Our Changing World for 3 December 2020

Ozone holes and UV radiation, new insights into where river water gets to at sea and studying the causes of bowel cancer.

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Our Changing World

Thursday 26 November and Thursday 3 December 2020

Ozone holes & UV radiation

This year’s ozone hole is one of the largest of recent years. NIWA’s Richard Querel tells Alison Ballance how ozone is measured and explains the science of the ozone hole.

And ultraviolet radiation expert Ben Liley, from NIWA, explains how the Antarctic ozone hole actually coincides with a spring peak in ozone levels over New Zealand and why, despite that, we have such high UV levels.

All at sea - the surprising reach of river waters

Two self-driving underwater robots are making surprising discoveries about where river water ends up at sea.

Alison Ballance meets NIWA coastal oceanographer Joe O’Callaghan and PhD student Khushboo Jhugroo to find out more.

Plumes of river water eddying out into Cook Strait. Image NIWA

Studying the causes of cancer

Cancer epidemiologist Brian Cox, from the University of Otago, talks with Alison Ballance about studying the causes of cancer and new research on diet and bowel cancer.

Diagram showing a cancer tumour in a colon

Get the complete show for 26 November

This year's ozone hole is a large one, but last year it was very small.

NIWA experts explain the science of ozone holes.

They also explain why NZ's UV levels are so high.

Get the complete show for 3 December

River water reaches surprisingly far out to sea.

And an epidemiologist talks about work into the causes of cancer, and new evidence about links between diet and bowel cancer. Hint - low-fat dairy is good.

Voices from Antarctica

Alison Ballance finds out what it takes to live in and do science in Antarctica, in a podcast series recorded on the frozen continent in November 2019.

Voice of the Kākāpō

Voice of the Kākāpō - an audio adventure through the bumpy bumper 2019 breeding season of NZ's rare flightless parrot

Elemental

An alphabetical jaunt around the periodic table of chemical elements.

Actinium - rare and radioactive
Aluminium - light and versatile
Americium - a radioactive domestic do-gooder
Antimony - takes lives, saves lives
Argon - every breath you take.
Arsenic - the well-known poison
Astatine - awfully rare

Barium - never found on its own
Berkelium and the synthetic heavyweights
Beryllium - sweet and precious, but deadly
Bismuth - an unusual heavy metal
Boron - made by cosmic rays, useful in the kitchen
Bromine - the colour purple and poison gas

Cadmium - colour and quantum dots
Caesium - the time-keeper
Calcium - strength and beauty
Carbon - life and times of the King of Elements
Cerium - combustible and confusing
Chlorine - good for health, bad for health
Chromium - colourful and shiny
Cobalt - goblin of the periodic table
Copper - essential, in moderation
Curium & Meitnerium - in honour of two pioneering women

Dysprosium - hard to get

Erbium - through rose-tinted glasses
Europium - putting the security in the Euro

Fluorine - the non-stick element
Francium - final naturally-occurring element to be discovered

Gadolinium - plays a key role in MRI scans
Gallium - mysterious case of the disappearing spoon
Germanium - important in the first transistors
Gold - a most desirable noble metal

Hafnium - helped land the first astronauts on the moon
Helium - rare on earth but universally abundant
Holmium - obscure, but an important surgical laser
Hydrogen - number 1 in the universe

Indium- Queen of the touchscreen
Iodine - a vital trace element
Iridium and the end of the dinosaurs
Iron - creator of the modern world

Krypton - its name means 'hidden' but it's a real thing

Lanthanum - curious case of a 'lost' element
Lead - sweet-tasting but deadly
Lithium - a mood-enhancing element
Lutetium – an obscure Parisian

Magnesium – loved by everyone and everything
Manganese – the ‘essential’ essential element
Mercury – mesmerising quicksilver
Molybdenum – a catalyst at bacterial to industrial scales

Neodymium – the secret behind supermagnets
Neon – the red of neon lights
Nickel – more than just a 5 cent coin
Niobium – useful at high and low temperatures
Nitrogen – a vital powerhouse

Osmium – heavyweight champion of the elements
Oxygen – the friendly element

Palladium – cleaning up your car’s exhaust
Phosphorus – P was discovered in pee
Platinum – another pricey precious metal
Plutonium – nuclear bombs & nuclear power
Polonium – few redeeming features
Potassium – a matter of life and death
Praseodymium – a long name but not many uses
Promethium – rare and unremarkable
Protactinium – a very dull chemical element

Radium – famous but not very useful
Radon – radioactive basement risk
Rhenium - has a number of claims to chemical fame
Rhodium – used in cars, drugs … & aftershave
Rubidium – expensive and not very useful
Ruthenium – a ‘sort’ of precious metal

Samarium – magnets for making & listening to music
Scandium – the scandal of the scandium cricket bat
Selenium – good reason to eat seafood & Brazil nuts
Silicon – a ubiquitous part of modern life
Silver – a popular noble metal
Sodium – a salt of the earth spectator
Strontium – from sensitive teeth toothpaste to nuclear fission
Sulfur – king of bad smells

Tantalum – a tantalising chemical element
Technetium – the first synthetic element
Tellurium – usually associated with gold
Terbium - turns up in old TVs & new Euro notes
Thallium - the poisoner's poison
Thorium - potential source of cleaner nuclear energy
Thulium - the most laborious of the lanthanoids
Tin – from whistles to organ pipes & anti-fouling paint
Titanium – light, strong & quite pretty
Tungsten – highest melting point of any metal

Uranium - first radioactive element to be discovered

Vanadium - Model T Fords, big batteries & sea squirts

Xenon - a stranger in search of strange particles

Ytterbium - yet another element named after Ytterby
Yttrium - here's that village Ytterby again

Zinc - more useful than you realise

Zirconium - shape-shifting time capsule

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