Research by some Auckland scientists has been labelled one of the big science breakthroughs of 2025 by Quanta magazine - a renowned US publication that focuses on science and maths news. University of Auckland's Dr Peter Wills joins Jesse to share what he helped discover and why it is being heralded by many.

For many school leavers, university seems to be the default option, and doing an apprenticeship or going into the workforce is often seen as a second-best choice. But why? Michael Johnston is a senior fellow at The New Zealand Initiative, and he thinks that the changes in school qualifications could be the opportunity to change that thinking. That's because what will replace the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) will include industry-led subjects. Michael discusses the issue with Jesse.

We've all seen the child who eats three foods on repeat, refuses anything green, and can't abide by food touching other food. But social historian Dr. Helen Zoe Veit says picky eating isn't some timeless childhood phase, and it's not simply hardwired biology. She argues it's something modern culture helped create, driven by a century of shifting family life, anxious parenting advice, and a food industry built around ultra-processed convenience. And that's the good news. Veit says if pickiness is shaped by the world kids grow up in, it's not permanent. With the right approach, children can learn to eat differently. Her new book is Picky: How American Children Became the Fussiest Eaters in History.

Kelly Gibney comes up with the dishes every week and joins Jesse to share today's one.

This week we're off to sunny Vanuatu with Alice Berry.

Host Claire Concannon is in the field this week, so Liz Garton is with us to talk about her visit to the Bioeconomy Science Institute.

Harlem Globetrotters Kaylin "Sunshine" West and Alex "Moose" Weekes join Jesse in the studio.

Dennis Renshaw is driving across some of Australia's most formidable roads to raise money for cancer research.

Scott Radnitz is a professor at the University of Washington who has written on conspiracism, and he joins Jesse Mulligan.

For years we've been told marijuana can treat everything from anxiety to chronic pain, often with more confidence than evidence because cannabis as an illegal drug is so hard to study. Now, the U.S. is reclassifying cannabis in a way that could finally make real scientific research easier. It's moving from a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin, to Schedule III, closer to drugs like Tylenol with codeine. That change could open the door to much more real research. Dr. Margaret Haney is a neurobiology professor at Columbia University and runs its Cannabis Research Lab. For decades, she's argued marijuana has been sold as medicine without the kind of rigorous testing every other prescription drug is required to go through. Even with the limitations, her work has shown the dangers of cannabis use disorder and the impacts weed can have on the teenage brain.