The Wire w/ Alex: 5 May, 2026

This week on the Tuesday Wire... For Dear Science this week, our expert, Dr Cushla McGoverin, speaks with us about AI spotting Pancreatic Cancer, Foetal surgery, and Yellowstone. For our weekly catchup with the National Party, I spoke with Ryan Hamilton about the emails between Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon released last week, what they mean for growing tensions and instability within the coalition, and proposed changes to Treaty Obligations that would see the Te Tiriti only need to be ‘taken into account’. For Green World today, Producer Liam spoke with Max Harvey from the University of Otago, who lead a recent research study about the habitat usage of the Hector’s dolphin, about the research that they carried out on dolphin populations in Southland, what they discovered and what it tells us about how we can better look after this dolphin species.  Liam also spoke to Professor Sally Gaw from the University of Canterbury, about the government’s new rules to reduce the amount of lead in drinking water pipes, what this means for New Zealand and why it was not done sooner.  And Producer Flo spoke to Doctor Lucy Goodman, researcher at the University of Auckland’s School of Optometry and Vision Science about her study into accessible eye health and potential government funding of eye care.