Our Changing World

Phase two of Predator Free Wellington’s groundbreaking project to rid our capital of rats is well underway. They’ve learned a lot from their work on the Miramar Peninsula, but with this new chapter comes new challenges – not just backyards, but a hospital, and even a zoo! Charlie Dreaver meets some of the team out fighting this battle on multiple interesting fronts.

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The target for Wellington to become New Zealand’s first predator-free city was announced by Conservation Minister Tama Potaka in March, as part of a Predator Free 2050 strategy update.
In November last year the government added feral cats to the Predator Free 2050 list of targeted predators, likely in response to RNZ’s In-Depth team’s reporting about the destruction they cause, and a pre-election promise.
Learn more about other large predator removal projects such as Predator Free Rakiura and Predator Free South Westland, and the plan to make Auckland Island predator free.
Guests:
Zara Koorey, Predator Free Wellington
James Wilcocks, Predator Free Wellington
Chirs Jerram, Te Nukuao Wellington Zoo
Sally Bain, Predator Free Wellington
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Scientists had long been exploring RNA technology as a way to make vaccines before it had it’s breakout appearance during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Since then, interest in the potential uses of RNA to make vaccines and disease treatments has bloomed.

In late 2023 a government-funded platform began work to enhance New Zealand’s capacity to design and make RNA. Three years in, how is the platform going?

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RNA interference (RNAi) technology is being investigated to help honey bees fight off the varroa mite.
US based Dyne Therapeutics conducted a clinical trial study of their RNA-based therapeutic for myotonic dystrophy in New Zealand.
Our Changing World covered how the new RNA vaccine tech works in 2021.
Dr Lisa Connor spoke to RNZ’s health reporter Ruth Hill last August after the US made funding cuts to their RNA vaccine research.
Guests:
Dr Lisa Connor, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Dr Rebecca McKenzie, Malaghan Institute of Medical Research
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

One peninsula to the north of the Bay of Islands is home to an estimated three thousand Northland brown kiwi. The Pest Free Purerua-Mataroa project aims to reduce predators numbers on the peninsula and defend its narrow neck from re-invasion. Working across a patchwork of landuse and landowners, the team are using AI traps and technology to help catch the remaining pests. But one feral cat continues to elude them, and the ongoing threat to kiwi from pet dogs is proving tricky to solve.

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Northland kiwi are a genetically distinct subspecies of the North Island brown kiwi, whose numbers are doing pretty good in recent years, due in large part to Operation Nest Egg facilities like the National Kiwi Hatchery.
Predator Free South Westland is also working across different land types and usages in their bid to remove pests from a huge area.
Wellington is set to be New Zealand’s first predator-free city, with an ambitious target of ten years.
RNZ’s Northland reporter Peter de Graaf has been following the situation of dog attacks on kiwi on the Purerua peninsula and kiwi deaths due to cars.
Guests:
Andy Mentor, Pest Free Purerua
Zane Wright, Pest Free Purerua
Mariao Hohaia, Ngāti Rēhia, Tapuaetahi Incorporation
Grace Walsh, Onekura road trappers
Tiwai Rawiri, Ngāti Torehina, Pēwhairangi Whānui
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

Could the answer to the current fuel crisis be right under our noses? On Our Changing World this week, Sharon Brettkelly talks to some of the scientists analysing ultramafic rocks in places like Lake Pupuke on Auckland’s North Shore and gases from various hotspots around the country, in the hopes that one day hydrogen could power local communities.
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New Zealand already has hydrogen trucks on our roads and active hydrogen refueling stations. However, some critics say battery technology is a better way to decarbonise. After delays from an international supplier, diesel trucks are being converted to hydrogen in New Zealand. 
Professor Allan Blackman looks at how the Hindenburg disaster has haunted the development of hydrogen technology and why that might be changing. 
And Jesse talks with Dr. Linda Wright from the New Zealand Hydrogen Council about if hydrogen could displace diesel.
Guests:
Kevin Faure, Senior minerals geologist and Team lead National Isotope Centre, Earth Sciences New Zealand
Paul Viskovic, Geomodeller, Earth Sciences New Zealand
Thijs van Soest, Isotope Hydrogeologist, Earth Sciences New Zealand
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details

The World Health Organisation has set an ambitious goal to eliminate cervical cancer. New Zealand health experts are optimistic we can do it, but suggest there are challenges to achieving that aim.
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Listen to The Panel Plus with Wallace Chapman, discussing the release of the Cancer Society's election manifesto and treatment options for cancer.
Read about the Matariki Fund's plans to eliminate cervical cancer across the Pacific.
RNZ's Māori issues reporter Pokere Paewai wrote this article on the need to extend free cervical screening.
The efficacy of the HPV vaccine was discussed on Morning Report, following a study which showed a 60% reduction in cervical cancer.

Guests:
Professor Bev Lawton (Ngāti Porou), is founder/director of Te Tātai Hauora o Hine (the National Centre for Women’s Health Research Aotearoa) at Victoria University of Wellington
Nicola Coom, Chief Executive of the Cancer Society
Alice Hyatt, cancer survivor
Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details