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A 24-hour recording of Radio New Zealand National. The following rundown is sourced from the broadcaster’s website. Note some overseas/copyright restricted items may not appear in the supplied rundown:
17 December 2015
===12:04 AM. | All Night Programme===
=DESCRIPTION=
Including: 12:05 Music after Midnight; 12:30 One in Five (RNZ); 1:05 Discovery (BBC); 2:05 The Thursday Feature (RNZ); 3:05 Halloween on Ice, by J Edward Brown (RNZ); 3:30 NZ Books (RNZ); 5:10 Witness (BBC)
===6:00 AM. | Morning Report===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ's three-hour breakfast news show with news and interviews, bulletins on the hour and half-hour 6:16 and 6:50 Business News 6:18 Pacific News 6:26 Rural News 6:48 and 7:45 NZ Newspapers
=AUDIO=
06:00
Top Stories for Thursday 17 December 2015
BODY:
Will Helen Clark go for the top job at the UN? Why has Dick Tonks walked away from NZ Rowing? What went wrong at a failed Northland charter school?
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 30'37"
06:06
Sports News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'07"
06:13
Rowing New Zealand still in negotiation
BODY:
Rowing New Zealand will today again try to hammer out a deal which will see Dick Tonks continuing to work with Olympic men's single scull champion Mahe Drysdale.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Rowing New Zealand
Duration: 2'39"
06:16
Political will to stop illegal logging in PNG questioned
BODY:
Questions remain over the Papua New Guinea government's commitment to ending illegal logging despite issuing a stop work order against small illegal logging operations in Oro province.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Papua New Guinea, logging
Duration: 3'02"
06:20
Early business news
BODY:
Our business editor, Gyles Beckford, is in now with what's happening in the financial world, just hours away from a big decision at the Federal Reserve.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'10"
06:26
Morning Rural News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sector.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'19"
06:39
Northland charter school a "disaster"- Greens
BODY:
A failed Northland charter school the Government now wants to close, employed and then promoted a teacher who'd just been suspended for a year.
Topics: education
Regions: Northland
Tags: Te Pumanawa o te Wairua
Duration: 3'32"
06:43
Christchurch Art Gallery to finally reopen after quake repairs
BODY:
The Christchurch Art Gallery will finally reopen on Saturday almost five years after it was shut because of earthquake damage.
Topics: arts
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Christchurch Art Gallery
Duration: 3'21"
06:51
Sanford says fresh fish products increasingly popular
BODY:
The fish company, Sanford, says the increased focus on the production of fresh fish has found a strong local demand.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Sanford
Duration: 1'29"
06:52
Fonterra narrows focus in Australia
BODY:
The dairy co-operative, Fonterra, is narrowing its manufacturing focus in Australia.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Fonterra
Duration: 56"
06:53
Industry review signals tougher times ahead for retailers
BODY:
The retail sector is expected to find the going a bit tougher next year as spending slows in line with lower growth and increasing competition will make it more difficult to turn a profit.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: retail sector
Duration: 1'45"
06:55
Hunt for oil and gas likely to rise again - PEPANZ
BODY:
A group representing the oil and gas exploration industry says it will come through the current tough times it's currently going through.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: oil exploration
Duration: 1'43"
06:57
Morning markets for 17 December 2015
BODY:
American stocks are marking time ahead of the Federal Reserve decision .. but oil prices have fallen again and that's putting pressure on energy stocks
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 1'15"
06:58
Business briefs
BODY:
Listed forestry biotechnology company Rubicon says it will appeal a US$53 million ruling in favour of nine former employees of its part-owned seedling company ArborGen.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: ArborGen, Rubicon, kingfish
Duration: 1'16"
07:07
Sports News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 1'45"
07:10
Nominations open for UN secretary general position
BODY:
In an unprecedented move, the United Nations says women should be strongly encouraged to apply for the top job of Secretary General.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: UN, Helen Clark
Duration: 3'21"
07:13
Helen Clark expected to throw hat in United Nations ring
BODY:
Our correspondent in New York, William Denselow is covering the United Nations.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: UN, Helen Clark
Duration: 3'39"
07:17
Tonks work with Rowing New Zealand all but over
BODY:
Legendary rowing coach Dick Tonks' association with New Zealand rowing appears all but over.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Rowing New Zealand
Duration: 4'13"
07:22
Charter school head teacher's has previously been suspended
BODY:
The woman who oversaw teaching at a failed Northland charter school had been suspended from working as a teacher for a year before her appointment.
Topics: education
Regions: Northland
Tags: Te Pumanawa o te Wairua
Duration: 3'27"
07:25
Charter schools are working- ACT party
BODY:
Listening to that was Act party leader David Seymour, who is Undersecretary to the Minister of Education, with some responsibilities for charter schools.
Topics: education, politics
Regions: Northland
Tags: Te Pumanawa o te Wairua
Duration: 6'05"
07:36
Wait finally over for Star Wars fanatics in NZ
BODY:
The latest installment, Episode VII : The Force Awakens, opened in cinemas last night to hordes of dressed-up people.
Topics: arts
Regions:
Tags: Star Wars
Duration: 3'11"
07:39
Republican presidential candidates happy
BODY:
Republican candidates are upbeat about their performances at the last of CNN 's candidate debates yesterday.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: US, Republican candidates
Duration: 6'03"
07:49
Coach's contribution should not be overlooked
BODY:
Back now to the fate of legendary rowing coach Dick Tonks. Rowing New Zealand has cancelled its contract with him , effectively firing him for working with a Chinese crew.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Rowing New Zealand
Duration: 5'17"
07:54
Victims of sex abuse say public sex offender register needed
BODY:
Victims of historical sex abuse want the names on a proposed child sex offender register made public.
Topics: crime
Regions:
Tags: sex offender register
Duration: 3'24"
07:57
Whanganui Road open in time for Christmas
BODY:
Locals of the upper reaches of the Whanganui River are rapt a new bridge is opening that will clear the road into Whanganui in time for Christmas.
Topics: transport
Regions: Manawatu
Tags: bridge
Duration: 2'24"
08:07
Sports News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 1'51"
08:11
Helen Clark expected to put hand up for top UN job
BODY:
In an unprecedented move, the United Nations says women should be strongly encouraged to apply for the top job of Secretary General.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: US, Helen Clark
Duration: 5'06"
08:16
Questions are being raised about the PM's interviews
BODY:
Questions are being raised about the Prime Minister's media interviews John Key is making headlines for all the wrong reasons - again.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: John Key
Duration: 6'39"
08:23
Greenpeace says block offer shows industry in decline
BODY:
The oil industry says a sharp fall in the number of companies wanting to explore in New Zealand does not mean the country has no future as an oil producer.
Topics: environment
Regions:
Tags: Greenpeace
Duration: 3'16"
08:26
US Fed Reserve makes much anticipated move on interest rates
BODY:
The US Federal Reserve has just announced an interest rate rise by a quarter of a percentage point - the first rise in nearly a decade.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: US, Federal Reserve
Duration: 4'38"
08:30
Markets Update for 17 December 2015
BODY:
A brief update of movements in the financial sector.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 1'35"
08:39
Charter school labelled waste of money by Northland teachers
BODY:
The Te Tai Tokerau Principals Association says the Whangaruru charter school facing closure was a total waste of 4.8 million dollars.
Topics: education, politics
Regions: Northland
Tags: Te Pumanawa o te Wairua
Duration: 4'14"
08:43
New Zealand fans give new Star Wars film the thumbs up
BODY:
At midnight last night, the much-anticipated The Force Awakens opened in cinemas around the country.
Topics: arts
Regions:
Tags: Star Wars
Duration: 4'02"
08:49
Historical treasures return home to new Waitangi museum
BODY:
A truckload of the country's most important Maori artefacts and historical treasures have found their way home this week to Waitangi - after an absence of more than a century.
Topics: te ao Maori
Regions: Northland
Tags: Waitangi
Duration: 3'41"
08:52
The changing face of house hunting
BODY:
There have been seemingly endless stories this year about house prices, interest rates, and loan-to-value ratios.
Topics: housing
Regions:
Tags: house prices
Duration: 2'59"
08:55
Porirua Powerball player hits the $15m jackpot
BODY:
Someone in Porirua East is 15 million dollars richer after hitting the Powerball jackpot.
Topics: life and society
Regions: Wellington Region
Tags: Powerball
Duration: 1'56"
=SHOW NOTES=
===9:06 AM. | Nine To Noon===
=DESCRIPTION=
Current affairs and topics of interest, including: 10:45 The Reading: Chappy, by Patricia Grace, told by Jim Moriarty and Simon Leary (F, RNZ)
=AUDIO=
09:08
New initiative to keep people with acute mental distress out of police cells
BODY:
In Auckland a new memorandum of understanding between the police and health authorities means mental health patients having acute episodes are being taken to hospital rather than being held in police cells until they can be medically assessed. It is estimated that police deal with an average of 100 mental-health related calls each day. Senior Sergeant Ross Endicott-Davies is managing the project
Topics: law, health
Regions:
Tags: police, mental health, mental illness, hospital
Duration: 13'23"
09:27
2015 Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton
BODY:
Angus Deaton is this year's Nobel Prize winner prize in economic sciences for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare. He was awarded the honour because his work has helped to provide answers for three big questions in economics: How do consumers distribute their spending among different goods? How much of society's income is spent and how much is saved? How do we best measure and analyze welfare and poverty?
Topics: economy
Regions:
Tags: Nobel Prize, Angus Deaton
Duration: 17'19"
09:44
Science solutions to agricultural emissions
BODY:
With the completion of the COP 21 climate negotiations in Paris the government is suggesting a scientific solution to agricultural emissions will be a major part of New Zealand's contribution to keeping global warming at bay. Overall agriculture is estimated to be responsible for up to a third of global emissions and roughly half of New Zealand's emissions. New Zealand is part of a Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases through the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre based in Palmerston North. Dr Andy Reisinger is the centre's deputy director.
EXTENDED BODY:
With the completion of the COP 21 climate negotiations in Paris the government is suggesting a scientific solution to agricultural emissions will be a major part of New Zealand's contribution to keeping global warming at bay. Overall agriculture is estimated to be responsible for up to a third of global emissions and roughly half of New Zealand's emissions. New Zealand is part of a Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases through the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre based in Palmerston North. Dr Andy Reisinger is the centre's deputy director.
Topics: climate, science, farming
Regions:
Tags: climate change, agricultural greenhouse gas, Greenhouse Gas
Duration: 7'48"
09:51
UK correspondent, Kate Adie
BODY:
Kate Adie reports on the British astronaut, Tim Peake who's blasted off from Kazakhstan to join the International Space Station.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: UK
Duration: 7'15"
10:06
Former state ward, Tupua Urlich
BODY:
Throughout his childhood in state care, young Aucklander Tupua Urlich felt he had no voice. From the age of five to 15 he was bumped around a fractured social welfare system, living in more than 10 foster homes. He has just turned 20 and works in Auckland as a youth advocate with the child support group, the Dingwall Trust. A review of Child, Youth and Family led by government troubleshooter, Paula Rebstock is under way, proposing to involve children in all decisions that affect them and having an independent advocacy service supporting them. Tupua Urlich is involved in the review and he has strong opinions on how where the system is failing young people
EXTENDED BODY:
Throughout his childhood in state care, young Aucklander Tupua Urlich felt he had no voice.
From the age of five to 15 he was bumped around a fractured social welfare system, living in more than 10 foster homes.
Now, he is 20 and works in Auckland as a youth advocate with child support group the Dingwall Trust, helping to build a system that doesn't victimise children.
A review of the Ministry of Child, Youth and Family, led by government troubleshooter Paula Rebstock, is under way and proposes to involve children in all decisions that affect them - as well as having an independent advocacy service supporting them.
Mr Urlich has been involved in the review on the minister's youth advisory panel, and he told Nine To Noon he found it empowering.
"They've had so many reviews in the past and they haven't really had a focus on the ones on the receiving end of their services," Mr Urlich said.
"For me it was actually very empowering in the sense that a lot of things that had really gotten to me throughout my life and had negative effects on me, I had an opportunity to not just speak about them but to confront them and to battle them in (some) ways."
Mr Urlich has strong opinions on where the system is failing young people.
"One of the main things for me is the poor outcomes for us. The title attached to children who make it through the care system alive, you've got two labels: you're either a victim or a survivor. And that statement says a lot about the care system.
"They're not providing what young people need. They obviously need love, care, protection, they need people to nurture them, they actually need a system that cares. That's not what we have at the moment," Mr Urlich said.
At five, his father was in and out of jail and his mother struggled with drug and alchohol addictions. There was domestic violence in their home.
"I've got really good memory of being young, and I just knew things were wrong. I knew that isn't how a child should grow up or what we should grow up around but I still had a lot of love for my family. And the difficult thing with that is that they took family away. I understand the need to remove that immediate danger... (but) I was only safe from abuse and domestic violence for the eight-hour drive from Auckland to Hawke's Bay. That's when the state stepped in."
He said he has met a lot of good people who are in the care system he was in for 12 years and their situations still break his heart.
"At 17, I mean, most of them are in prison, they have joined gangs... The way the system leaves you is so abrupt and just inhumane and it just ruins lives," he said.
Mr Urlich said he struggled with being left to his own devices once he turned 17, which is the age the social welfare system traditionally stops caring for children, although this is currently being debated.
"I've been homeless more than three times... it's not a very forgiving system. So when you turn 17, they no longer pay the caregivers. Not all the time, but often, you then have nowhere to go. They say, 'oh well, go back to your family'. They didn't want you when you were three, four, five - why do they want you now as a 17-year-old? It's not very well thought out but there is hope for change in that area."
Listen to Tupua Urlich on Nine to Noon:
Topics: life and society
Regions:
Tags: Tupua Urlich, CYF, state ward, social welfare, foster care
Duration: 33'56"
10:40
Book Review: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
BODY:
Reviewed by Quentin Johnson, published by Penguin Random House (NZ).
Topics: books
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'26"
11:12
New technology with Sarah Putt
BODY:
Sarah gives her Top 10 in tech for 2015.
Topics: technology
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 15'02"
11:26
Joseph Driessen: Parenting based on your child's temperament.
BODY:
Children's temperamental traits are present from birth, and have a significant impact on parenting strategies Joseph Driessen says the main types are as follows: A Easy going ( Any parent can parent these !) ( about 40 %) B Average to good ( Most parent can manage these) ( About 35 %) C Moderately difficult ( these children need good parenting skills) ( About 15 %) D Extremely difficult ( These children can challenge and defeat even very experienced and skilled parents) (About 10 %)
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: parenting, children
Duration: 18'06"
11:46
Viewing: Lara Strongman
BODY:
Lara discusses the last ever episode of 3D. Also, Blunt Talk on SoHo, about sitcom about a TV cable news show starring Patrick Stewart and Wayward Pines on Prime - a US sci-fi mystery starring Matt Dillon.
Topics: arts, media
Regions:
Tags: documentary
Duration: 12'50"
=SHOW NOTES=
09:05 New initiative to keep people with acute mental distress out of police cells
In Auckland a new memorandum of understanding between the police and health authorities means mental health patients having acute episodes are being taken to hospital rather than being held in police cells until they can be medically assessed.
It is estimated that police deal with an average of 100 mental-health related calls each day. Senior Sergeant Ross Endicott-Davies is managing the project.
09:20 Nobel Prize winner Angus Deaton on inequality, and consumption great and small
Professor Angus Deaton is this year's Nobel Prize winner prize in economic sciences for his analysis of consumption, poverty, and welfare. He was awarded the honour because his work has helped to provide answers for three big questions in economics: How do consumers distribute their spending among different goods? How much of society's income is spent and how much is saved? How do we best measure and analyze welfare and poverty?
In his most recent book, 'The Great Escape: Health, Wealth, and the Origins of Inequality, he argued that while most people in the world have gained in terms of health and well-being from GDP growth over the last few decades, there are many groups that have missed out, particularly if you look beyond the measures that are most commonly examined.
The Scottish born economist earned his PhD in economics at Cambridge University before moving to America; he is now at Princeton University.
09:30 Science solutions to agricultural emissions
With the completion of the COP 21 climate negotiations in Paris the government is suggesting a scientific solution to agricultural emissions will be a major part of New Zealand's contribution to keeping global warming at bay.
Overall agriculture is estimated to be responsible for up to a third of global emissions and roughly half of New Zealand's emissions. New Zealand is part of a Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases through the Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Research Centre based in Palmerston North. Dr Andy Reisinger is the centre's deputy director.
09:45 UK correspondent, Kate Adie
Kate Adie reports on the British astronaut, Tim Peake who's blasted off from Kazakhstan to join the International Space Station.
[image:54005:third]
10:05 Former state ward, Tupua Urlich on changes needed for children in care
Throughout his childhood in state care, young Aucklander Tupua Urlich felt he had no voice. From the age of five to fifteen he was bumped around a fractured social welfare system, living in more than 10 foster homes. He has just turned 20 and works in Auckland as a youth advocate with the child support group, the Dingwall Trust. A review of Child, Youth and Family led by Government troubleshooter, Paula Rebstock is underway, proposing to involve children in all decisions that affect them and having an independent advocacy service supporting them. Tupua Urlich is involved in the review and he has strong opinions on how where the system is failing young people
10:30 Book Review: In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park
Reviewed by Quentin Johnson, published by Penguin Random House (NZ)
10:45 The Reading: Chappy by Patricia Grace told by Jim Moriarty and Simon Leary (Part 12 of 12, RNZ)
11:05 New technology with Sarah Putt
Sarah gives her Top 10 in tech for 2015.
11:25 Joseph Driessen: Parenting based on your child's temperament.
Children’s temperamental traits are present from birth, and have a significant impact on parenting strategies
Joseph Driessen says the main types are as follows:
A Easy going ( Any parent can parent these !) ( about 40 %)
B Average to good ( Most parent can manage these) ( About 35 %)
C Moderately difficult ( these children need good parenting skills) ( About 15 %)
D Extremely difficult ( These children can challenge and defeat even very experienced and skilled parents) (About 10 %)
11:45 Viewing: Lara Strongman
Lara discusses the last ever episode of 3D. Also, Blunt Talk on SoHo, about sitcom about a TV cable news show starring Patrick Stewart and Wayward Pines on Prime - a US sci-fi mystery starring Matt Dillon.
===Noon | Midday Report===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ news, followed by updates and reports until 1.00pm, including: 12:16 Business News 12:26 Sport 12:34 Rural News 12:43 Worldwatch
=AUDIO=
12:00
Midday News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
The real estate sector is being taken to court over alleged price-fixing and anti-competitive behaviour. And a 60-year-old businessman who threatened to contaminate infant milk formula with 1080 poison has pleaded guilty to blackmail charges.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 15'57"
12:20
Economy grows in September quarter
BODY:
The economy grew zero-point-9 percent in the three months ended September, in line with expectations.
Topics: economy, business
Regions:
Tags: New Zealand dollar
Duration: 2'07"
12:22
Restaurant Brand third quarter sales up 9.4%, KFC sales strong
BODY:
Fast food group, Restaurant Brands continues to serve up strong growth, with total third quarter sales up more than nine percent on the year earlier.
Topics: economy, business, food
Regions:
Tags: KFC, Carl's Jr, Pizza Hut
Duration: 1'04"
12:23
Fishing industry working to compete internationally - Sanford
BODY:
Fish company, Sanford, says the New Zealand commercial fishing industry is increasingly working together to build the country's global brand as a sustainable source of quality products.
Topics: economy, business, food
Regions:
Tags: Sanford, fish
Duration: 1'27"
12:24
Midday Markets for 17 December 2015
BODY:
For the latest from the markets we're joined by Andrew Cathie at Craigs Investment Partners
Topics: economy, business
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'02"
12:26
Midday Sports News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
New Zealand's former world champion sculler Philippa Baker-Hogan believes Olympic medals could be at risk if Rowing New Zealand and coach Dick Tonks don't sort out their differences.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: rowing, rugby, cricket, tennis
Duration: 2'23"
12:35
Midday Rural News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sectors.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 7'53"
=SHOW NOTES=
===1:06 PM. | Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm===
=DESCRIPTION=
An upbeat mix of the curious and the compelling, ranging from the stories of the day to the great questions of our time (RNZ)
=AUDIO=
13:10
First Song
BODY:
'Rain' - Amiria Grenell.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: Amiria Grenell
Duration: 6'31"
13:16
Rental WOF - Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard
BODY:
A rental Warrant of Fitness is set to be introduced next year. And it's just been announced that The University of Otago, Wellington, is working with Wellington and Dunedin City Councils to study the effects of introducing the measure. It's funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand. And would require basic standards for things like ventilation, heating, safety and hygiene in a rental property. Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard is from the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.
Topics: housing, law
Regions:
Tags: warrant of fitness, renting, University of Otago, Department of Public Health
Duration: 6'29"
13:22
Kaikoura Seals - Jody Weir
BODY:
A popular walking track has been temporarily shut, due to aggressive male seals and newborn pups. The Ohau Waterfall Stream track is near Kaikoura and is a place people can usually view the fur seal pups. But the seal breeding activity this year is causing safety concerns. Jody Weir is a community ranger for the Department of Conservation in Kaikoura.
Topics: environment
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: seals, Ohau Waterfall Stream, Department of Conservation
Duration: 5'59"
13:28
The Foodbank Project - Galen King
BODY:
Christmas is approaching and the pressure is on for food banks throughout the country. And our next guest has created New Zealand's first online food bank, to encourage people to give more. The Foodbank Project is the brainchild of Nelson web developer, Galen King. His company Lucid, The Salvation Army and Countdown supermarkets have teamed up to roll the initiative out.
Topics: life and society
Regions:
Tags: The Foodbank Project, charity, The Salvation Army, Countdown, Lucid
Duration: 6'12"
13:35
New 'Earth-like' planet discovered
BODY:
Scientists have found, what they believe, is the closest potentially habitable planet to Earth. The rocky planet, Wolf 1061c, is a mere fourteen light years away. The discovery was made by a team of scientists from the University of New South Wales. Dr Duncan Wright, led the team.
EXTENDED BODY:
Scientists have found what they believe is the closest potentially habitable planet to Earth. The rocky planet Wolf 1061c is a mere 14 light years away.
The discovery was made by a team of scientists from the University of New South Wales led by Christchurch-raised Dr Duncan Wright.
He tells Jesse Mulligan how it felt to discover Wolf 1061c – an 'Earth-like' planet four times the size of ours.
Topics: science
Regions:
Tags: space, Wolf 1061c, planets, University of New South Wales
Duration: 11'13"
13:47
Favourite Album
BODY:
In Rainbows by Radiohead. Chosen by Guy Montgomery
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: Radiohead
Duration: 13'37"
14:08
Money - Mary Holm
BODY:
Personal finance expert Mary Holm offers some wisdom about insurance.
Topics: life and society, economy
Regions:
Tags: insurance, money
Duration: 28'25"
14:51
Food Guest - Goodbuzz Kombucha
BODY:
Goodbuzz Booch® is a non-alcoholic brewed probiotic soft drink commonly called kombucha. It is thought to have originated in Manchuria, China over 2000 years ago and migrated across Asia into Russia. The claims to health benefits have preserved the elixir through the generations and carried it around the world.
Topics: food
Regions:
Tags: kombucha
Duration: 9'06"
15:14
The Expats - Mandy McNeil
BODY:
Mandy McNeil was a global star in the insurance business before becoming an angel investor, helping out businesses in the US and UK. Along the way she's done all sorts including, incredibly surviving the Twin Towers attack in 2001, despite being on the 99th floor, one of the floors hit by the first plane. These days she's in London, investing mostly in the food business, but she has plenty of other projects up her sleeve.
Topics: business, life and society
Regions:
Tags: investment, food, chocolate, Twin Towers
Duration: 21'15"
15:46
The Panel pre-show for 17 December 2015
BODY:
What the world is talking about with Jesse Mulligan, Jim Mora and Zara Potts.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 13'47"
21:46
Damselflies - fast blue and slow red
BODY:
PhD student Tanya Dann has been investigating the different speed lifestyles that two New Zealand damselfly species have
EXTENDED BODY:
“The red damselflies we call the slow species, because they take so long. They live up to three years as larvae before they metamorphose. The blue damselflies, on the other hand, only take a year to a year and half – they’re the fast species.”
Tanya Dann PhD student University of Otago
Damselflies are the small cousins of dragonflies. They spend the first part of their life as larvae, living in water under overhanging vegetation around the side of ponds and lakes, before they take to the air, becoming the fast acrobatic fliers that we see in summer.
PhD student Tanya Dann, from the University of Otago’s Zoology Department has been investigating two of the six species of damselfly found in New Zealand, to see if she can work out how two such similar species can live alongside one another. Her work has focused on the common red damselfly Xanthocnemis zealandica and the blue damselfly Austrolestes colensonis.
She has found that the key difference between the two species is the speed of their lifestyle, and their ability to withstand the lean times. The blue damselfly lives fast and dies young, while the red damselfly lives in the slow lane and can survive many months without eating. They have a different response to predators as well: red damselfly larvae freeze and escape notice, while blue damselfly flee and are more likely to get caught.
While both species can exist together in large numbers in benign environments these differences give them an edge in challenging environments. The red damselfly does better in extreme environments, such as high altitude tarns, where food is scarce and winter temperatures can drop very low. The blue damselfly, on the other hand, has the upper hand in ephemeral water bodies, where there are no predators.
Topics: science, environment
Regions:
Tags: damselflies, insects, invertebrates, Dunedin, freshwater, lakes
Duration: 11'54"
=SHOW NOTES=
1:10 First Song
'Rain' - Amiria Grenell.
1:15 Rental WOF - Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard
A rental property Warrant of Fitness is set to be introduced next year. And it's just been announced that the University of Otago, Wellington, is working with Wellington and Dunedin City Councils to study the effects of introducing the measure. It's funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand and would require basic standards for things like ventilation, heating, safety and hygiene in a rental property. Dr Lucy Telfar Barnard is from the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington.
1:25 Kaikoura Seals - Jody Weir
A popular walking track has been temporarily shut, due to aggressive male seals and newborn pups. The Ohau Waterfall Stream track is near Kaikoura and is a place people can usually view the fur seal pups. But the seal breeding activity this year is causing safety concerns. Jody Weir is a community ranger for the Department of Conservation in Kaikoura.
1:34 The Foodbank Project - Galen King
Christmas is approaching and the pressure is on for food banks throughout the country. And our next guest has created New Zealand's first online food bank, to encourage people to give more. The Foodbank Project is the brainchild of Nelson web developer, Galen King. His company Lucid, The Salvation Army and Countdown supermarkets have teamed up to roll the initiative out.
1:40 New Planet Wolf 1061c - Dr Duncan Wright
Scientists have found, what they believe, is the closest potentially habitable planet to Earth. The rocky planet, Wolf 1061c, is a mere fourteen light years away. The discovery was made by a team of scientists from the University of New South Wales. Dr Duncan Wright led the team.
1:40 Favourite Album
In Rainbows by Radiohead.
2:10 Money - Mary Holm
Personal finance expert Mary Holm offers some wisdom about insurance.
2:30 Reading - At The Compassionate Restaurant
A woman takes over a restaurant and has to convert the staff and clientele to her philosophy of fine dining.
2:45 Food Feature - Goodbuzz Kombucha
Goodbuzz Booch® is a non-alcoholic brewed probiotic soft drink commonly called kombucha. It is thought to have originated in Manchuria, China over 2000 years ago and migrated across Asia into Russia. The claims to health benefits have preserved the elixir through the generations and carried it around the world.
3:10 Masterpieces - Ben Hurley
Comedian Ben Hurley tells his favourite New Zealand joke.
3:20 The Expats - Mandy McNeil
Mandy McNeil was a global star in the insurance business before becoming an angel investor, helping out businesses in the US and UK. Along the way she's done all sorts including, incredibly surviving the Twin Towers attack in 2001, despite being on the 99th floor, one of the floors hit by the first plane. These days she's in London, investing mostly in the food business, but she has plenty of other projects up her sleeve.
3:30 Our Changing World
Blue damselflies live fast and die young. Red damselflies prefer life in the slow lane. And University of Otago PhD student Tanya Dann tells Alison Ballance that she's been on a mission to find out why.
3:45 The Panel Pre-Show
What the world is talking about with Jesse Mulligan, Jim Mora and Zara Potts.
=PLAYLIST=
JESSE'S SONG:
ARTIST: Amiria Grenell
TITLE: Rain
COMP: Grenell
ALBUM: Autumn
LABEL: n/a
FAVOURITE ALBUM:
ARTIST: Radio Head
TITLE: Jigsaw Falling into Place
COMP: Radiohead
ALBUM: In Rainbows
LABEL: XL
ARTIST: Radio Head
TITLE: Nude
COMP: Radiohead
ALBUM: In Rainbows
LABEL: XL
ARTIST: Radio Head
TITLE: House of Cards"/"Bodysnatchers
COMP: Radiohead
ALBUM: In Rainbows
LABEL: XL
ARTIST: Radio Head
TITLE: Reckoner
COMP: Radiohead
ALBUM: In Rainbows
LABEL: XL
===4:06 PM. | The Panel===
=DESCRIPTION=
An hour of discussion featuring a range of panellists from right along the opinion spectrum (RNZ)
=AUDIO=
15:46
The Panel pre-show for 17 December 2015
BODY:
What the world is talking about with Jesse Mulligan, Jim Mora and Zara Potts.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 13'47"
16:06
The Panel with David King and Niki Bezzant (Part 1)
BODY:
What the Panelists David King and Niki Bezzant have been up to. You will probably have seen some evidence of the $1.79 million that the Health Promotion Agency (HPA) has spent on its current childhood obesity campaign. A marketing expert is questioning the value of the spend. The Dunedin City Council is seeking more than $1 million in damages in a High Court action against the estate of former Citifleet team leader Brent Bachop. And a long story about how many car parks a restaurant needs. It needed 62 extra car parks to be able to keep trading, but now it only needs an extra 21.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 22'05"
16:07
The Panel with David King and Niki Bezzant (Part 2)
BODY:
57% of NZers find no religious significance in Christmas anymore… does this worry you? What the Panelists David King and Niki Bezzant have been thinking about. Sex abuse victims say a child sex offender register is needed and they want it to go one step further by making the names public. A study at Cornell University found that trained experts had trouble distinguishing the fat content of milk when they could not see it. In other words it's the fact that skinny milk comes in green containers that lets us know it's skinny. We talked yesterday about how members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can now perform marriages. And how about this quote? "ISIS Gives Us No Choice but to Consider Limits on Speech".
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 28'31"
16:08
The Panel Intro
BODY:
What the Panelists David King and Niki Bezzant have been up to.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'57"
16:10
Health Promotion Agency advertising campaign
BODY:
You will probably have seen some evidence of the $1.79 million that the Health Promotion Agency (HPA) has spent on its current childhood obesity campaign. A marketing expert is questioning the value of the spend.
Topics: media, health, food
Regions:
Tags: Health Promotion Agency, HPA, advertising, junk food
Duration: 10'35"
16:21
Million dollar claim
BODY:
The Dunedin City Council is seeking more than $1 million in damages in a High Court action against the estate of former Citifleet team leader Brent Bachop.
Topics: crime, law
Regions:
Tags: Dunedin City Council, Citifleet
Duration: 5'16"
16:26
Carparks
BODY:
A long story about how many car parks a restaurant needs. It needed 62 extra car parks to be able to keep trading, but now it only needs an extra 21.
Topics: transport
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Kaizuka Eatery and Garden Bar
Duration: 3'04"
16:31
Christmas
BODY:
57% of NZers find no religious significance in Christmas anymore… does this worry you?
Topics: spiritual practices, life and society
Regions:
Tags: Christmas
Duration: 5'49"
16:37
Panel Says
BODY:
What the Panelists David King and Niki Bezzant have been thinking about.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 6'57"
16:44
Sex offenders
BODY:
Sex abuse victims say a child sex offender register is needed and they want it to go one step further by making the names public.
Topics: crime
Regions:
Tags: sex abuse, sex offender register
Duration: 7'10"
16:52
Food colours
BODY:
A study at Cornell University found that trained experts had trouble distinguishing the fat content of milk when they could not see it. In other words it's the fact that skinny milk comes in green containers that lets us know it's skinny.
Topics: food
Regions:
Tags: Cornell University
Duration: 3'50"
16:56
Pastafarians
BODY:
We talked yesterday about how members of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster can now perform marriages.
Topics: spiritual practices
Regions:
Tags: church of the flying spaghetti monster
Duration: 2'01"
16:58
Isis
BODY:
And how about this quote? "ISIS Gives Us No Choice but to Consider Limits on Speech"
Topics: security, politics
Regions:
Tags: ISIS
Duration: 2'22"
=SHOW NOTES=
===5:00 PM. | Checkpoint===
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ's two-hour news and current affairs programme
=AUDIO=
17:00
Checkpoint Top Stories for Thursday 17 December 2015
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A police raid on journalist Nicky Hager's home has been ruled illegal by the High Court and a jury has found Taranaki farmer David Roigard guilty of the murder of his son Aaron.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 23'15"
17:08
Judge rules police raid illegal, says Nicky Hager's lawyer
BODY:
A police raid on journalist Nicky Hager's home has been ruled illegal by the High Court.
Topics: law, media
Regions:
Tags: Dirty Politics, police, Cameron Slater
Duration: 4'47"
17:12
Taranaki farmer found guilty of murdering son
BODY:
A jury has found Taranaki farmer David Roigard guilty of the murder of his son Aaron.
Topics: crime
Regions: Taranaki
Tags: Aaron Roigard, murder, Opunake
Duration: 3'07"
17:15
Real Estate Agencies accused of anti-competitive behaviour
BODY:
The Real Estate Agents Authority says the Commerce Commission's accusations of price-fixing and anti-competitive behaviour is not a good look for the industry.
Topics: housing, law
Regions:
Tags: Commerce Commission, Real Estate Agents Authority
Duration: 4'44"
17:20
Council worker in bleach case gutted over ERA decision
BODY:
A Northland council employee who was sacked after he was assaulted on his way to work, and then developed post traumatic stress disorder, has lost his claim for unfair dismissal.
Topics: law, life and society
Regions: Northland
Tags: Northland council, Post traumatic stress disorder
Duration: 2'58"
17:20
Auckland Council proposes housing density rise
BODY:
Auckland will have more suburban land for housing up to seven storeys high, and less for single houses under revamped zonings released by the council.
Topics: housing, politics
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: Auckland Council
Duration: 4'37"
17:24
Council worker in bleach case gutted over ERA decision
BODY:
A Northland council employee who was sacked after he was assaulted on his way to work, and then developed post traumatic stress disorder, has lost his claim for unfair dismissal.
Topics: law, life and society
Regions: Northland
Tags: Northland council, Post traumatic stress disorder
Duration: 2'58"
17:28
PM defends prank as 'light-hearted'
BODY:
The Prime Minister's office is defending John Key's decision to participate in a radio stunt were where he joked with DJ's about prison rape, saying it was meant to be light-hearted.
Topics: media, politics
Regions:
Tags: The Prime Minister, radio, Prank
Duration: 2'40"
17:34
Evening Business for 17 December 2015
BODY:
News from the business sector including a market report.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 2'15"
17:36
Corrections given funding boost
BODY:
The Government is giving the Corrections Department an extra 17.6 million dollars to cope with the rising number of inmates and to improve electronic monitoring.
Topics: law, politics
Regions:
Tags: Corrections Department
Duration: 3'12"
17:39
Lotto winner splits $15m winnings with his friend
BODY:
A Porirua man won 15 million dollars in Lotto last night - and is promptly giving half of it away.
Topics: life and society
Regions: Wellington Region
Tags: Porirua, Lotto
Duration: 2'24"
17:42
A possible breakthrough on the rowing feud
BODY:
A solution appears to have been found to the on going fued between top rowing coach Dick Tonks and Rowing New Zealand.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: rowing, Olympics
Duration: 4'09"
17:46
Man admits to threatening to contaminate infant milk with 1080
BODY:
A 60 year-old businessman has admitted blackmail charges and threatening to contaminate infant milk.
Topics: crime
Regions:
Tags: Blackmail, poison, Infant Milk
Duration: 2'09"
17:48
Police seize digger, cash, drugs & melted jewellery in raid
BODY:
Police in Northland have seized cash, drugs, a 5-tonne digger and thousands of dollars worth of melted down stolen jewellery during an operation targeting the Head Hunters gang.
Topics: crime
Regions: Northland
Tags: Head Hunters, Meth, police raid
Duration: 3'13"
17:51
Jade's mother welcomes new disclose regime
BODY:
The mother of a murdered schoolgirl says her daughter might have been alive today if she'd known her ex partner was a killer.
Topics: crime, law
Regions:
Tags: violence, Disclosure
Duration: 2'35"
17:54
Police and Tina Cross team up to curb family violence
BODY:
The police say 33 people have died from domestic violence this year - including 16 children, and 10 women.
Topics: crime, music
Regions:
Tags: domestic violence, Tina Cross
Duration: 3'15"
17:57
Haast people pitch in to help with arrest
BODY:
They say it can take a village to raise a child. But it can also sometimes take a village to arrest a man.
Topics: crime
Regions: West Coast
Tags: arrest, Haast
Duration: 2'15"
18:06
Sports News for 17 December 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'20"
18:12
Hager's lawyer on illegal police search
BODY:
The police search of journalist Nicky Hager's home when they seized or cloned essentially all his computer system and digital storage devices in a bid to identify a hacker, has been ruled fundamentally unlawful.
Topics: law, media
Regions:
Tags: Police Search
Duration: 6'24"
18:19
Lobby group says betrayed by Auckland Council upzoning proposal
BODY:
A group fighting high density housing in Auckland says it feels betrayed by the Council's plan to boost the number of multi-storey apartments across part of the city, and at the same time reducing the area zoned for single standalone homes.
Topics: housing, politics
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: Single House Zone, Auckland 2040, Unitary Plan
Duration: 3'52"
18:21
Gov's emissions projections far exceed Paris commitment
BODY:
The Government's official forecasts project its emissions to far exceed the reduction target it took to Paris.
Topics: climate
Regions:
Tags: emissions, Targets, Kyoto Protocol
Duration: 3'04"
18:24
Economy grows, but surging immigration tempers per capita gains
BODY:
The economy has shrugged off a lacklustre start to the year, with tourism and manufacturing powering a pick up in growth.
Topics: economy
Regions:
Tags: tourism, growth
Duration: 2'22"
18:27
NZ Citizen NRL player spared deportation after assault term
BODY:
Australian-based New Zealand rugby league player Russell Packer will not be deported, despite having served a jail term for assault.
Topics: crime, sport
Regions:
Tags: rugby league, Australia
Duration: 2'59"
18:34
Worries over ex-Afghan vet's mental state in Perth jail
BODY:
Moves are afoot to get a psychiatrist in to assess ex-Afghan veteran Ko Haapu in his Perth prison cell.
Topics: health, crime
Regions:
Tags: prison, Australia, Perth
Duration: 3'21"
18:38
Yazidi woman begs UN to wipe out Islamic State
BODY:
A young Yazidi woman has begged the UN Security Council to wipe out Islamic State.
Topics: conflict, politics
Regions:
Tags: Islamic State, UN Security Council, Africa, Boko Haram
Duration: 3'49"
18:46
Obese patients worry anaesthetists
BODY:
Anaesthetists are warning that over-weight patients are more at risk of problems before, during and after surgery
Topics: health
Regions:
Tags: obesity, surgery
Duration: 5'09"
=SHOW NOTES=
===7:06 PM. | Nights===
=DESCRIPTION=
Entertainment and information, including: 7:30 At the Movies
=SHOW NOTES=
2015 opened with the sixth and final Middle Earth epic...
[embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVAgTiBrrDA
....an upset winner at the Oscars
[embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SnKH4n_nzE
....a new, welcome face on the comedy scene
[embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgRsPtaUVs
....and an old, equally welcome face waving the NZ flag - whatever it is this week...
[embed] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxZQeR3c_Wg
=AUDIO=
19:30
At The Movies for 17 December 2015
BODY:
On the final At The Movies of the year, Simon Morris looks back at a year when the all-conquering franchise ruled at the box-office, and women dominated for a change - in thrillers like Sicario and Mad Max, in comedies like Trainwreck and Spy, and in the headlines with He Named Me Malala and 50 Shades of Grey.
Topics: arts, media
Regions:
Tags: movies
Duration: 24'09"
7:30 At the Movies with Simon Morris: Current film releases and film related topics (RNZ) 8:13 Windows on the World: International public radio features and documentaries 9:06 Our Changing World
=SHOW NOTES=
=AUDIO=
21:06
A century with Einstein
BODY:
2015 marks the centenary of Albert Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, which explains how gravity works on objects, from falling apples to orbiting planets.
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The year 2015 marks the centenary of Einstein’s ground-breaking Theory of General Relativity. However, as one piece of the puzzle still remains elusive to cosmologists a century later, it leaves the world of science to wonder - what if Einstein was wrong?
Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity was a follow-up on his Special Relativity, which he had published 10 year earlier.
General relativity unified gravity into the mix and explains how we feel gravity due to the way space and time get bent by the presence of massive objects. University of Auckland cosmologist Richard Easther says to image how a heavy star creates a dimple in space around it, you can think of it moving in a curved spaced like a skateboarder moves in a skate bowl.
“It’s a beautiful idea, because it changes our ideas about space and time.”
The previous Newtonian theory saw space as a rigid stage, merely the platform on which matter performed. However, Einstein’s theory transformed the stage itself to be alive and dynamical too.
“If something moves in space, then the curvature has to move around it. And that is a very different way of looking at space,” Richard Easther says.
His work on general relativity catapulted Einstein to worldwide fame, as it cleared a discrepancy in the longstanding mystery about the behaviour of the planet Mercury, one that could not be completely answered by Newtonian physics.
However, despite a century’s worth of science, one of Einstein’s predictions still has to be verified: gravitational waves, or the “ripples” of energy that are created when something moves in space.
That doesn’t mean we haven’t gotten close though.
Measurable emissions of gravitational waves are expected from massive binary systems - collisions and coalescences of neutron stars or black holes.
In 1993, Joseph Hooton Taylor, Jr. won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work with pulsars, which was the first confirmation of the existence of gravitational radiation. Pulsars are large and dense stars that orbit each other, and as they get closer to each other, they emit gravitational waves that change their dynamics.
While this indirectly proved the existence of gravitational waves, what scientists want to do is observe them directly.
In order to do this, there are many observational campaigns in place around the world - the biggest of which is LIGO.
“We haven’t seen gravitational waves directly, because what happens is they squeeze in one direction and stretch in the other,” Richard Easther says.
Gravitational waves are not easy to see, because the “stretching” you are looking at, is “less than the width of the nucleus of an atom across a couple of kilometres”. Because of this, you need a hyper-sensitive detector in order to do so.
Basically we have got to find “a very delicate signal in what is a fairly noisy data stream”.
LIGO has a higher sensitivity, which gives it a better chance of detecting gravitational waves.
Their big L-shaped detectors, are able to pick up the stretching and squeezing patterns, so if you have two merging black holes, LIGO would “see” it.
In Richard Easther’s words, LIGO is looking for the “cosmic siren, or the sudden squawks of gravitational waves” that are produced very quickly.
A false alarm for the field came recently with the BICEP 2 experiment, which unlike LIGO, was looking at gravitational waves generated just after the Big Bang. At the time, it seemed that BICEP 2 had found the fingerprints of these gravitational waves, or the patterns left in the microwave background radiation.
“Turns out they hadn’t though, unfortunately,” Richard Easther says.
LIGO is using several detectors, thousands of miles apart, to verify any signals they may detect. If successful, LIGO would deliver the ultimate proof of Einstein’s theory.
But if they show a pattern that we do not expect, or if we don’t see gravitational waves at all then maybe general relativity doesn’t work the way we think it does. Whether we prove or disprove Einstein’s theory, the establishment of this fact will be revolutionary in the way we look at things, right down to fundamental physics. Either way we win, so we are quite excited about it.
Topics: science
Regions:
Tags: cosmology, Albert Einstein, Theory of General Relativity, Theory of Special relativity, Einstein centenary, black holes
Duration: 10'11"
21:20
The importance of taxonomy and biological collections
BODY:
The report on 'National Taxonomic Collections in New Zealand' recommends more secure funding and greater national coordination for the country's 29 significant biological collections
EXTENDED BODY:
From fishes to fossils, snails to whales, microbes to mushrooms, and trees to mosses, biological collections are a treasure trove of information about our natural world. They have been painstakingly collected by scientists over hundreds of years, cared for by generations of curators, and are regularly pored over by scientists from around the world. But the Royal Society of New Zealand is concerned that these nationally important and irreplaceable items face an uncertain future, due to problems of short-term funding, fragmented and uncoordinated management, lack of legal protection, and a small and aging pool of experts with the knowledge to both use and look after them.
In its new report on National Taxonomic Collections in New Zealand, the Royal Society of New Zealand is calling on the government to take urgent action. ‘The biological collections’ infrastructure’, says the report, ‘needs to be nurtured, protected, and accessible for current and future generations of New Zealanders, within an investment framework that recognises the intergenerational values of these assets.’
What is taxonomy and systematics?
“Taxonomy and systematics is the science of looking at species, and their inter-relationships and evolution,” says Susan Waugh.
Identifying, describing and naming species underpins our economy.
“Taxonomy underlines the biological economy of New Zealand,” says Susan. “We use it in defining, for example, what resources we have in the natural world, so plants and animals that we exploit for commercial use. For conservation work, we need to know if we’re dealing with a special plant or animal found just in one site or whether it’s a widespread species. We need to know whether it’s just arrived and is a pest species. Then there are health and well-being aspects as well, such as toxic algae”
What are the national biological collections and where are they housed?
The expert panel that worked on the report identified more than 12 million specimen lots of vertebrates, invertebrates, plants, fungi, micro-organisms, and fossils (and a specimen lot may contain many individual items that were collected at the same time). These millions of items are housed in 29 taxonomic collections, found in Crown Research Institutes (CRIs), the Cawthron Institute, museums and universities around New Zealand. The collections are very varied.
“There are living collections – such as micro-algal cultures and flax,” says Wendy Nelson. “There are fossil collections, tissue samples, dried samples in herbaria, pickled samples. There’s also a huge range of size from bones, feathers and skins to microscopic material.”
Funding for collections currently comes from a variety of sources. The Ministry of Culture funds Te Papa, various city councils fund the metropolitan museums, while CRI funding comes via the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment.
Te Papa, as the National Museum, has the largest collections in the country. It is particularly strong in whales, fishes, birds, plants and molluscs. Senior science curator, Susan Waugh, says that some of the first botanical specimens ever collected in New Zealand, by scientists on Captain James Cook’s voyages in the late 18th century, are held at Te Papa, along with other collections that are historically significant.
Wendy Nelson says that collections are not just dry, dusty archives. As well as being important repositories that scientists around the world consult on a daily basis, she says that in the future we may find ourselves using them in ways we can’t anticipate at the moment. She cites the examples of scientists going back to old collections of birds’ eggs to investigate the effect of pesticides such as DDT, and of analysing collections of Antarctic mosses to gather information about ozone depletion in the years before atmospheric ozone measurements were made directly.
Although it is very difficult to put a dollar value on our existing collections, the report estimates they have a conservative value of over $680 million.
Threats to the national collections
The report says that the absence of national-scale oversight means that the current New Zealand collections’ infrastructure is vulnerable to individual institutional policy changes and priorities’, and it cites two recent examples of this. One was a proposal to close the Lincoln University Entomological Collection and get rid of its curator. Another was a Te Papa proposal, made without any consultation with users and other collection holders, to move some or all of its natural history collections from Te Papa in Wellington to off-site storage in south Auckland. The report goes on to say that this ‘is indicative of the lack of formal recognition of the connections across the collection and research sectors.’
The report’s recommendations
While the panel of experts agree that New Zealand’s biological collections should stay where they currently are, they identified as major issues the fact that funding for collections comes from a wide number of sources, and is often year by year. Two main recommendations coming out of the report are a better coordinated approach at a national level, and longer term funding.
Other recommendations include the need for better legal protection for collections, and the development of specific training for future taxonomists, as one of the concerns commonly raised in this area is the aging workforce and the lack of a succession plan.
Topics: science, environment
Regions:
Tags: taxonomy, species, systematics, museum collections, Te Papa, plants, animals
Duration: 15'44"
21:34
The legacy of Riccarton Bush
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Riccarton Bush in Christchurch contains the last remnant of a kahikatea floodplain forest in Canterbury, thanks to the Deans family's early conservation efforts.
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The Deans family is well known from rugby, but the pioneering Canterbury settlers can also take credit for one of the earliest conservation successes in New Zealand.
Riccarton House, a grand Victorian/Edwardian homestead the family built between the 1850s and 1900s, is surrounded by Riccarton Bush, which features the last remnant of a kahikatea floodplain forest.
For 300,000 years, the shifting gravels of the Waimakariri River triggered an ever-changing forested landscape across the Canterbury Plains. Stands of kahikatea established where ever conditions were right, but were regularly downed by floods, only to re-establish elsewhere.
Joanna Orwin, the author of Riccarton and the Deans Family, says the tall kahikatea trees in Riccarton Bush are the last generation of trees that began life as part of these natural flood cycles.
The oldest trees are about 600 years old and have lived through two cultural periods, Maori and European settlement, as well as widespread fires that swept the Plains.
She says when the Deans brothers, John and William, arrived in 1843, they were drawn to the place because of the bush, in the same way Maori had been before them.
As the last source of timber and shelter, with the Avon running beside them, this was a natural spot on the Plains, which by then was mostly ferns and tussocks after all the fires.
She says the brothers were aware of the importance of the bush, and when the Canterbury settlers arrived, they gave half of the area to them, while holding onto the other half.
“Because it was one of the few sources of timber and firewood on the Plains, the settlers’ half disappeared within a year of the settlement of Christchurch, which made the Deans brothers even more aware of the importance of hanging on to what they had.”
Their philosophy back then was to use only dead wood for firewood, and once the houses had been build, they restricted the use of fencing timber from the forests to fallen trees.
They consciously preserved as much as they could, and when John Deans died in 1854, his dying wish was that what was left should be preserved as much as possible.
His widow, Jane Deans, took care of the bush for decades, but she also planted exotic trees such as oaks to maintain the canopy. But by the 1880s, she had already realised that it was a mistake as the oaks were suppressing the regrowth of native seedlings.
In 1914, the family gifted Riccarton Bush to the city of Christchurch and it was formally protected. Since then, the Riccarton Bush Trust has managed the site, and decades later, the oaks were felled amid controversy, including tree sit-ins.
Joanna Orwin says the bush is now surrounded by a predator-proof fence to help restore its vegetation as close to a natural state as possible, and it has become one of the city’s important green spaces following the Canterbury earthquakes.
Topics:
Regions: Canterbury
Tags: Riccarton Bush, Christchurch, Deans family, kahikatea floodplain forest
Duration: 10'45"
21:46
Damselflies - fast blue and slow red
BODY:
PhD student Tanya Dann has been investigating the different speed lifestyles that two New Zealand damselfly species have
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“The red damselflies we call the slow species, because they take so long. They live up to three years as larvae before they metamorphose. The blue damselflies, on the other hand, only take a year to a year and half – they’re the fast species.”
Tanya Dann PhD student University of Otago
Damselflies are the small cousins of dragonflies. They spend the first part of their life as larvae, living in water under overhanging vegetation around the side of ponds and lakes, before they take to the air, becoming the fast acrobatic fliers that we see in summer.
PhD student Tanya Dann, from the University of Otago’s Zoology Department has been investigating two of the six species of damselfly found in New Zealand, to see if she can work out how two such similar species can live alongside one another. Her work has focused on the common red damselfly Xanthocnemis zealandica and the blue damselfly Austrolestes colensonis.
She has found that the key difference between the two species is the speed of their lifestyle, and their ability to withstand the lean times. The blue damselfly lives fast and dies young, while the red damselfly lives in the slow lane and can survive many months without eating. They have a different response to predators as well: red damselfly larvae freeze and escape notice, while blue damselfly flee and are more likely to get caught.
While both species can exist together in large numbers in benign environments these differences give them an edge in challenging environments. The red damselfly does better in extreme environments, such as high altitude tarns, where food is scarce and winter temperatures can drop very low. The blue damselfly, on the other hand, has the upper hand in ephemeral water bodies, where there are no predators.
Topics: science, environment
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Tags: damselflies, insects, invertebrates, Dunedin, freshwater, lakes
Duration: 11'54"
21:55
The Palmy Dirty 30 challenge
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Palmy Dirty 30 is a new parent-led initiative to get children to spend more time outdoors.
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At the start of the summer holidays, here's a call to action.
A group of parents in Palmerston North have launched the Palmy Dirty 30 challenge to encourage children and their families to spend more time in the outdoors.
They've come up with 30 fun and free things to do, either around Palmerston North or anywhere else, including simple activities like rolling down hills and swinging in old tyres.
The focus is on fun, but there is a serious message behind the initiative, says Heather Went, who is one of the parents involved.
"Kids playing outside with other kids has been the Kiwi-way for generations. But along the way something has changed, kids started spending increasing amounts of time inside."
She says childhood has changed significantly since many of today’s parents grew up in the 1970’s and 80’s.
"Unstructured, outdoor play is important for both children’s development and the future of the environment. By getting our children outdoors, they have fun, take risks and exercise without even noticing it. Additionally, the hope is that they develop a sense of adventure and a love of nature and exploring."
Topics: environment
Regions: Manawatu
Tags: environmental education, childhood, rewilding, kids and nature
Duration: 3'56"
9:06 Our Changing World: Science and environment news from NZ and the world (RNZ)
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19:12
The Cultural Ambassador - Dance
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body movements, usually to music - with Chris Jannides, Toi Whakaari movement tutor and founding dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Limbs Dance Company... some exciting locally based contemporary dance talent: Ross McCormack, Malia Johnston & Sarah Foster-Sproull...
Topics: arts, music
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Tags: dance, comtemporary dance
Duration: 19'00"
20:42
Pacific Representation at COP21 Paris
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Swaying to the broad range of arts, culture and society from around the Pacific is Richard Pamatatau, programme leader in Pacific Journalism at AUT's School of Communication Studies... the concerns of Pacific Island nations did not go unheard at the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (better known as COP21) in Paris earlier this month
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Swaying to the broad range of arts, culture and society from around the Pacific is Richard Pamatatau, programme leader in Pacific Journalism at AUT's School of Communication Studies... the concerns of Pacific Island nations did not go unheard at the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (better known as COP21) in Paris earlier this month.
Topics: Pacific, life and society, environment
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Tags: Pacific Islands, climate change, sea level rising, Paris COP21, Paris Climate Talks
Duration: 18'22"
20:59
Conundrum clue 7 for 17 December 2015
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Conundrum clue 7 for 17 December 2015
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Duration: 13"
21:59
Conundrum clue 8 for 17 December 2015
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Conundrum clue 8 for 17 December 2015
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Duration: 19"
=SHOW NOTES=
NIGHTS on RNZ National
with skipper. Bryan Crump & navigator. Robyn Rockgirl Walker
On the show tonight (Thursday)...
[image:55769:half]
7:12 The Cultural Ambassadors - DANCE
body movements, usually to music - with Chris Jannides, Toi Whakaari movement tutor and founding dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Limbs Dance Company... some exciting locally based contemporary dance talent: Ross McCormack, Malia Johnston & Sarah Foster-Sproull...
roster: Kate Mead (Contemporary Classical Music); Adrian Kinnaird (Comics & Graphic Novels); Miles Buckingham (Jamaican Music); Cliff Fell (Poetry); Kirsten Zemke (Hip Hop); Andrew Todd (Video Games); Fergus Barrowman (Jazz); Leilani Unasa (Pasifika); Paul Berrington (Electronic Music); & Chris Jannides (Dance)
7:35 At the Movies
> movie reviews and film industry news with Simon Morris
8:12 Windows on the World - HARDTalk: Peter Mutharika
> international public radio documentaries
8:43 PACIFIC REPRESENTATION AT COP21 PARIS
swaying to the broad range of arts, culture and society from around the Pacific is Richard Pamatatau, programme leader in Pacific Journalism at AUT's School of Communication Studies... the concerns of Pacific Island nations did not go unheard at the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (better known as COP21) in Paris earlier this month...
8:59 conundrum clue 7
9:07 Our Changing World
> science, environment and medical research in New Zealand labs and out in the field
9:59 conundrum clue 8
10:17 Late Edition
> a round up of today's RNZ News and feature interviews as well as Date Line Pacific from RNZ International
11:07 The Eleventh Hour: Music 101 pocket edition
> a condensed version of RNZ National's Music 101 with Emma Smith
... nights' time is the right time...
===10:00 PM. | Late Edition===
Late Edition for 17 December 2015
A round up of today's RNZ News and feature interviews as well as Date Line Pacific from RNZ International
=DESCRIPTION=
RNZ news, including Dateline Pacific and the day's best interviews from RNZ National
===11:06 PM. | Music 101===
=DESCRIPTION=
Music, interviews, live performances, behind the scenes, industry issues, career profiles, new, back catalogue, undiscovered, greatest hits, tall tales - with a focus on NZ (RNZ)