Post-eradication monitoring among the erect-crested penguin colony on Antipodes Island. Photo: Finlay Cox / Department of Conservation
From the quirks of our mind, to the mysterious deep sea, to the icy continent of Antarctica: the Our Changing World podcast team has had a busy 2024 exploring the weird and wonderful world of science.
Here are our top 10 listens from the year, in no particular order, for your summer roadie playlist.
New Zealand's Antipodes Islands: remote, wild, special
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Some 860km southeast of Rakiura / Stewart Island, the Antipodes are a far-flung smattering of subantarctic islands brimming with wildlife. Claire Concannon travelled to the main island with a team of scientists studying the birdlife.
The whole ecosystem on this island has rebounded spectacularly after a million-dollar programme to eradicate mice. Now the eradication team has their sights set on removing pigs, mice and cats from another subantarctic wildlife haven: Auckland Island.
Aerial baiting in 2016 eradicated mice from the sensitive Antipodes Island ecosystem. Photo: Department of Conservation
Solving a genetic cancer puzzle
In 1995, the Kimi Hauora Health Clinic teamed up with University of Otago geneticists to investigate whether there might be a genetic explanation for the McLeod whānau's high rates of stomach cancer. What followed was a groundbreaking partnership that has saved many lives.
Justine Murray met the team, who won the 2023 Prime Minister's Science Prize, to reflect on nearly 30 years of lifesaving mahi.
Voice of Tangaroa
New Zealand bigeyes – small, nocturnal reef fish – make rhythmic pops in the dark to help them stay together as a school. Photo: © Richard Robinson
A deep dive into the state of New Zealand's oceans, Voice of Tangaroa took over the Our Changing World podcast feed for eight weeks in 2024.
Hosts Kate Evans and Claire Concannon transported listeners beneath the waves, where sea creatures harmonise in an undersea orchestra, carbon is squirrelled away, and penguins travel long distances to find kai.
The episodes traverse the big issues facing our marine environment, from what to do about exploding kina populations, to why establishing marine reserves in Aotearoa is so fraught.
Our musical minds
Making and processing music is something unique to human brains, says Dr Sam Mehr. But why are we so attuned to rhythms, melodies and matching tones?
In this episode, Claire Concannon sat down with Sam and other music researchers to explore the psychology of music, the universality of dance songs, and whether lullabies do actually calm babies down.
A year of mainland kākāpō
Kākāpō Atareta in her nest on two eggs during the bumper 2022 breeding season. Photo: Andrew Digby / Department of Conservation
In July 2023, four male kākāpō were introduced into Sanctuary Mountain / Maungatautari. In the year following, the mischievous kākāpō tested the boundaries of their new fenced home, with shenanigans and escape attempts aplenty.
Claire Concannon checked in with the Kākāpō Recovery and Sanctuary Mountain teams to hear about what the cheeky kākāpō have been up to, and what the future has in store for mainland populations.
Inside Auckland's lava caves
Hundreds of caves carved by lava flows are hidden beneath New Zealand's biggest city. Some were used to store food, others were treated as rubbish holes, and others still were filled in with concrete.
Ellen Rykers headed underground to learn how attitudes to the caves are shifting and hear about a project to document and protect this geological heritage.
The glass sponges of Antarctica
Diver Andreas Schmider Martínez with a glass sponge. Photo: Ian Hawes
An intrepid team dive under the sea ice in Antarctica to study mysterious glass sponges: animals that consume viruses and bacteria, grow to two metres high, and might live as long as 15,000 years.
Claire Concannon learns more about the strange seafloor ecosystems beneath the sea ice in this episode, the first from her recent trip to Antarctica. (Stay tuned for more Antarctica episodes in 2025.)
What else can we learn from wastewater?
Wastewater testing became part of our daily lives during the Covid-19 pandemic, but it turns out our waste is a treasure trove of insights for science.
From looking for illicit drugs, to monitoring alcohol consumption and health biomarkers, Claire Concannon met scientists tapping into the rich research potential of what's in our pee.
The mystery of how godwits sleep in flight
Bar-tailed godwit in breeding colour ready to fly from its summer feeding grounds in New Zealand to its breeding grounds in Alaska. Photo: Rebecca Bowater
Eastern bar-tailed godwits, or kuaka, make the longest non-stop migration of any bird: more than 10,000km across about a week and a half. How do they sleep on these ultra-marathon journeys?
Alison Ballance joined a research team on Motueka Sandspit equipping godwits with smart tags to track whether they are the ultimate power-nappers.
Anxiety and the brain-body connection
An estimated one in four New Zealanders will experience anxiety disorder across their lifetime, and levels of anxiety, especially in young people, are rising.
When we're anxious, our thoughts trigger the fight-or-flight response that affects our physiological systems, holding the body in a tense state.
But are we more, or less, aware of how our body is reacting in this state? And do treatments for anxiety alter this awareness? Claire Concannon meets researchers investigating the brain-body connection at the core of anxiety.
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