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Dr Helen Murray explores the relationship between repetitive head injuries, contact sport and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) - a progressive brain disease that causes dementia.

New Zealand-made screen sound and music received a BAFTA, one Emmy, two APRA Silver Scrolls, two NZ TV Awards and three Golden Reels for work on film and gaming last year alone. But members of the Screen Music and Sound Guild are issuing a stark warning about the future of the industry, one they say is under appreciated and under resourced. Lynn Fr…

Radio Whakamaori Ep 5

A five-novel series about the impact of the Vietnam war on veterans and their families has just wrapped up with the release of Carole Brungar's book The Return.In the last book, she's thinking about the experiences of the orphans of the Vietnam war, many of whom were removed from the country. In The Return, Jackie Coles fulfills a promise to her st…

Eight interlinked stories of ordinary people whose lives are touched by the gods make up a new collection by Iranian/American/Kiwi writer Mahyar Amouzegar. The Hubris in an Empty Hand is his fourth book. Some of the characters understand they've received - or are in the presence of - a gift from a god. Others are oblivious. Friendships and relation…

Small domestic miracles, from a sleeping baby and walking along the beach to the promise of fruit are examined in words and pictures in a book called Bordering on Miraculous Saskia Leek and Lynley Edmeades have worked on the fourth in the korero series helmed by writer Lloyd Jones. He brings together artists and writers to colloborate on books that…

Rotorua is hosting a literary festival specifically for Maori writers that the organisers hope will in turn encourage Maori readers. Kupu: Nga Ringa Tuhituhi will celebrate past and present Maori writers, with a view that many generations will tell their stories. On the Kupu board is Robyn Bargh who's a long time champion of Maori literature, inclu…

It's one of the best-known - and often-told - stories in our history: Sir Ed Hillary and Sherpa Norgay Tenzing's momentous climb to the top of Mt Everest on May 29th, 1953. But Matt Kambic's new play The Sherpa & the Beekeeper - Summit on Everest explores the downside of fame and other long term effects - both good and bad - on not only the mountai…

Taranaki's stunning coast is also one of the fastest eroding coastlines in the world. Since 2000, photographer Pat Greenfield has walked it, documenting the impact of storms, earthquakes and erosion. She calls it a photographic and scientific journey of discovery - and it's been a sobering one for her. For example two of the rock stack formations t…

Wellington's Chamber Orchestra is about to celebrate its 50th birthday with a flourish. The amateur orchestra has launched many professional careers over five decades, and also has musicians who've been in its ranks for most of that time. Lynn Freeman caught up with conductor Rachel Hyde and cellist Gary Wilby, currently rehearsing for the big cele…

New Zealand-made screen sound and music received a BAFTA, one Emmy, two APRA Silver Scrolls, two NZ TV Awards and three Golden Reels for work on film and gaming last year alone. But members of the Screen Music and Sound Guild are issuing a stark warning about the future of the industry, one they say is under appreciated and under resourced. Lynn Fr…

Beloved Kiwi comedian Tom Sainsbury is busy as ever. He's about to hit the road with his nationwide Snapchat Dude Live! tour. The 15-stop tour, which kicks off in New Plymouth next Sunday, will see him travelling almost everywhere.

The new documentary Ithaka documents 76-year-old John Shipton's campaign to free his son, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. Shipton joins the show to discuss Ithaka and why he'll never give up on his attempt to free his son.

In Dr Arika Okrent's latest book, Highly Irregular: Why Tough, Through, and Dough Don't Rhyme - and Other Oddities of the English Language, the linguist examines the weirdness of the English language and why it is so hard to master.

Journalist Greg Walters has been writing about how influencers and "beautiful people" posting glamorous selfies aboard Russian oligarchs' yachts are helping to bring down the incredibly rich people around Vladimir Putin.

Dr Ross Stitt is a New Zealand writer and political commentator living in Sydney. He joins the show to analyse the 2022 Australian federal election, which took place yesterday, and what the result means for Australians.

Yanai Postelnik could never have imagined how his life was going to change when he arrived at Gaia House in Devon for a silent meditation retreat in 1990. He returned to Gaia House to work in 1991, and remains there to this day.

Big tech and social media bosses pledged to eradicate online extremism in Christchurch Call three years ago in Paris - and today they claim atrocities which echo the 15 March massacre don't go viral online anymore. But their algorithms which amplify extremism and radicalise people in the first place still operate unchecked.…

After months of behind-closed-doors planning, Budget 2022 has at last put some fresh figures for the government's planned public media entity into the public domain. The increase in public funding is substantial, but the precise mix of commercial and public revenue is still unclear - as is the future beyond 2026.…

Slaves to the algorithm - big tech's mathematical maximising of engagement undermines the Christchurch Call three years on; Budget 2022 - public media entity's funding finally made public; Budget 2022 - more for Maori media, but where's the strategy?

Cleaning has never played a bigger role in our lives than it does today. Whether it's wiping down workplace surfaces or disinfecting supermarket trolley handles, we're doing it all more. Microbiologist Dr Siouxsie Wiles is with us to discuss.

We've all heard about new Omicron subvariants with such names as BA.2, BA.4 and BA.5. The recent proliferation of variants begs the question: is Covid-19 mutating faster than ever before? Dr Sebastian Duchene explains.

Two weeks ago, Jacinda Ardern announced that our borders would fully reopen (including to cruise ships and international students) on July 31 - two months earlier than initially planned. A new poll shows Kiwis largely agreed.

Australians are waking up to life with a new Prime Minister, with Anthony Albanese and Labor ousting Scott Morrison's incumbent Liberal National coalition in yesterday's election. Political commentator Stephen Mills offers his analysis.

The Budget gets presented, debated and commented on more than most best sellers but like A Brief History of Time very few people have the time and energy to read all of it.

Today’s programme begins with a hymn that’s been covered by the likes of Neil Diamond, Judy Collins, Kenny Rogers, and maybe most famously by Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam) in the 1970s: Morning has broken.

The world is not just seeing high oil prices, it is at the beginning of a fully-fledged energy crisis, says Helen Thompson, a professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University.

The world is not just seeing high oil prices, it is at the beginning of a fully-fledged energy crisis, says Helen Thompson, a professor of Political Economy at Cambridge University.

Northland produces a tiny fraction of New Zealand's but it now boasts 40 keen grape growers, up from just two in the 1980s.

Four years ago opera singer Kawiti Waetford returned to Aotearoa after years abroad and a blossoming singing career. He and his wife started a new life in Northland where Kawiti began working with rangatahi, teaching singing and holding vocal masterclasses. He still performs but says Covid has led to uncertainty with a planned trip to Vienna cancel…

Jacqueline Paul is a lecturer in architecture at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland. In August she will start a five year course of study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the world's number one ranked university. Paul will do her PHD at MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. She says she would like to look at new ideas…

This week the government released its first emissions reduction plan and allocated 4.5 billion dollars of funding towards it. Minister of Finance Grant Robertson billed the plan to tackle global warming as a turning point in New Zealand's history, a plan "like no other", the significance of which "cannot be underestimated". Mike Smith is the climat…

Listener Feedback for 21 May 2022.

A robot that can sample planktonic communities under the Antarctic ice shelf is the latest tool developed by Professor Craig Cary and his colleagues to help forecast the future impacts of climate change. A microbial ecologist, Cary has studied bacteria in the world's most extreme environments, including deep sea hydrothermal vents and our own geoth…

In today's Focus on Politics podcast Deputy Political Editor Craig McCulloch runs the numbers on the Budget and its political implications.

Having moved to Joshua Tree after the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, husband-and-wife duo Maryrose and Brian Crook are back on home soil for a string of shows with their swirling psychedelic-rock act The Renderers.

Māori media got a $40m boost in Budget 2022, following a similar increase to fund more content and jobs last year. But where the strategic review of the Māori media sector that kicked off nearly four years ago?

Māori media got a $40m boost in Budget 2022, following a similar increase to fund more content and jobs last year. But where the strategic review of the Māori media sector that kicked off nearly four years ago?

9AM News from RNZ Pacific on 2022/05/21

Author, plant lover and former BBC documentary maker Jonathan Drori joins the show for a chat about recent botanical news. This week, bananas and orchids.

With Australians heading to the polls this weekend, the race between incumbent prime minister and Liberal party leader Scott Morrison and the Labor Party's Anthony Albanese looks too close to call, following what has been called "an unedifying campaign". Barrie Cassidy is the former host of ABC's political commentary program Insiders and has covere…

8AM News from RNZ Pacific on 2022/05/21

7AM News for RNZ Pacific on 2022/05/21

The latest news in Niuean language (Vagahau Niue) - brought to you by our partner - Pacific Media Network.

A recent New Zealand parliamentary select committee inquiry into the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme has heard serious allegations of exploitation of Pacific Island workers;The NZ government's 2022 wellbeing budget is delivering more money for Pasifika health and education but leaders of Pacific communites say it doesn't go far enough; After al…

A recent New Zealand parliamentary select committee inquiry into the Recognised Seasonal Employer scheme has heard serious allegations of exploitation of Pacific Island workers.

The NZ government's 2022 wellbeing budget is delivering more money for Pasifika health and education but leaders of Pacific communites say it doesn't go far enough.

After almost 40 years in New Caledonian and French politics, Philippe Gomes is bowing out of the national political limelight.

The New Zealand government has committed $NZ4.4 million dollars to support the purchase of a new AM transmitter for RNZ Pacific.