RNZ: This Way Up

Dr Chris Smith of The Naked Scientists brings us the latest from the world of science news and research.This week the global pharmaceutical giant Novartis has just got USFDA approval for a new class of leukaemia treatment that uses a patient's own blood cells to combat cancer. The agent is called Kymriah and targets a blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, one of the leading causes of childhood cancer. In other news, why don't poison dart frogs poison themselves?! For thousands of years, indigenous tribes in Columbia have smeared their blow darts and arrows with secretions from the poison dart frog's skin. These secretions contain chemicals called batrachotoxins, which the animals pick up from centipedes and other insects in their diet. Now scientists have isolated some genetic differences in these frogs that protect them from the ill effects of the poisons stored within their own body.

That's the thrust of some intriguing research looking into the relative lengths of your ring finger and your index finger... the second, pointy one.

Could very tight clothing improve your athletic performance? We unwrap the truth with David Cox, who's been investigating such claims for The Guardian.

Which tech issues are dominating the political agenda in the run-up to the election? Also Zello - the app that turns your smartphone into a walkie-talkie and will Christchurch's all-electric vehicle car sharing scheme take off?

Tonny Brinkman is a 93-year-old sand fan who has donated her collection of thousands of different sands from all over the world to the Auckland War Memorial Museum. Curator Hugh Grenfell talks us through the collection.

The sand collector, hurricane helpline, compression clothing, sporting success at your fingertips, and why don't poisonous frogs poison themselves?!

Since it opened in 2010, 1 million people have flocked to Morgan's Wonderland, a $70 million ultra-accessible theme park in Texas targeted at people with disabilities.

Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication which happens when your body's attempts to fight off an infection go badly wrong. Now scientists have found that if you feed babies a particular strain of probiotic bacteria – a type of lactobacillus found in kimchi, yoghurt and fermented vegetables – the risk is dramatically reduced.

With an expanded digital curriculum for Year 1 to 10 students already in the works, online games and other digital resources will increasingly be used as teaching aids in the classroom. Which have the most educational value?

North American diplomats based in Cuba claim they and their families have been the victims of hidden sonic weapons. CBS Radio's Steve Dorsey was the first person to ask the US government for its response to the affair.

Our nights are getting lit more brightly than ever before. But a growing body of research links high levels of artificial light with a host of health problems.

Could brighter street lighting be harming our health? Hidden sonic weapons in Cuba, the educational value of (computer) games, stopping sepsis deaths using bacteria, and the world's first truly accessible theme park.

A cure for cancer isn't that far away, reckons engineering professor Steve Henry. His local tech outfit has developed a way to change the appearance of cancer cells so that the immune system can recognise them and kill them.

Microbes inhabit every nook and cranny from the depths of the ocean to your small intestine, but could these tiny organisms also be playing a part in the weather?

The struggle to keep up with all those perfect lives that hijack social media feeds is leaving us self-obsessed and unhappy, says Will Storr, author of the new book Selfie.