95bFM: The Wire

For their regular catch-up, Oto spoke to the Green Party’s Ricardo Menéndez March the party’s new emissions reduction plan.

Just one week ago, science, innovation and technology Minister Judith Collins announced cuts to the Marsden Fund, specifically for humanities and social sciences, reinforcing the government's clear initiative to focus on rebuilding the economy and putting business first.

Following this announcement came major backlash from professors, researchers and mainstream news, which claim to shrink the already small percentage of allocated funds towards humanities to an even smaller number. The cuts will also disproportionately affect Maori researchers, cutting the existing 13% of funded research to a proposed 5.5%.

Many argue that social sciences and humanities are important for understanding societies’ and the science which will be applied to it. However, another viewpoint to consider is the millions of taxpayer money which has been going to silly projects, something which needs to be discussed in further detail.

So Sasha spoke to Dr Julie Douglas, National President of the Tertiary Education Union, who believes that the government is making a shortsighted decision for cutting humanities and social sciences from the Marsden Fund.

Recently, an independent evaluation was conducted on Foodstuff’s trial of facial recognition technology in their security system at 25 of their outlets in the North Island.

The evaluation found that using facial recognition in security cameras reduced crime and harmful behaviour at foodstuffs outlets by 16%, based on an examination of 1742 facial recognition alerts for repeat offenders.

However, there were also 9 instances were customers were misidentified as offenders by the system, with one woman who was wrongly removed from a Pak’n’save launching a case againsts facial recognition technology with the Human Rights Review Tribunal, claiming that the technology was discriminatory.

Oto spoke to Guhan Gunasekara, an Associate Professor of Commercial Law at the Univeristy of Auckland, to discuss the implications of facial recognition technology at retail outlets, and what we can expect in the aftermath of the independent evaluation into the trial.

This past week has seen the reign of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad collapse, his rule toppled by a group of United States backed rebels. The vacuum left by his absence is expected to be felt by those within and outside of Syria. 

To help explain the geopolitical impacts of the fall of the Assad regime, Wire host Castor spoke to Associate Professor Stephen Hoadley.

Pharmac has announced its decision to fund the drug, Enhertu, used for slowing the advancement of the HER2-positive form of breast cancer, beginning on the 1st of January, 2025. Alongside this funding, two eligibility restrictions will be removed.

HER2-positive breast cancer is an aggressive form of breast cancer, where the human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 protein is present, and encourages the growth of cancer cells.

Producer Athena spoke to Chief Executive at the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand, Ah-Leen Rayner, about how Enhertu compares to other breast cancer medicines, the removal of eligibility restrictions, and how the Breast Cancer Foundation pushed for this change.

For Dear Science this week, our expert Doctor Cushla McGoverin chatted with us about what latrines teach us about people, climate variation affecting Chinese dynasties, and invasive species becoming threatened. 

In our weekly catchup with the National Party, Wire host Castor spoke to MP Tom Rutherford about the government’s police staffing targets and changes to national insulation standards. 

They also spoke to Associate Professor Steve Hoadley about the geopolitical consequences of the fall of the Assad regime in Syria. 

Producer Athena spoke to Medical Director at the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, and Professor at the University of Otago, Bob Hancox, about Pharmac’s decision to fund respiratory medicines: pali-vizu-mab, and a new triple inhaler.

And they spoke to the Breast Cancer Foundation New Zealand's Chief Executive, Ah-Leen Rayner about Pharmac’s decision to fund a new breast cancer drug, Enhertu

Pharmac recently announced its decision to bring back funding for the respiratory medicine, palivizumab, beginning on the 1st of January, 2025. Palivizumab is used to prevent respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children and babies, but went unfunded for a year after October of 2023. 

Alongside the new palivizumab funding announcement, Pharmac also announced funding for a new triple inhaler for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Producer Athena spoke to University of Otago Professor, and Medical Director at the Asthma and Respiratory Foundation New Zealand, Bob Hancox, about the effectiveness of palivizumab, the benefits of the new triple inhaler, and what these funding announcements mean for Kiwis with respiratory issues.

New Zealand and Australian species are among the most vulnerable to extinction in a warming world, according to a global analysis of 30 years of research.

The research found that Amphibians; species from mountain, island, and freshwater ecosystems; and species inhabiting South America, Australia, and New Zealand face the greatest threats.

If global warming reaches 1.3°C, 1.6% of species are threatened globally, with risks escalating to nearly 30% of global species at 5.4°C. 

Producer Evie spoke to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at the Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe about the research and what it could mean for Aotearoa’s ecosystem.

This week on the Monday Wire:

For our weekly catch up with the ACT Party's Simon Court, Producer Evie speaks to Simon about government bootcamp participants reoffending, proposed changes to employment law and David Seymour’s incumbent term as Deputy Prime Minister.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, speaks to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand's recent results in the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.

Producer Yesenia speaks to Greenpeace’s Agricultural Campaign Spokesperson, Amanda Larsson, about the government's Methane Review and the impact it has on an agricultural standpoint.

Evie speaks to Senior Lecturer in Science Ecology at Victoria University of Wellington, Julie Deslippe, about 30 years of research revealing that Aotearoa’s species are some of those at the greatest risk of extinction.

And Yesenia speaks to Associate Professor in Faculty of Arts at the University of Auckland, Neal Curtis, about artists ending their time on X, formally Twitter, and shifting to Bluesky for it's moderation policies. 

Whakarongo mai!

Recently, findings from the study into student achievement in maths and science, TIMMS, otherwise referred to as the Trends in International Maths and Science Study.

New Zealand’s findings show that the achievement gap regarding maths results has relatively stayed the same since 2018, although the overall gap has increased since 2002. 

This comes as the government has pushed heavily to increase maths statistics in the country, over concerns New Zealand’s maths statistics are not on par with other countries overseas.

News and Editorial Director, and Monday Wire Host, Joel, spoke to Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, Dr Lisa Darragh, about New Zealand’s statistics in the TIMMS and whether the government is rightfully concerned about where our maths statistics are.

They also discussed Darragh’s thoughts on ability grouping in primary school maths, and how this practice can impact the achievement gap with high and low-achieving students.