The Wire with Caeden

In the wake of multiple deadly mass shootings in the United States, Christina did some research on the gun culture deeply entrenched in US society, as well as the political reluctance to introduce stricter gun legislation. Here is her report.

This week on the Wire, Christina and Jack did some deep dives on some hot-button topics.

In the wake of a string of mass shootings over the weekend, Christina looked into gun culture and gun control laws in the United States.

Jack looked into graffiti in Tamaki Makaurau. He spoke with graffiti artist CAPO, street art expert Dr Reuben Woods, and city councillor Shane Henderson.

Christina also had her regular catch up with Allan Blackman on Dear Science. This week, they discussed the imperial and metric systems, a super-reactive chemical that could change how we analyse the climate, and silk tags used to detect if medication is dodgy or not.

And finally, James Hita, a seabed mining campaigner from Greenpeace, called into the show to chat with Christina about a Greenpeace petition being delivered to Parliament on Wednesday.

Whakarongo mai!

Teams from several New Zealand Universities as well as NIWA have recently discovered a large Amphipods ecosystem underneath Antarctica.

Amphipods are a crustacean largely found underwater, and in these circumstances over five hundred metres under the atlantic ice sheets.

The team found the ecosystem by accident after drilling through the river nearby and discovering the animals on their cameras.

To learn more, Liam spoke to NIWA oceanographer Craig Stevens about their findings and how the ecosystem could be affected by climate change.

The Clean Slate Act has recently been under discussion, as activists fight for the scheme to be extended to those who’ve been imprisoned. 

The scheme currently allows criminal records to be sealed, drastically assisting former criminals with getting employed, becoming a tenant and getting a mortgage. 

The scheme currently does not apply to those who've been imprisoned within their lifetime, instead focusing on those who have paid fines or undergone other forms of punishment. 

To learn more about the scheme and how it could be changed, Liam spoke to Liam Martin, a Criminology professor at Victoria University of Wellington.