

Latest figures show there are over 10 thousand new cases of Covid-19 so far and 21 deaths, another sign the current wave of Covid is spreading ... and fast. Notably, two of the new cases reported are… Audio

A rash, fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion - these are the symptoms of Monkeypox, a rare viral disease now infecting humans.  Karyn asks virologist… Audio

A new variant of Covid-19 is spreading overseas, and it could be just a flight away from our shores.

Omicron "XE", a hybrid of Omicron, is estimated to be 10 percent more transmissible than its… Audio

Virologists aren't sounding the alarm bells just yet about a mutated version of Omicron that's been seeping into our borders.

There's little currently known about the new strain, dubbed BA.2, besides… Audio

The Ministry of Health has confirmed at least one case of the Omicron variant in a managed isolation facility in Christchurch.

The variant is spreading quickly overseas and scientists are racing to… Audio

Health experts say it will be weeks until we know more about the severity of the new Covid-19 "variant of concern".

The Omicron variant has more than 30 mutations on its spike protein, and early… Audio

Travel restrictions are being reintroduced around the world after a new Covid-19 "variant of concern" was detected. The World Health Organisation says Omicron has a large number of mutations, and… Audio

The genomic link between the outbreak and Australia was confirmed by the Government yesterday.

Genomic testing results traced the Covid-19 outbreak back to a potential source - a traveller from… Audio