RNZ: This Way Up

A new study suggests e-cigarettes may be a gateway to smoking real cigarettes. Also scientists are using genetic sequencing technology to understand how quinoa can grow in super harsh conditions.

Is it ever OK to eat another human being? Zoologist Bill Schutt explores the question.

This week Facebook gets into the TV business, and India launches 104 satellites in a single mission. It's a new world record and announces the country as a serious player in the commercial space race.

Is the "dumbphone" poised for a bit of a comeback? Also China's quest to build the perfect ballpoint pen and how the humble biro is being used by the NZ police to fight crime.

China's ballpoint quest, the rise of the dumb phone, Facebook TV, India breaks space records, a history of cannibalism, and sequencing quinoa.

Helen Pilcher looks at the controversial science of de-extinction.

Jeff Karp is a bioengineer looking to nature for inspiration in developing new medical treatments.

Wikipedia bans the Daily Mail as a reliable source, Snapchat gets ready to go public, plus the next generation of mobile telephony – 5G is just around the corner.

BBC science journalist Dr Michael Mosley has been testing out which foods promote the good bugs, and whether those probiotic drinks actually work.

Eat your way to better gut health, Snapchat IPO and the approach of 5G, solving medical challenges using nature and bringing extinct species back from the dead.

Cotton has one of the most tangled and opaque consumer supply chains in the world, says James Hayward of Applied DNA Sciences. He's using genetic barcodes to introduce more traceability to the system.

Peter Griffin has the latest on Facebook's huge growth in users and ad revenue, and why did thousands of UBER customers delete the app this week?

The measurement of a kilogram is currently based on a hunk of metal kept under lock and key in France - but that's about to change. We find out why.

Peloton is a spin class with a difference – 80,000 bikes, 250,000 riders, and it all happens in your home. Steven Kurutz from the New York Times has been to Peleton HQ in Manhattan.

Spin doctors, when is a kg not a kilo?, #DeleteUber and jean testing: ethical cotton.