Our Changing World for Thursday 1 November 2007

On This Programme

Science

We know that living creatures evolve over time, but how quickly do the changes occur? David Lambert is a biologist at the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution who's trying to answer that question. His team collects DNA samples from animals that died thousands of years ago, and compares them to their modern relatives. He tells Dacia Herbulock that after spending years excavating ancient penguin remains in the Antarctic, he's now moved on to an even more unlikely source - mummified Egyptian ibises.

Environment

Wetas. Tuis. Hector's Dolphins. All native and fairly well known. But what about native bats? In our environment segment this week, Amelia Nurse talks with bat expert Stuart Parsons from the University of Auckland and discovers there's much more to our bats than meets the eye.

Long-tailed bat Short-tailed bat
(Chalinolobus tuberculatus) (Mystacina robusta)

Health

In health this week, we join the BBC's Health Check to discuss type 1 diabetes, smoking bans around the world and Sir Richard Doll, the scientist who first proved the link between smoking and cancer.

The audio for this segment is not available due to copyright restrictions.