The Wire with Caeden

This week for the Wire's regular catchup with National’s Dr Shane Reti, Christina and Shane battled pesky audio issues to discuss World Meningitis Awareness Day as well as Chloe Swarbrick’s member’s bill for alcohol harm reduction.

This week, the Wire with Christina kicked off with a Dear Science Nobel Prize special with Joel Rindelaub.

Christina also spoke to Dr Shane Reti from the National Party for their weekly segment, where they discussed meningitis and a bill to reduce alcohol harm

In the wake of last week’s poll results on whether Aotearoa should become a republic, Christina spoke with the New Zealand Republic campaign chair Lewis Holden.

She also spoke to Dr Roshini Peiris-John about her study on the impacts of skin tone on racial discrimination.

And earlier on Breakfast, the b farewelled Auckland Mayor Phil Goff as he prepares to retire from politics. Jess takes us all the way back to the outgoing mayor's very first bFM Breakfast interview with Mikey Havoc in 2017.

A partnership between Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha (University of Canterbury) and Christchurch City Council is leading the world in understanding and adapting to risk from climate change.

The research is developing methodology and guidance for councils to assess their risk. The team of researchers, which includes experts from NIWA, Resilient Organisations, and Urban Intelligence, is working with the Christchurch City Council as it creates its coastal hazards adaptation plan.

Joe speaks with Dr Tom Logan, a Civil Systems Engineering lecturer at the University of Canterbury, on the matter.

In 1923, Te Rangi Hīroa (Sir Peter Buck) documented the last confirmed capture of a special fish – the upokororo or New Zealand grayling. Now, researchers are using using its ancient DNA to finally provide some answers to how it went extinct. 

Genetic data provides a new tool in the search for survivors. Environmental DNA in water samples from remote catchments can now be compared routinely to known DNA from the upokororo.

Fish populations are in sharp decline globally. Lessons learned from past extinctions, like that of the upokororo, can help us preserve fish species for future generations. Hopefully we can heed the lessons from the past.

Joe speaks to Dr Nic Rawlence from the Palaeogenetics Lab at the University of Otago on the matter.