The Wire with Joel

The US government is cutting or limiting rafts of funding for science and health research. 

Some of the executive actions from President Donald Trump include freezing federal loans and grants, capping maintenance costs for labs (a move that has been temporarily blocked in court), and specific cuts targeting health and climate agencies.

Sofia spoke with co-President of the New Zealand Association of Scientists and Principal Investigator in Te Pūnaha Matatini Centre of Research Excellence, Troy Baisden, about this decision, and the potential implications it could have in the United States as well as globally and in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

For their weekly catch up with the Green Party, Oto spoke to Ricardo Menendez March about US President Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians in Gaza. We also spoke about the Overhaul of the Public Works Act and The government's plan to change climate reporting laws for companies.

And, for this week’s Get Action! He spoke to Brenda Leeuwenberg, a resident of Ruakākā who started a petition to stop a sand mining proposal in the Bream Bay Area by the McCallum Brothers.

Sasha spoke to Burt Burmester, from University of Auckland Business School, speaking to us about the government’s foreign investment strategy.

And Amani spoke to Dr Joel Rindelaub, Senior Lecturer of Chemical Sciences at the University of Auckland, about the prevalence of microplastics in the human body, especially in brain tissue.

Waitangi Day was last week on Thursday, and to commemorate the anniversary of the signing of Te Tiriti we saw MPs attending various events across the country. During these events we also saw many speaking out against the government’s approach to Treaty relations, particularly the treaty principles bill. 

We also saw a series of new appointments to the Waitangi Tribunal at the end of last month. While the new appointments and outgoing members are each uniquely qualified for the position, some have noted that many of the outgoing members have academic experience and knowledge that will not be replicated by the new appointments. 

Wire host Castor spoke about each of these issues in this week’s catchup with the National Party’s Tom Rutherford, beginning by asking about what National’s MPs got up to on Waitangi Day.

This week on the Tuesday Wire... 

For Dear Science this week, our expert Professor Allan Blackman chatted to us about cooking an egg perfectly, how fear works in the brain, and which gender tends to talk more. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the government’s commitment to Te Tiriti in light of Waitangi day last week. 

News and Editorial Director, Joel, spoke to the Kaiwhakahaere of the New Zealand Nurses Organisation, Kerri Nuku (Ngāti Kahungunu, Ngāi Tai ki Tāmaki) yesterday, about the organisations urgent calls for more Māori nurses in the country’s workforce.

Producer Athena spoke to Associate Professor at UoA, Dr Kelly Burrowes about gender inequity in healthcare and research.