Two years ago, the Australasian crested grebe, the pūteketeke, took out the title of New Zealand’s Bird of the Century. But when the Paris billboard got swapped out, and 'Lord of the Wings' ads no longer peppered Wellington's bus stops, who stuck around? Claire Concannon meets two dedicated grebe supporters battling different challenges at two Central Otago lakes.

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In this episode:

00:06 – John Oliver’s pūteketeke campaign

01:15 – Richard Bowman at Lake Hayes

16:45 – Markus Hermanns at Lake Wānaka

Learn more:

• Read more about the pūteketeke and the people helping them in this RNZ story, What happened when the pūteketeke's fame faded?
• In 2016 Alison Ballance visited Lake Wānaka to speak to John Darby about the grebes.
• It’s not news that New Zealand’s freshwater lakes and wetlands are generally in trouble, but there are many groups around the motu trying to improve their patch – whether that’s the Taiari river catchment, lakes in Auckland that are home to the kākahi, or a wetland area in the Waikato battling an unusual pest problem.
• This year’s Bird of the Year is the karearea, learn about the New Zealand falcon in this 2018 episode.

Guests:

1. Richard Bowman, Friends of Lake Hayes
2. Markus Hermanns, The Lake Wānaka Grebe Project

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

From the public service sector to businesses to individuals, AI’s uptake across New Zealand has been rapid. And it’s not just large language models. Claire Concannon meets researchers who are harnessing different kinds of artificial intelligence to boost aquaculture, prepare for a measles outbreak and assist in urban conservation. But alongside the benefits sit potential harms. How can we try to minimise them in our AI future?

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In this episode:

01:00 – Introduction to Dr Andrew Lensen and about AI

06:00 – Professor Bing Xue and applied AI for aquaculture

09:15 – Dr Fiona Callaghan models measle outbreak scenarios

13:30 – Dr Andrew Lensen and the kākā project

18:30 – Social and ethical issues of AI…

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

This week, an underwater mystery connecting New Zealand and Ireland - the puzzle of the disappearing sponges of Lough Hyne. In the late 1990s/early 2000s James Bell was doing PhD research on the sponge communities that coated the underwater cliffs of this small sea inlet in West Cork. When he returned 15 years later, they had vanished. Why did they disappear, are they starting to recover, and can they be helped to return? Now a Professor at Victoria University of Wellington, these are the key questions that James, and PhD candidates from his lab, have been working to answer.

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In this episode:

00:00 – Divers return, introduction to Lough Hyne and its scientific history.

02:50 – James Bell on his early research at Lough Hyne and the surprising disappearance of sponge communities.

05:15 – Gabi Wood and Kea Witting get ready to dive at Whirlpool Cliffs.

06:30 – James Bell explains the unique tidal regime of Lough Hyne that means it has many diverse habitats.

09:00 – Gabi Wood is collecting water samples to study sponge feeding and nutrient levels.

11:00 – What caused the sponges to disappear.

14:00 – Kea Witting is investigating sponge community recovery.

21:00 – Experiments to help the sponges return…

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