18 Feb 2026

Stories from Our Changing World

From Afternoons, 1:45 pm on 18 February 2026
Robert is standing in a chemistry lab beside a bench, a fume hood is visible in the background and in the foreground there are chemicals on the benchtop. He's wearing a blue lab coat and clear safety goggles. He's smiling at the camera, holding a small clear plastic bag with writing on it.

Dr Robert Abbel has been working on how to make the natural fibre yarn conductive using the waste product lignin. Photo: RNZ

Our Changing World’s Claire Concannon chats to Jesse with the latest on the Kākāpo Files plus she explains what e-textiles and sensing materials are and how they could change the fashion industry. 

Tiwhiri-A1-2026, hatched on 14 February, 2026.

Tiwhiri-A1-2026, hatched on 14 February, 2026. Photo: Deidre Vercoe