Genetics

In 1978, a seemingly straightforward experiment involving New Zealand rabbits discovered that kindness made the difference between a heart attack and a healthy heart. It's called the 'rabbit effect'… Audio

Clinical hoarding affects up to 6 percent of the world population, twice as many as OCD, yet it is a largely misunderstood disorder. Audio

It's getting harder to keep secrets in our society - especially when a bit of saliva in a tube can reveal through DNA that your world is not what you thought it was.  Audio

For 23 long years, the Golden State Killer, responsible for at least 13 murders and 50 rapes, evaded police.Then New Zealand born genealogist,Barbara Rae-Vente got involved and a suspect is now in… Audio

We usually accept old age and ill-health as inevitably intertwined, but in the future that may not be the case, according to a geneticist based at Harvard Medical School. Dr David Sinclair attempts to… Audio

Researchers have found out what made two of our famous birds flightless, but with this new discovery will scientists now try to reverse it? Audio

New research shows that bull kelp along a tectonically uplifted stretch of coast south of Dunedin has a surprisingly different genetic signature to the kelp on either side. Audio

Liggins Institute researcher Dr Tatjana Buklijas has been looking into  the growing knowledge of intergenerational trauma. She explains what they know so far. Audio

Binghamton University Associate Professor of Psychology Richard Mattson has led the team which believes it has found a gene which can influence marriage quality. He explains the science to Jim.  Audio

Early bird or night owl? Professor Timothy Grayling of the University of Exeter Medical School explains the health implications of our sleep patterns. Audio

Australia's famous invader, the cane toad, has hit the headlines lately. Senator Pauline Hanson proposes putting welfare recipients to work killing the toads, while Queensland MP Bob Katter wants to… Audio

Robert Plomin is a pioneer in the field of behavioural genetics. As a geneticist and psychologist, his lifetime's worth of research makes the case that DNA is the most important factor shaping us. In… Video, Audio

The personal DNA information from saliva tests sent to ancestry.com is often sold on to private companies which could be pharmaceutical or funded by Google, says a medical sociologist. Audio

Parents have far less effect on their children than we think. Audio

Hamish Spencer is professor in the Department of Zoology at the University of Otago. A geneticist interested in the history of eugenics, he has published more than 150 scientific articles, many… Audio

A 100-strong team of researchers from Plant and Food Research have won the 2017 Prime Minister's Science Prize for using science to solve the kiwifruit PSA crisis. Audio

With the Royal Society soon to release a discussion paper on the use of gene editing in agriculture, we're replaying Simon Morton's 2017 story on how this genetic technique's already being used to… Audio