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

Today kākāpō breed on three remote islands, each bird wears a transmitter and they are carefully monitored and minded. But the ultimate goal of the kākāpō recovery programme is to restore the mauri of the kākāpō – to have them back in our forests as wild, nameless birds. What are the steps to get there, and how can science help keep kākāpō safe through this transition?

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• Kākāpō need new habitat, could fenced ecosanctuaries be an option? That’s why kākāpō were released into Sanctuary Mountain Maungatautari in July 2023, to start a trial of how they would do in this new, mainland, North Island habitat. A year later, there had already been a lot of lessons learned.
• One of the possible future habitats mentioned by Deirdre Vercoe is South Westland, where a massive effort is underway to clear stoats, possums and rats from a huge area.
• For all the details about this record-breaking breeding season, listen to the Kākāpō Files podcast.

Guests:

• Deirdre Vercoe, Kākāpō and Takahē recovery programme operations manager, Department of Conservation
• Dr Andrew Digby, Kākāpō and Takahē recovery programme science and technical advisor, Department of Conservation

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details