In Dunedin the local tree crop association has been looking after a heritage apple orchard, but some mixed up labels meant they weren’t quite sure what varieties they had. A chance encounter at a public open day sets one young researcher on a scientific quest to ID them all. Plus, in a nursery in Rotorua, a propagation scientist is figuring out the best way to grow a native tree from cuttings.

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Take a (very) large egg, some insects (plus specially developed food), and a safe place to put on weight for a while. This is how you grow a kiwi, and improve wild survival rates from 5% to 65%. With over 2,600 hatches across their 30 year history, the National Kiwi Hatchery have a lot of experience under their belt, but there's always more to learn from our iconic national bird. Our Changing World visits the hatchery to learn how they combine conservation and eco-tourism to help grow kiwi numbers.

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• Operation Nest Egg has also been a great success for the rowi kiwi, the only remaining wild population of which lives in Ōkārito on the South Island’s West Coast.
• In July 2025 little spotted kiwi were found on New Zealand’s mainland for the first time in 50 years. Two chicks and eggs were subsequently brought to Willowbank Wildlife Reserve in Christchurch to allow them to get to stoat-proof weight.
• With a lot of help, and stoat trapping, brown kiwi are returning to the wilds of Wellington.
• Candling is also used to track kākāpō embryo development and egg fertility, learn more in episode 12 of the Kākāpō Files II podcast.

Guests:

• Emma Bean, manager of the National Kiwi Hatchery
• Carole Dean, kiwi keeper, National Kiwi Hatchery
• Rebeca Bothamley, tour guide, National Kiwi Hatchery

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In the Kaimai Mamuku ranges iwi-led conservation projects are tackling pests, removing weeds and planting natives to restore their whenua. Ngāti Hinerangi’s Wairere Mahi project has been trapping around the Wairere falls, and restoring a nearby system of lakes. The projects were born from the Jobs for Nature fund established by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic. But with that fund now finished where will the money to support future conservation work come from? The Manaaki Kaimai Mamuku Trust supporting these projects has some ideas.

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• Jobs for Nature also supported an iwi-led wetland restoration project just outside Dunedin.
• In 2024 The Detail spoke to a number of Jobs for Nature supported projects that were nearing the end of their funding.
• The Turning Point video series followed some of the kaimahi working on different Jobs for Nature projects across Aotearoa.
• Country Life’s Dollars for Nature episode covered the government announcement about voluntary nature credits market.

Guests:

• Louise Saunders, CEO of Manaaki Kaimai Mamuku Trust
• Mohi Korohina, Wairere Mahi project manager
• Hera Denton, GoEco

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A native species is taking over a jewel-in-the crown marine reserve. But what can be done? Centrostephanus, the long-spined urchin, is munching its way through the world-renowned rock walls and kelp beds of the Poor Knights Islands. DOC, University of Auckland scientists and a local hapū are running removal trials to investigate whether this might be a way to manage its march.

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New Zealand is third in the world for the number of orbital rocket launches from our shores, sitting just behind the US and China. Phil Vine discovers some of the challenges raised by our push into the unknown and how it is changing the final frontier.

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• Through a science experiment on the ISS, New Zealand researchers have been taking advantage of the unique conditions in low earth orbit to investigate commercial opportunities.
• While New Zealand is well known as a place from which to launch rockets, we do not have a lot of our own hardware in space (the University of Auckland does have TPA-1 CubeSat). But that might be about to change.
• Tech bros turned space bros like Elon Musk are making big waves out in orbit. The latest news is that Musk is hoping to harness the sun through satellites to power AI data centres.
• The New Zealand government's biggest investment in an international space mission ended in failure last year after MethaneSAT, a satellite built to detect methane emissions around the world, lost contact.
• While there are challenges inherent in humans and their technology being in space, that’s not all that is going on. Scientists are keeping a close eye on an active black hole and bright lights have Northland locals turning their eyes to the skies.

Guests:

• Mark Rocket, CEO Kea Aerospace
• Dr Priyanka Dhopade, senior lecturer in mechanical and mechatronics engineering, University of Auckland
• Dr Tuana Yazici, space law expert

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We know there are issues with sustainability within the fashion industry - can science help create a better future? Claire Concannon visits the Bioeconomy Science Institute in Rotorua to learn how New Zealand scientists are contributing to a massive multi-national project aimed at shaping the textile industry of tomorrow.

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• UPWEARS has their own research project page if you want to learn more.
• Learn more about how the Bioeconomy Science Institute (formally Scion) is figuring out how to make new materials and products using bio-waste products rather than fossil fuels.
• The rise of synthetic fibres impacted the wool industry here in New Zealand, although some entrepreneurs and weavers are making it work for them.

Guests:

• Dr Yi Chen, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
• Dr Robert Abbel, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
• Sean Taylor, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
• Louise Le Gall, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS
• Dr Kate Parker, Bioeconomy Science Institute, and UPWEARS

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Since 2018 there's been a massive effort underway to clear over 110,000 hectares of South Westland of possums, rats and stoats. As the pest numbers have dropped the native flora and fauna seem to have flourished. The eradication stage is now nearing completion, and the focus is switching to maintenance. What will it take to keep the pests out long-term? And what can be learned from this large-scale project that could be used elsewhere in Aotearoa?

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• Read/Listen to the rest of the reports from Tess Brunton’s reporting trip to the West Coast, about the eradication project, the work of species dogs, the feedback from tour operators and how rowi, New Zealand’s rarest kiwi, has been helped come back from the brink.
• For more on the use of AI in pest management project, listen to how the Southern Lakes Sanctuary team have been making use of it at Wye Creek.

Guests:

• Chad Cottle, Predator Free South Westland
• Ethan Perry, Predator Free South Westland
• Nate St Hill, Predator Free South Westland
• Pouri Rakete-Stones, Predator Free South Westland
• Dion Arnold, White Heron Sanctuary Tours

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Some insects communicate using a secret language that we can’t sense – a language of vibrations. Now researchers at the Bioeconomy Science Institute are starting to decode what insects are saying to each other. They hope to harness this knowledge to develop new, chemical-free methods of pest control to help farmers and growers.

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• Insects can also be recruited to help. For example, insects can be released into New Zealand for biocontrol in the effort to combat invasive weeds.
• While we often talk about the impact of invasive mammals on New Zealand’s bird life, they are also a problem for native insects too.
• We’ve got some invasive pest spiders here too, but researchers are trying to figure out if they can trap them by developing a special spider perfume.

Guests:

• Dr Mark MacDougall, Bioeconomy Science Institute
• Dr Lloyd Stringer, Bioeconomy Science Institute
• Pete Mundy, Castle Rock Orchards
• Dr Rachael Horner, Bioeconomy Science Institute
• Dr Bethan Shaw, Bioeconomy Science Institute

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