Episodes

  • Looking after our four-legged friends

    Looking after our four-legged friends
    Oct 2 2024
    We love our four-legged friends. It’s estimated about a third of New Zealand households share their home with at least one dog, and two thirds of dog owners consider their furry friends to be family members. Some dogs work, others keep us company, make us laugh, get us walking twice a day, and shower us with unconditional affection….. But are we looking after all their needs? Claire Concannon speaks with a dog welfare expert about the science behind how we know our dogs love us, and what to do to make sure we are looking after them.
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    32 mins
  • Anxiety and the brain-body connection

    Anxiety and the brain-body connection
    Sep 25 2024
    We all experience anxiety – when our brains look into the future and imagine bad things happening. It’s normal and has helped keep us alive as a species. But levels of anxiety are rising, particularly in young people, and at the severe end of the spectrum clinical anxiety prevents people from going about their lives. This Mental Health Awareness Week we meet a team of researchers at the University of Otago investigating the brain-body connection in anxiety, and how different potential treatments might help.
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    27 mins
  • The teamwork that solved a life-and-death puzzle

    The teamwork that solved a life-and-death puzzle
    Sep 18 2024
    It’s been almost 30 years since a team joined forces to investigate a particularly aggressive form of stomach cancer that was afflicting one Tauranga whānau. Kimi Hauora Health and Research Clinic in Tauranga and University of Otago geneticists together found the cancer-causing genetic change, helping save thousands of lives worldwide. Justine Murray is at Mangatawa Marae with Maybelle McLeod and Erin Gardiner to reflect on that time, and Professor Parry Guilford discusses those first formative years.
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    26 mins
  • Some of the light we cannot see

    Some of the light we cannot see
    Sep 11 2024
    This week, we’re hanging out in the terahertz area of the light spectrum. Sandwiched between infrared light and microwaves, terahertz has been the long-forgotten cousin of the light family. But no longer! At the Australian Synchrotron, intense and focused beams of terahertz light are used to test new materials for carbon capture, clean energy applications, and the next generation of computing.
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    26 mins
  • The 'science shed' across the ditch

    The 'science shed' across the ditch
    Sep 4 2024
    Electrons! High speeds! Intense beams of light! Claire Concannon takes a tour of our nearest particle accelerator – the Australian Synchrotron in Melbourne. Designed to create high-energy x-ray light useful for science, the synchrotron enables an incredible diversity of research. And, because of long-standing funding support, New Zealand scientists can also use it. Claire finds out what interesting research questions some visiting New Zealanders are shining a light on.
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    29 mins
  • Genomics and the future of gene technology in Aotearoa

    Genomics and the future of gene technology in Aotearoa
    Aug 28 2024
    Advances in the field of genomics (the study of DNA and genomes) have meant big leaps in our ability to sequence, understand and manipulate the genomes of living things. Damian Christie explores research happening now in New Zealand in this area. Plus, with a recent announcement that the government is introducing new legislation, what’s next for the regulation of gene technologies in Aotearoa?
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    31 mins
  • What else can we learn from wastewater

    What else can we learn from wastewater
    Aug 21 2024
    Wastewater testing became part of our daily lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, but what else can it tell us about what’s happening in our communities? From looking for illicit drugs, to monitoring alcohol consumption and health biomarkers, Claire Concannon meets scientists tapping into the rich research potential of what’s in our pee.
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    28 mins
  • Imagining the next generation of robofish

    Imagining the next generation of robofish
    Aug 14 2024
    They will look like fish, swim like fish and even sense like fish. Liz Garton meets a research team designing robofish and smart wetsuits to monitor the state of our oceans.
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    30 mins