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:
13 August 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 The 10PM Question (4 of 10, RNZ); 3:30 NZ Books (RNZ): 5:10 Witness (BBC); 5:45 The Day in Parliament
===6:00 AM. | Morning Report===
=DESCRIPTION=
Radio New Zealand's three-hour breakfast news show with news and interviews, bulletins on the hour and half-hour
=AUDIO=
06:00
Top Stories for Thursday 13 August 2015
BODY:
Solid Energy is expected to announce it will go into voluntary administration. Our energy reporter Eric Frykberg has the details shortly. China devalues its currency for a second day sending shock waves through world markets, analysts fear more falls are to come. A change of heart from the Greens means a members bill allowing bars to open during the Rugby World Cup can proceed and the Transport Agency says it's formally reprimanded about 50 people responsible for thousands of speeding tickets.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 31'18"
06:06
Sports News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'11"
06:19
Pacific News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
The latest from the Pacific region.
Topics: Pacific
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'47"
06:22
Morning Rural News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sector.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 4'14"
06:28
Te Manu Korihi News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
Yesterday's announcement that the boarding school Turakina Māori Girls' College could face closure was met with tears from the board; Efforts by Top Energy to expand its geothermal power generation in Northland are being challenged by local iwi; Iwi and hapu in the Hawke's Bay rohe are set to have more say in council-making decisions.
Topics: te ao Maori
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'16"
06:41
MP says proposal to raise power prices in Northland "a rort"
BODY:
The Northland MP, Winston Peters, says any attempt to introduce a user-pays system for transmission prices would be a rort.
Topics: politics
Regions: Northland
Tags: power price
Duration: 2'13"
06:48
Yuan devalued again, NZ dollar hits 6-year low
BODY:
The New Zealand dollar touched six-year lows yesterday after China's central bank allowed the yuan to fall for a second straight day.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: New Zealand dollar, NZ dollar
Duration: 1'09"
06:49
ASB lifts its annual profit to $859m
BODY:
ASB Bank says its push to lend more to business and farming will continue, despite concerns about the dairy downturn and slowing economy.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: ASB Bank
Duration: 2'46"
06:52
SkyCity to focus on improving Adelaide business
BODY:
SkyCity Entertainment Group is focused on improving its underperforming Adelaide business, despite difficult economic conditions in Australia.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: SkyCity Entertainment Group
Duration: 1'51"
06:54
SkyCity shares falls
BODY:
But investors appeared disappointed, with SkyCity's share price falling 8 cents, or 2 percent, to $4.21 each.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: SkyCity Entertainment Group
Duration: 1'14"
06:55
Vital Healthcare profit jumps due to revaluation gains
BODY:
Vital Healthcare Property Trust will continue to broaden and deepen its presense in the hospital and healthcare property market, after a strong full year result.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Vital Healthcare Property Trust
Duration: 1'49"
06:57
Auckland Council's chief economist sees affordable housing
BODY:
Auckland Council's chief economist says he's confident the city can make houses much more affordable for average income earners.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Auckland Council
Duration: 1'45"
06:58
Morning markets for 13 August 2015
BODY:
On Wall Street, stocks have fallen after China's currency fell for a second day.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 52"
07:07
Sports News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'04"
07:11
Solid Energy to go into administration
BODY:
The state coal miner Solid Energy is expected to announce it will go into voluntary administration today.
Topics: business, politics
Regions:
Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 4'13"
07:18
Yuan devaluation hits kiwi, sparks currency war fears
BODY:
With us is Derek Rankin who is a foreign exchange advisor at Rankin Treasury Advisory.
Topics: economy
Regions:
Tags: New Zealand dollar
Duration: 3'23"
07:26
Tens of thousands of patients unable to see specialists
BODY:
Tens of thousands of New Zealanders who were referred to a specialist by their GP over the past five years were turned away.
Topics: health, politics
Regions:
Tags: specialists
Duration: 3'36"
07:36
Road safety agency's speeding "unacceptable"
BODY:
The Transport Agency has explained what it has done after finding out its employees exceeded the speed limit, in company vehicles, eight and a half thousand times over a nine month period.
Topics: transport
Regions:
Tags: Transport Agency, NZTA
Duration: 6'23"
07:40
Bars toasting bill to stay open longer during Rugby World Cup
BODY:
Many rugby fans say they're looking forward to being able to get together in a public bar at the crack of dawn to cheer on the All Blacks in next month's World Cup.
Topics: sport, politics
Regions:
Tags: rugby, bars
Duration: 3'15"
07:43
Council denies tougher rates stance following forced home sale
BODY:
Auckland Council says the forced sale of a woman's six hundred thousand dollar home over a twelve thousand dollar rates arrears does not mark a new heavy handed approach.
Topics: housing, politics
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: Auckland Council
Duration: 4'24"
07:48
Labour claims subterfuge over Saudi sheep deal may be illegal
BODY:
Labour says Foreign Minister Murray McCully appears to have broken the law around public spending with a $4 million payment to the businesman at the centre of the Saudi sheep farm affair.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: live sheep export, Saudi Arabia
Duration: 5'26"
07:54
Abducted Egyptian journalist claimed to have been beheaded
BODY:
Croatia says it fears the worst after reports that Islamic state militants have killed a Croatian national working in Egypt.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Egypt, Tomislaw Salopek
Duration: 2'15"
07:57
NZ intern at the UN in Geneva calls a tent home
BODY:
New Zealanders hold a number of prominent positions at the United Nations but a new recruit from Christchurch is hogging the international headlines this week
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: UN, United Nations
Duration: 2'45"
08:07
Sports News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'17"
08:11
Solid Energy set to announce voluntary administration
BODY:
Staff of the struggling state coal miner Solid Energy are expected to be told today the company is placing itself in voluntary administration.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 3'40"
08:16
Local MP concerned way Solid Energy has been managed
BODY:
As we've been discussing this morning, Solid Energy is expected to announce today it will go into voluntary administration for two-and-a-half years.
Topics: business
Regions:
Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 3'36"
08:18
Kaikohe says geothermal project could save the town
BODY:
Kaikohe business people are pinning their hopes on a geothermal power project, to pull their town out of the economic doldrums.
Topics: business
Regions: Northland
Tags: geothermal power, Kaikohe
Duration: 3'37"
08:22
New Zealanders healthcare needs not being met
BODY:
Many thousands of New Zealanders are being denied the care their GPs think they need as referrals to specialists go unseen.
Topics: health, politics
Regions:
Tags: specialists
Duration: 4'19"
08:28
Bill to keep bars open for rugby games passes first step
BODY:
A members' bill allowing bars to stay open during Rugby World Cup games has passed its first reading in Parliament after a change of heart by the Green Party.
Topics: politics, sport
Regions:
Tags: Rugby World Cup
Duration: 3'04"
08:32
Markets Update for 13 August 2015
BODY:
A brief update of movements in the financial sector.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: markets
Duration: 1'00"
08:38
MP says proposal to up power prices in his path "a rort"
BODY:
The Northland MP, Winston Peters, says any attempt to introduce a user-pays system for transmission prices would be a rort.
Topics: business, politics
Regions:
Tags: transmission prices, electricity
Duration: 2'44"
08:40
Former president Jimmy Carter ill
BODY:
Former president Jimmy Carter has cancer.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: USA, politics, Jimmy Carter
Duration: 32"
08:41
Left-wing surprise Jeremy Corbyn leading race for leadership
BODY:
The four-way battle for Labour leadership in the UK is turning out to be a one horse race.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: UK
Duration: 4'02"
08:45
IOC praise Rio's preparations for next year's Olympics
BODY:
The International Olympic Committee has praised the organisers of next year's games in Rio and said Rio will deliver outstanding games.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Olympics
Duration: 3'41"
08:50
Te Manu Korihi News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
Yesterday's announcement that the boarding school Turakina Māori Girls' College could face closure was met with tears from the board; Efforts by Top Energy to expand its geothermal power generation in Northland are being challenged by local iwi; Iwi and hapu in the Hawke's Bay rohe are set to have more say in council-making decisions.
Topics: te ao Maori
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'24"
08:53
Fiji plans to reward people who dob in litterbugs
BODY:
Fiji is looking at rewarding citizens who dob in people who drop rubbish.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags: Fiji, litter
Duration: 3'03"
=SHOW NOTES=
===9:06 AM. | Nine To Noon===
=DESCRIPTION=
Current affairs and topics of interest, including: 10:45 The Reading: Gutter Black by Dave McArtney (2 of 6, RNZ)
=AUDIO=
09:08
Future of SOE Solid Energy
BODY:
Once a highly successful coal mining company, earning tens of millions of dollar in profit, the SOE Solid Energy is expected to go into voluntary administration later today. Analyst and commentator Brian Gaynor, the Executive Director of Milford Asset Managment, discusses what's happened, also the Buller Mayor Garry Howard.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 20'51"
09:28
Why are osteoporosis supplements still recommended?
BODY:
Two Auckland clinical researchers say there is no scientific evidence to support the use of Vitamin D and calcium supplements for osteoporosis, and yet doctors continue to prescribe them, and academics and advocacy groups promote them. Auckland University Associate Professors Andrew Grey and Mark Bolland have just had a paper published in the British Medical Journal.
Topics: health
Regions:
Tags: osteoporosis
Duration: 12'42"
09:41
Citizen scientists helping with major research projects
BODY:
[gallery:1329]
Zooniverse is the website that's enlisting the eyes and brains of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people to do the grunt work for major science projects. At Zooniverse.org volunteers can help spot supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, identify animals from camera traps on the Serengeti Plains and even look for exotic subatomic particles in data from the Large Hadron Collider. Chris Lintott is co-founder.
Topics: science
Regions:
Tags: Zooniverse.org
Duration: 10'18"
09:52
UK correspondent Dame Ann Leslie
BODY:
The present massive influx of migrants into the EU.
Topics: politics
Regions:
Tags: UK
Duration: 8'03"
10:08
The plot to poison the world's greatest wine
BODY:
Romanee-Conti is one of the most famed vineyards in the world producing some of the most expensive wines in the world. In 2010 the proprietor Aubert de Villaine received a bizarre threat - he should either pay more than a million Euro in ransom or his ancient vines would be poisoned. Journalist and writer Maximillian Potter wrote about the plot for Vanity Fair magazine, and has just published his book Shadows In The Vineyard: The True Story Of The Plot To Poison The World's Greatest Wine.
EXTENDED BODY:
Romanee-Conti is one of the most famed vineyards in the world producing some of the most expensive wines in the world. In 2010 the proprietor Aubert de Villaine received a bizarre threat – he should either pay more than a million Euro in ransom or his ancient vines would be poisoned. Journalist and writer Maximillian Potter wrote about the plot for Vanity Fair magazine, and has just published his book Shadows In The Vineyard: The True Story Of The Plot To Poison The World's Greatest Wine.
Topics: author interview
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 31'34"
10:39
Book review: 'The Pale North' by Hamish Clayton
BODY:
Published by Penguin RRP$30.00. Reviewed by Phil Vine.
Topics: books
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 5'38"
11:07
New technology with Andy Linton
BODY:
Andy Linton discusses technology and the risks of hackers taking control. Andy has more than 30 years' experience in computer networking in the telecommunications industry and the academic sector. He currently spends his time teaching and helping build networks in developing regions around the world.
Topics: technology
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 15'16"
11:25
Five key skills for parenting "difficult" children
BODY:
Education consultant and parenting commentator Joseph Driessen.
Topics: education, life and society
Regions:
Tags: parenting, Joseph Dreissen
Duration: 22'05"
11:48
5 Film reviewer, Dan Slevin
BODY:
Dan Slevin reviews the Amy Winehouse documentary Amy and the latest superhero movie Fantastic Four. Plus more from the NZIFF.
Topics: arts
Regions:
Tags: Dan Slevin, film
Duration: 11'30"
=SHOW NOTES=
09:05 Future of SOE Solid Energy
Once a highly successful coal mining company, earning tens of millions of dollar in profit, the SOE Solid Energy is expected to go into voluntary administration later today. Analyst and commentator Brian Gaynor, the Executive Director of Milford Asset Managment, discusses what's happened, also the Buller Mayor Garry Howard.
09:20 Why are osteoporosis supplements still recommended when research shows they don't work?
Two Auckland clinical researchers say there is no scientific evidence to support the use of Vitamin D and calcium supplements for osteoporosis, and yet doctors continue to prescribe them, and academics and advocacy groups promote them. Auckland University Associate Professors Andrew Grey and Mark Bolland have just had a paper published in the British Medical Journal.
In it, they say that 32 out of 38 clinical trials of calcium and/or Vitamin D reported no health benefit in the use of the supplements for managing osteoporosis, in fact, they can cause harm. Andrew Grey discusses their research.
09:30 Citizen scientists helping with major research projects
Zooniverse is the website that's enlisting the eyes and brains of hundreds of thousands of ordinary people to do the grunt work for major science projects. At Zooniverse.org volunteers can help spot supermassive black holes in distant galaxies, identify animals from camera traps on the Serengeti Plains and even look for exotic subatomic particles in data from the Large Hadron Collider. Chris Lintott is co-founder.
[gallery:1329]
09:45 UK correspondent Dame Ann Leslie
10:05 The plot to poison the world's greatest wine
Romanee-Conti is one of the most famed vineyards in the world producing some of the most expensive wines in the world. In 2010 the proprietor Aubert de Villaine received a bizarre threat – he should either pay more than a million Euro in ransom or his ancient vines would be poisoned. Journalist and writer Maximillian Potter wrote about the plot for Vanity Fair magazine, and has just published his book Shadows In The Vineyard: The True Story Of The Plot To Poison The World's Greatest Wine.
10:35 Book review: 'The Pale North' by Hamish Clayton
Published by Penguin RRP$30.00. Reviewed by Phil Vine.
10:45 The Reading: 'Gutter Black' by Dave McArtney
Highlights from the intimate memoir by the late Dave McArtney, a founding member of one of NZ's iconic rock bands, 'Hello Sailor' recalling their days of creativity, misadventure, success and excess. (2 of 6, RNZ)
11:05 New technology with Andy Linton
Andy Linton discusses technology and the risks of hackers taking control. Andy has more than 30 years’ experience in computer networking in the telecommunications industry and the academic sector. He currently spends his time teaching and helping build networks in developing regions around the world.
11:30 Five key skills for parenting "difficult" children
Education consultant and parenting commentator Joseph Driessen.
11:45 Film reviewer, Dan Slevin
Dan Slevin reviews the Amy Winehouse documentary Amy and the latest superhero movie Fantastic Four. Plus more from the NZIFF.
===Noon | Midday Report===
=DESCRIPTION=
Radio New Zealand 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 13 August 2015
BODY:
Solid Energy goes into voluntary administration and there's a second successful prosecution over a forestry death.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 14'24"
12:16
House sales exceptionally strong for winter
BODY:
The Real Estate Institute says house sales volumes are exceptionally strong for midwinter, particularly in the top half of the North Island and the Central Otago Lakes region.
Topics: housing, business, economy
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 1'45"
12:18
Fairfax Media profit slumps
BODY:
The Australian media firm, Fairfax, says earnings have fallen in New Zealand.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Fairfax, NZ earnings
Duration: 43"
12:19
Manufacturing sector continues to expand, but at slower rate
BODY:
A lower dollar is giving manufacturers a positive boost, even though the pace of activity has slowed.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 59"
12:20
Shanton Fashions sold - liquidator
BODY:
The liquidator for Shanton Fashions says the firm has been sold to an unnamed buyer.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Shanton Fashions
Duration: 35"
12:21
The ownership of Cooks Global Foods is set to change
BODY:
The ownership of Cooks Global Foods is set to change in a 16 million dollar deal.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Cooks Global Foods
Duration: 1'00"
12:22
Augusta will sell Auckland's Finance Centre for $87 million
BODY:
Augusta Capital has agreed to sell the Finance Centre complex in Auckland for 87 million dollars.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags: Augusta Capital
Duration: 1'10"
12:24
Midday Markets for 13 August 2015
BODY:
The latest from the markets.
Topics: business, economy
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 2'26"
12:26
Midday Sports News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
Silver ferns to meet World Cup officials again after rough game against Malawi.
Topics: sport
Regions:
Tags: Silver Ferns
Duration: 2'40"
12:35
Midday Rural News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
News from the rural and farming sectors.
Topics: rural, farming
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 3'02"
=SHOW NOTES=
===1:06 PM. | Jesse Mulligan, 1–4pm===
=DESCRIPTION=
Jesse hosts an upbeat mix of the curious and the compelling, ranging from the stories of the day to the great questions of our time.
=AUDIO=
13:10
Songs You Have To Hear - Everest
BODY:
A British track with a NZ connection - Public Service Broadcasting are the band, they've taken a 1953 documentary about Edmund Hillary and Tensing Norgay and set clips from it to music.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags: Everest, Public Service Broadcasting
Duration: 4'45"
13:15
Meteor Showers - Jeremy Moss
BODY:
It's meteor season - a time of year when you're more likely to spot shooting stars, fireballs and hear sonic booms.
Topics: weather
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 6'36"
13:22
Beard competition - Ygnacio Cervio
BODY:
New Zealand's competition for the best beard is later this month, the event's organiser already has quite a head start so you'd better get growing and tweaking now if you want to participate with any whiff of credibility.
EXTENDED BODY:
New Zealand's competition for the best beard is later this month, the event's organiser already has quite a head start so you'd better get growing and tweaking now if you want to participate with any whiff of credibility.
Topics: life and society
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 8'53"
13:40
Feature Album - Inspiration Information
BODY:
New Zealand singer songwriter Julia Deans chats about her album pick Inspiration Information by Shuggie Otis.
Topics: music
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 19'38"
14:10
Mt Ruapehu - Dr Harry Keys
BODY:
Scientists are descending on Whakapapa this weekend to commemorate nearly 20 years since the eruption of Mt Ruapehu. The 1995 eruptions were the most dramatic in five decades and caused disruption to nearby communities, skiers and air travellers.
Topics: history
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 10'15"
14:20
Road Map - Gladstone
BODY:
Today we are 15 kms outside of the small Wairarapa town of Carterton, where you'll find a much smaller dot on the map called Gladstone. It's quaint and rural and everyone says its local community is fantastic.
EXTENDED BODY:
A virtual trip to a spot15 kms outside of the Wairarapa town of Carterton, where you'll find a small dot on the map called Gladstone, named after British Prime Minister William Gladstone.
The countryside in these parts is home to farms, vineyards and an excellent pub. Also a historic church, a workshop restoring museum-piece wooden trams, and if you're around in November - a scarecrow festival.
Gladstone is quaint and rural, and everyone says its local community is fantastic.
Topics: life and society
Regions: Wellington Region
Tags: Gladstone
Duration: 39'48"
15:10
The Expats - Sophie Westacott
BODY:
Today's expat has bounced from a career in movie making to humanitarian work, all thanks to a job tip from a pen pal in the United States.
Topics: identity, life and society
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 13'02"
15:25
Masterpieces - Malia Johnson
BODY:
Today we're talking to dancer and choreographer, Malia Johnson.
Topics: arts
Regions:
Tags: dance
Duration: 4'51"
15:45
The Panel pre-show for 13 August 2015
BODY:
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel.
Topics:
Regions:
Tags:
Duration: 14'39"
21:06
Tracking the Lapita Expansion Across the Pacific
BODY:
Veronika Meduna joins Pacific archaeologists at the oldest cemetery in the pacific to find out about the Lapita and their epic voyage of discovery.
EXTENDED BODY:
by Veronika Meduna
The whole Lapita story is an extraordinary chapter of human history. These are the first people that get beyond the main Solomons chain.
Stuart Bedford, Australian National University, Vanuatu Cultural Centre
Stuart Bedford has spent many years scouring Vanuatu’s volcanic soil for evidence of the archipelago’s first inhabitants, but one of his best discoveries came when he wasn’t looking. A digger driver who was excavating soil for a prawn farm on Vanuatu’s main island Efate discovered a richly decorated shard of pottery – and recognised it as something unusual.
Bedford and his colleague Matthew Spriggs, both archaeologists at the Australian National University in Canberra, were called in and immediately identified it as Lapita.
The serendipitous discovery soon led to a major project which unearthed not just more pottery but human remains. More than a decade later, the site at Teouma is now famous among Pacific archaeologists as the oldest Lapita cemetery, reaching back three millennia to the very beginning of an epic voyage of discovery.
The Lapita are ancestors of modern Polynesians, who later went on to explore all corners of the Polynesian triangle, from Hawaii to Easter Island and ultimately New Zealand. But 3000 years ago it was Lapita seafarers who heralded the last major prehistoric wave of migration by sailing to Vanuatu and from there out into an area known as Remote Oceania.
In July, Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila hosted the 8th Lapita conference, which brought together scientists from disciplines as far apart as archaeology, linguistics and genetics to discuss the latest findings about the Lapita, from the techniques they used to produce their unique, elaborately decorated pottery, to their burial practices, their health, their impact on the archipelago’s ecology - and of course their Pacific sailing itinerary.
"Teouma is the first kind of really core Lapita site … so it’s given us unique insights into who the Lapita people were," says Matthew Spriggs.
From the bones and teeth, the team gleaned information about their diet and health, but most importantly perhaps, the Teouma bones confirm the Polynesian link.
We can compare the skull shape of the Lapita people and see who they resemble most among living populations today and they fit very neatly within the Polynesian/Asian mode rather than the Australian, Aboriginal and Melanesian mode.
Matthew Spriggs, Australian National University, Vanuatu Cultural Centre
Spriggs says that it was during the relatively short period of Lapita expansion that change happened and, while the people at Teouma are ancestors of Polynesians, later Lapita site are more closely linked with modern Melanesians.
“It’s only during Lapita that we have evidence of extensive interactions between all the archipelagos, so from New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, through to the Solomons, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and out to Fiji. There’s extensive exchange networks, contact between these areas.”
At the Teouma cemetery, archaeologists also discovered 68 burial sites, and the bleached bones almost certainly belong to the first people to make landfall in Vanuatu. They unearthed clear evidence that the Lapita used their highly decorated pottery for ceremonies and rituals, but for Frederique Valentin, an archaeologist at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, the bones tell a fascinating story of ritual burial practices – with headless skeletons and deliberately rearranged bones.
Hallie Buckley, a biological anthropologist at the University of Otago, has coordinated the excavation of the bones and has studied them for signs of disease.
These same bones also tell a story of hard work, and of people suffering from gout and what we now know as metabolic disease. But Anna Gosling, also at the University of Otago, says the gout may be an evolutionary consequence of protection against malaria.
Gout is a result, usually, of high serum urate levels. Pacific Island people, throughout the Pacific, have been found to have quite high levels of this particular chemical in their blood compared to most other populations worldwide, which is suggesting that there is some sort of genetic link.
Anna Gosling, University of Otago
Urate has several important function: it helps maintain blood pressure, it is an anti-oxidant, and it plays a role in the body's innate immune response. During a Malaria infection, urate levels increase to stimulates an immune response.
"The argument we're trying to make here is that if you already have slightly higher urate levels in your blood, you need less red blood cells to ... burst apart before your immune system kicks in and tries to resolve the infection, which would give you quite an advantage."
The human settlement of the Pacific and the origins of the Polynesian people have been topics of intense debate for decades, and scientists have sought to chart the path of the Lapita expansion. Collectively they have accumulated evidence that points to an origin in island Southeast Asia, but with more clarity in some of the detail comes increasing complexity of the total picture.
The first wave of colonisation in the Pacific region began when people fanned out across an area known as Near Oceania, sometime around 40,000 years ago. Sea levels were lower then – New Guinea, Australia and the island of Tasmania were still one landmass – and these first explorers had to navigate smaller gaps of ocean. They spread as far as the Bismarck Archipelago north of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.
Patrick Kirch, an anthropologist at the University of California at Berkeley and an expert in Pacific prehistory, says for 30,000 years, the sea gap between the main chain of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu was an invisible boundary. But then, around 3000 years ago, the Lapita, breached this voyaging barrier. Their unmistakable comb-toothed pottery is the most distinctive cultural signature they left behind, and it now helps to reconstruct their journey.
You can use the pottery and other material culture to trace the movement very clearly and with the assistance of radio carbon dating we’ve put a timeframe on that.
Patrick Kirch, University of California at Berkeley
This Lapita “bursting out into this part of the Pacific that had never been occupied by humans” ended at about 800BC in Tonga and Samoa, but just what motivated the rapid expansion is still a point of debate.
Population pressure is often discussed as one option, but Kirch thinks people were pulled rather than pushed. “By pull I mean things like new resources. We know in Vanuatu they had these tortoises and pigeons, they were great food items.”
Also, he says, there could be social factors such as a hierarchical clan structure in which younger sons may have wanted to establish elsewhere.
Although the dentate pottery – edged with toothlike projections – is the most consistent Lapita identifier, it’s clear that the people carried with them a suite of other skills, including open-ocean navigation, boat-building, fishing and agriculture. Archaeologists prefer to use the term Lapita Cultural Complex, rather than implying that Lapita was a homogenous group of people defined largely by their pottery design style.
Linguistically, the origins are clear. Lapita is just one chapter in the Austronesian diaspora.
Austronesian is unusual among language families: it’s extremely large, with more than a thousand modern languages, and it’s the most widely dispersed in the world (until the post-Columbus expansion of Indo-European languages). It extends from Madagascar to Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, and spans over 70 degrees of latitude, from Hawaii to the southern tip of New Zealand. All modern Polynesian languages are daughters of this family.
Like drawing up an evolutionary tree from the genetic diversity found in living organisms, modern languages can also be used to reconstruct ancestral proto languages and their relationships to each other. When this is done, Taiwan emerges as the most likely origin of Austronesian.
The archaeological record supports the notion that the Lapita journeys were a deliberate effort to colonise new land. Lapita sites discovered so far are close to the beach and, in Near Oceania they are mostly on small off-shore islands. The choice of coastal sites also suggests a dual subsistence economy, relying on both fishing and agriculture. Excavations have also revealed that the Lapita toolbox included a range of fish hooks made from shell, nets, spears and different types of stone adzes.
Intriguingly, the most complex patterns of decoration are associated with the oldest sites, and plain ware and more simply decorated pots make up a growing proportion of assemblages found in later settlements.
Why the Lapita might have abandoned the rituals and practices they had so treasured remains a mystery. Matthew Spriggs says once you move beyond Samoa and Tonga, the area of sea compared to the area of land “increases massively and there was probably a threshold of relatively easy travel back and forth”.
Topics: science, environment
Regions:
Tags: Pacific migration, Lapita, human migration, Pacific, Teouma, Vanuatu, Lapita pottery, burial rituals, Austronesian languages, archaeology, gout, Polynesian ancestors
Duration: 51'43"
=SHOW NOTES=
1:10 Songs You Have To Hear
Everest - Public Service Broadcasting
1:15 Meteor Season - Jeremy Moss
Tis the season for shooting stars, sonic booms and night time sky explosions - we talk to Jeremy Moss, astronomy lecturer at Massey and president of the Palmerston North Astronomical Society.
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1:25 Beard Competition - Ygnacio Cervio
New Zealand's competition for the best beard is later this month, the event's organiser already has quite a head start so you'd better get growing and tweaking now if you want to participate with any whiff of credibility.
1:30 BBC Witness - CIA Mind Control Experiments
In the 1950s the CIA started attempting to brainwash psychiatric patients. They wanted to develop methods which could be used against enemies in the Cold War. Hear from one man whose father was experimented on in a Canadian psychiatric hospital.
1:40 Feature Album
Julia Deans talks us through Shuggy Otis' Imformation Inspiration.
2:10 Mt Ruapehu - Dr Harry Keys
Scientists are descending on Whakapapa this weekend to commemorate (almost) 20 years since the eruption of Mt Ruapehu. The 1995 eruptions were the most dramatic in five decades, and caused disruption to nearby communities, skiiers and air travellers.
2:20 Roadmap - Gladstone
15 kms outside of the smallish town of Carterton you'll find a much smaller dot on the map called Gladstone, named after British Prime Minister William Gladstone.
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3:10 The Expats - Sophie Westacott
Today's expat has bounced from a career in movie making to humanitarian work, all thanks to a job tip from a pen pal in the United States.
3:25 Masterpieces - Malia Johnson
Today we're talking to dancer and choreographer, Malia Johnson.
3:35 Our Changing World - Veronika Meduna
Some 3000 years ago, Vanuatu served as a major stepping stone in the Lapita peoples' epic voyage of discovery when they became the first to settle the wider Pacific. Veronika Meduna joins archaeologists in Vanuatu to find out more about the ancestors of modern Polynesians.
Stories from Our Changing World.
3:45 The Panel Pre-Show
What the world is talking about. With Jesse Mulligan, Jim Mora and Zara Potts.
=PLAYLIST=
Artist: Public Service Broadcasting
Song: Everest
Composer: Willgoose
Album: Everest
Label: Testcard
Artist: Shuggie Otis
Song: Inspiration Information
Composer: Otis
Album:Inspiration Information
Label: Luakabop
Artist: Shuggie Otis
Song: Aht Uh Mi Hed
Composer: Otis
Album:Inspiration Information
Label: Luakabop
Artist: Shuggie Otis
Song: Strawberry Letter 23
Composer: Otis, Otis
Album:Inspiration Information
Label: Luakabop
Artist: Dean Martin
Song: Hey brother pour the wine
Composer: Ross,Bagdasarian
Album:Dean Martin: The Best Of The Capitol Years (Compilation)
Label: Capitol
Artist: Cher
Song: Gypsies,Tramps and Theives
Composer: Robert Stone
Album: Cher: Greatest Hits 1965-1992 (Compilation)
Label: Geffen
Artist: Judy Collins
Song: Both Sides now
Composer: Mitchell
Album: Judy Collins: Colors Of The Day (Compilation)
Label: Elektra
Artist: Blur
Song: Ong Ong
Composer:Albarn
Album:The Magic Whip
Label: Parlophone
===4:06 PM. | The Panel===
=DESCRIPTION=
An hour of discussion featuring a range of panellists from right along the opinion spectrum (RNZ)
=AUDIO=
15:45
The Panel pre-show for 13 August 2015
BODY:
Your feedback, and a preview of the guests and topics on The Panel.
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Duration: 14'39"
16:06
The Panel with Michele A'Court and Tony Doe (Part 1)
BODY:
WTO's Agreement on Government Procurement; Child sex offender register; Police speeding offences.
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Duration: 23'09"
16:07
The Panel with Michele A'Court, Tony Doe (Part 2)
BODY:
Perseid meteor shower; Panel Says; Rugby World Cup.
Topics:
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Duration: 27'17"
16:08
Panel Intro
BODY:
What the Panelists Michele A'Court and Tony Doe have been up to.
Topics:
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Duration: 4'53"
16:15
WTO's Agreement on Government Procurement
BODY:
New Zealand is joining the World Trade Organisation's Agreement on Government Procurement. The trade pact is tipped to open up $2 trillion in new government contracts.
Topics: politics
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Tags: WTO
Duration: 5'23"
16:20
Child sex offender register
BODY:
Parliament is to debate a Bill to establish a child sex offender register. It won't be public but information can be accessed by parents, teachers and caregivers in some cases. Does this pose the threat of privacy leaks?
Topics: politics
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Tags: child sex offender register
Duration: 1'40"
16:23
Police speeding offences
BODY:
Police staff are getting speeding tickets. Is it a big deal if they're a few k's over or does their role model status mean there's no room to err?
Topics:
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Duration: 9'52"
16:28
The NZ flag
BODY:
Humorous banter about the NZ flag.
Topics: politics
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Duration: 1'17"
16:35
Perseid meteor shower
BODY:
Astronomer Grant Christie tells the Panel what to expect in this part of the world as the Northern Hemisphere braces itself for a stunning meteor shower light show.
Topics: science
Regions:
Tags: meteor
Duration: 6'12"
16:40
Panel Says
BODY:
What the Panelists Michele A'Court and Tony Doe have been up to.
Topics:
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Tags:
Duration: 1'27"
16:45
Rugby World Cup liquor laws
BODY:
MPs back looser liquor licensing laws for the RWC.
Topics: law
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Tags: Rugby World Cup
Duration: 7'43"
16:48
Breathing in alcohol
BODY:
You can breathe in alcohol now. CNN describes it creeping up on you slowly; a dry, back of the throat, fruity flavor.
Topics:
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Duration: 5'06"
16:53
Fraudulent refugees stay in New Zealand
BODY:
The Government says it was caught between a rock and a hard place when deciding whether or not to let 27 fraudulent refugees stay in New Zealand.
Topics: politics
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Duration: 2'22"
16:57
Islamic State hit list
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Australian Defence officials, and Aussie MP placed on Islamic State hit list. There's an Aucklander on it too.
Topics: politics
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Duration: 1'42"
17:23
Police looking into IS hit-list
BODY:
Police here and in Australia are looking into a hit list issued by Islamic State that encourages lone wolf attacks and includes names from both countries.
Topics: politics
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Duration: 6'02"
=SHOW NOTES=
===5:00 PM. | Checkpoint===
=DESCRIPTION=
Radio New Zealand's two-hour news and current affairs programme
=AUDIO=
17:00
Checkpoint Top Stories for Thursday 13 August 2015
BODY:
Miners jobs secure for now; Solid Energy confident creditors will vote for orderly sell down; Fonterra placed on negative credit watch; CTU wins another forestry private prosecution; Police looking into IS hit-list.
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Duration: 21'45"
17:07
Miners jobs secure for now
BODY:
Tonight hundreds of coalminers still have their jobs at Solid Energy but they're only secure for the next five weeks.
Topics: politics, business
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Duration: 3'13"
17:10
Solid Energy confident of vote for orderly sell down
BODY:
Solid Energy's acting Chairman Andy Coupe says he's confident the creditors will vote for the deal when they meet in five weeks time, and won't go for immediate liquidation.
Topics: politics
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Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 4'55"
17:15
Fonterra placed on negative credit watch
BODY:
Fonterra's credit rating may be cut.
Topics: business, politics
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Tags: Fonterra
Duration: 2'56"
17:18
CTU wins another forestry private prosecution
BODY:
For the second time in 10 days, the Council of Trade Unions has won a private prosecution over the death of a forestry worker.
Topics: law
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Duration: 4'17"
17:35
Evening Business for 13 August 2015
BODY:
News from the business sector including a market report.
Topics: business, economy
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Tags: markets
Duration: 2'13"
17:38
$128m taxpayer money down the Solid Energy gurgler
BODY:
The Finance Minister, Bill English, says the taxpayer will not get back the millions of dollars that it poured into Solid Energy.
Topics: politics
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Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 2'28"
17:41
Pizza waitress sacked for not smiling enough
BODY:
A Christchurch pizza waitress who was sacked for not smiling enough has been awarded almost 15-thousand dollars.
Topics: law
Regions: Canterbury
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Duration: 3'00"
17:43
Doctors say surgery wait times hide the truth
BODY:
Senior doctors say the Government is being dishonest by trumpeting increases in elective surgery while ignoring the growing numbers of people who don't even get in the front door of the hospital.
Topics: health
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Duration: 3'55"
17:47
Man jailed for drugs found in ceiling at Auckland Airport
BODY:
A man whose back story reads like an episode of the television drama, "Underbelly", is tonight beginning a 6-year jail sentence.
Topics: crime
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Duration: 3'28"
17:50
Explosions in China kill at least 17
BODY:
At least 17 people are dead and hospitals in Tianjin, China, have been overwhelmed with hundreds of casualties after the port city was rocked by huge explosions.
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Tags: China, Tianjin, explosion
Duration: 4'44"
17:55
Fears over commercialisation of whitebait
BODY:
Not everyone's celebrating the start of the whitebait season this weekend; there's growing anger among some Māori over what they say is the commercialisation of the delicacy.
Topics: te ao Maori
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Tags: whitebait, whitebaiting
Duration: 3'15"
17:58
Cannabis campaigner says sentencing inconsistent
BODY:
A Northland marijuana campaigner says the sentences being handed down for cannabis convictions are inconsistent and unfair.
Topics: law, crime
Regions: Northland
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Duration: 2'16"
18:05
Sports News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
An update from the team at RNZ Sport.
Topics: sport
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Duration: 3'06"
18:11
Coalminers keep jobs, for now, but axe for Solid Energy itself
BODY:
Coalminers have escaped further redundancies but the axe is finally falling on Solid Energy itself, and on 128 million dollars of taxpayer bailout funds.
Topics: politics, business
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Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 3'26"
18:15
Analyst on Solid Energy's future
BODY:
Tim Buckley is with the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Topics: business
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Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 3'27"
18:19
Patients needing non urgent surgery are missing out
BODY:
Figures released by the Labour Party show that 90 thousand people who need non-urgent surgery have been sent home from hospitals without being treated.
Topics: health
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Tags: non-urgent surgery
Duration: 3'55"
18:25
Connor Morris jury due to begin deliberating
BODY:
A High Court jury in Auckland has been asked to remember that self-defence is still legal even if serious harm has not yet been caused.
Topics: law, crime
Regions: Auckland Region
Tags: self-defence
Duration: 3'19"
18:34
Community group to fight for Mangere heritage land
BODY:
A group opposing a Special Housing Area development in South Auckland says it will keep pushing the council to can the project.
Topics: housing
Regions: Auckland Region
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Duration: 2'36"
18:36
Icy-road technology world first
BODY:
A New Zealand company has come up with a world's first way of warning drivers about icy-roads up ahead.
Topics: science, weather
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Duration: 3'23"
18:45
Several key factors Chan and Sukumaran not saved
BODY:
The attitude of drug smuggler Schapelle Corby made it harder for prisoners Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran to win clemency from the Indonesina President.
Topics: crime, law, politics
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Tags: Indonesia, Schapelle Corby
Duration: 3'56"
18:48
Te Manu Korihi News for 13 August 2015
BODY:
Not everyone's celebrating the start of the whitebait season this weekend, with growing anger among some Māori over what they say is the commercialisation of the delicacy; Te Papa Atawhai - The Department of Conservation - has appointed New Zealand's first Threatened Species Ambassador; A bronze carving of the second Māori King is being gifted to the people of Hamilton on Monday at the Waikato Museum.
Topics: te ao Maori
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Duration: 3'33"
18:52
Today In Parliament for 13 August 2015 - evening edition
BODY:
Debate and questions on Government's decision to place Solid Energy into voluntary administration; Broadcasting Minister faces questions about lack of free-to-air sports coverage.
Topics: politics, sport
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Tags: Solid Energy
Duration: 5'02"
18:57
Victor Vito excited to play in Bledisloe Cup test match
BODY:
All Blacks loose forward, Victor Vito, has been given another chance to prove he's worthy to be in the Rugby World Cup team after being named to start in Saturday night's Bledisloe Cup decider.
Topics: sport
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Tags: Victor Vito, Bledisloe Cup
Duration: 2'37"
=SHOW NOTES=
===7:06 PM. | Nights===
=DESCRIPTION=
Entertainment and information, including: 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: Science and environment news from NZ and the world (RNZ)
=AUDIO=
19:12
Old Man River
BODY:
The life and songs of heroic political activist Paul Robeson, with emerging UK black actor/writer Tayo Aluko, his production Call Mr Robeson toured New Zealand earlier this year.
Topics: arts, history
Regions:
Tags: Paul Robeson, singer, actor, civil rights movement
Duration: 25'07"
20:42
Dance
BODY:
Body movements, usually to music, with Chris Jannides, Toi Whakaari movement tutor and founding dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Limbs Dance Company. Lloyd Newson and his UK physical theatre company DV8, Lloyd is on the list of the 100 most influential choreographers in the history of dance ever, but has voiced scathing views on what he perceives as the superficiality and pretentiousness of most contemporary dance.
Topics: arts, music
Regions:
Tags: dance, Lloyd Newson, DV8, choreography
Duration: 16'51"
20:59
Conundrum Clue 7
BODY:
Listen on Friday for the answer.
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Duration: 10"
21:59
Conundrum Clue 8
BODY:
Listen on Friday for the answer.
Topics:
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Duration: 21"
=SHOW NOTES=
7:10 Old Man River
The life and songs of heroic political activist Paul Robeson, with emerging UK black actor/writer Tayo Aluko, his production Call Mr Robeson toured New Zealand earlier this year.
7:30 At the Movies
=SHOW NOTES=
=AUDIO=
19:30
At The Movies for 13 August 2015
BODY:
On At The Movies Simon Morris wonders what went wrong with the new Marvel Comics movie Fantastic Four and sees exactly what happened to poor Amy Winehouse in the documentary Amy. He also looks at those once-essential elements in a movie - stars. No longer, apparently.
EXTENDED BODY:
Simon Morris wonders what went wrong with the new Marvel Comics movie Fantastic Four and sees exactly what happened to poor Amy Winehouse in the documentary Amy. He also looks at those once-essential elements in a movie - stars. No longer, apparently.
The Big Picture with Simon Morris
Recently the internet media outlet Netflix announced they are going into the film production business, and immediately blew their reputation as the smartest guys in the room. They booked Adam Sandler for a four-movie deal at precisely the moment when the bottom fell out of the Sandler movie business.
But in fact most Hollywood studios could have told Netflix that now is a bad time to depend on stars anyway, let alone the well past-his-prime Sandler. The days when one name above the title – Arnold Schwarzeneggar, Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Julia Roberts – could guarantee an audience are long gone. With maybe one exception…
For some reason, Tom Cruise is the last of the big-time superstars to be able to carry a movie on his name alone - within certain limits. The fans want to see Tom smiling and doing stunts, and that means Mission Impossible. And the same goes for most people we think of as “stars”.
Robert Downey Junior has got charisma to burn, but he’s only truly bankable when he plays Iron Man. The same goes for Johnny Depp - even more glamorous and exotic, but only box-office when he gets out the Jack Sparrow wig for another Pirates of the Caribbean. George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and Scarlett Johansen certainly sell magazines when they appear on the front cover, but their movies stand and fall for other reasons.
These days, the buzz about the movie itself is often the selling point, not the names above the title. There are some guaranteed brand-names certainly – Marvel Comics, say, James Bond, the Star Wars and Star Trek franchises – but all of them seem to do equally well whoever stars in them. Nobody is expendable, it seems.
The one area where that’s not completely true is comedy. Comedy stands and falls entirely on whether or not you like the star. Case in point is the ebullient Melissa McCarthy. Her infectious enthusiasm, and refusal to let prejudice against the plus-sized limit her choice of roles, makes her a winner even when the films aren’t much chop. And she’s not alone.
Seth Rogen and James Franco, Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, Simon Pegg and Kristen Wiig – they’re all distinctive, appealing and the chief reason for the success of their movies. But even when they’re not the Unique Selling Point of a film, star performances are important. We like seeing really good actors, whether they’re the leads, the villains or the quirky off-siders.
Marvel Comics knows this more than anyone. There are some pretty big names in Guardians of the Galaxy, even if many of them are heavily disguised – Bradley Cooper as a racoon, Vin Diesel as a tree, Zoe Saldana under a ton of green paint. And they all add to the appeal. But the star performance came from the all-but-unknown Chris Pratt, because, by comparison, he was so ordinary. Chris Pratt has turned Mr Average – albeit a nice-looking, funny Mr Average – into the Man of the Moment, when he repeated the trick in Jurassic World this year.
Let’s face it, a superhero being super is nothing. Someone a bit like us taking big risks is instantly gripping.
But in fact this is nothing new. Many of the biggest stars have sold themselves as Ordinary Joes and Joannes. Not too smart, not too dumb. Not too athletic, but they take care of themselves. Pleasant-looking, rather than beauty-contest winners. Decent and considerate, rather than arrogant high-achievers…Yes, they’re better looking than us, but not ridiculously so, and they’ve certainly got better script-writers. But we know them, or believe we do. They’re us – at least the “us” we’d like to be.
This year, the female equivalent of Chris Pratt – sexy but not too sexy, funny but not try-hard, and refreshingly genuine – is Jennifer Lawrence.
The Hunger Games may have turned the spotlight on her, but Jennifer turned out to be the complete package – funny and self-effacing on the chat-shows, as well as an Oscar-winning actress.
Above all, she comes across as someone for whom celebrity isn’t the be-all and end-all of her career. There’s nothing quite as off-putting as someone who clearly needs your constant admiration... unless you’re Tom Cruise, apparently. But, lest we forget, a real star is someone who combines that old charisma with some pretty impressive acting chops. As Tom himself proved with his electric performance in Magnolia.
And, whether we like to admit it or not, we remain fascinated by stars on the screen.
We may not know precisely what constitutes that X Factor, but we know it when we see it. A star performance is simply one we can’t take our eyes off.
They don’t even have to be the lead. Sometimes, like the late Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, a smaller part is the one that elevates an ordinary, comic-book picture into one for the ages.
Star performances are the seasoning of the movie business. Too much and it’s inedible. Too little and it’s bland and uninteresting.
And today we look at two contrasting films about the perils of stardom. Amy, the documentary about the self-destructive singer/songwriter Amy Winehouse, shows how the public fascination with her train-wreck personal life ruined her undoubted talent.
But first, a film that suffers from a decided lack of charisma all round. It’s sadly ironic that this rare Marvel Comics misfire should be called The Fantastic Four.
Topics: arts
Regions:
Tags: film, film review
Duration: 23'50"
7:30 At the Movies
Films and movie business with Simon Morris.
8:10 Windows on the World
International public radio documentaries - visit the Windows on the World web page to find links to these documentaries.
8:40 Dance
Body movements, usually to music, with Chris Jannides, Toi Whakaari movement tutor and founding dancer, choreographer and artistic director of Limbs Dance Company. Lloyd Newson and his UK physical theatre company DV8, Lloyd is on the list of the 100 most influential choreographers in the history of dance ever, but has voiced scathing views on what he perceives as the superficiality and pretentiousness of most contemporary dance.
9:06 Our Changing World
=SHOW NOTES=
=AUDIO=
21:06
Tracking the Lapita Expansion Across the Pacific
BODY:
Veronika Meduna joins Pacific archaeologists at the oldest cemetery in the pacific to find out about the Lapita and their epic voyage of discovery.
EXTENDED BODY:
by Veronika Meduna
The whole Lapita story is an extraordinary chapter of human history. These are the first people that get beyond the main Solomons chain.
Stuart Bedford, Australian National University, Vanuatu Cultural Centre
Stuart Bedford has spent many years scouring Vanuatu’s volcanic soil for evidence of the archipelago’s first inhabitants, but one of his best discoveries came when he wasn’t looking. A digger driver who was excavating soil for a prawn farm on Vanuatu’s main island Efate discovered a richly decorated shard of pottery – and recognised it as something unusual.
Bedford and his colleague Matthew Spriggs, both archaeologists at the Australian National University in Canberra, were called in and immediately identified it as Lapita.
The serendipitous discovery soon led to a major project which unearthed not just more pottery but human remains. More than a decade later, the site at Teouma is now famous among Pacific archaeologists as the oldest Lapita cemetery, reaching back three millennia to the very beginning of an epic voyage of discovery.
The Lapita are ancestors of modern Polynesians, who later went on to explore all corners of the Polynesian triangle, from Hawaii to Easter Island and ultimately New Zealand. But 3000 years ago it was Lapita seafarers who heralded the last major prehistoric wave of migration by sailing to Vanuatu and from there out into an area known as Remote Oceania.
In July, Vanuatu’s capital Port Vila hosted the 8th Lapita conference, which brought together scientists from disciplines as far apart as archaeology, linguistics and genetics to discuss the latest findings about the Lapita, from the techniques they used to produce their unique, elaborately decorated pottery, to their burial practices, their health, their impact on the archipelago’s ecology - and of course their Pacific sailing itinerary.
"Teouma is the first kind of really core Lapita site … so it’s given us unique insights into who the Lapita people were," says Matthew Spriggs.
From the bones and teeth, the team gleaned information about their diet and health, but most importantly perhaps, the Teouma bones confirm the Polynesian link.
We can compare the skull shape of the Lapita people and see who they resemble most among living populations today and they fit very neatly within the Polynesian/Asian mode rather than the Australian, Aboriginal and Melanesian mode.
Matthew Spriggs, Australian National University, Vanuatu Cultural Centre
Spriggs says that it was during the relatively short period of Lapita expansion that change happened and, while the people at Teouma are ancestors of Polynesians, later Lapita site are more closely linked with modern Melanesians.
“It’s only during Lapita that we have evidence of extensive interactions between all the archipelagos, so from New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, through to the Solomons, Vanuatu, New Caledonia and out to Fiji. There’s extensive exchange networks, contact between these areas.”
At the Teouma cemetery, archaeologists also discovered 68 burial sites, and the bleached bones almost certainly belong to the first people to make landfall in Vanuatu. They unearthed clear evidence that the Lapita used their highly decorated pottery for ceremonies and rituals, but for Frederique Valentin, an archaeologist at the National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris, the bones tell a fascinating story of ritual burial practices – with headless skeletons and deliberately rearranged bones.
Hallie Buckley, a biological anthropologist at the University of Otago, has coordinated the excavation of the bones and has studied them for signs of disease.
These same bones also tell a story of hard work, and of people suffering from gout and what we now know as metabolic disease. But Anna Gosling, also at the University of Otago, says the gout may be an evolutionary consequence of protection against malaria.
Gout is a result, usually, of high serum urate levels. Pacific Island people, throughout the Pacific, have been found to have quite high levels of this particular chemical in their blood compared to most other populations worldwide, which is suggesting that there is some sort of genetic link.
Anna Gosling, University of Otago
Urate has several important function: it helps maintain blood pressure, it is an anti-oxidant, and it plays a role in the body's innate immune response. During a Malaria infection, urate levels increase to stimulates an immune response.
"The argument we're trying to make here is that if you already have slightly higher urate levels in your blood, you need less red blood cells to ... burst apart before your immune system kicks in and tries to resolve the infection, which would give you quite an advantage."
The human settlement of the Pacific and the origins of the Polynesian people have been topics of intense debate for decades, and scientists have sought to chart the path of the Lapita expansion. Collectively they have accumulated evidence that points to an origin in island Southeast Asia, but with more clarity in some of the detail comes increasing complexity of the total picture.
The first wave of colonisation in the Pacific region began when people fanned out across an area known as Near Oceania, sometime around 40,000 years ago. Sea levels were lower then – New Guinea, Australia and the island of Tasmania were still one landmass – and these first explorers had to navigate smaller gaps of ocean. They spread as far as the Bismarck Archipelago north of Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands in the Pacific.
Patrick Kirch, an anthropologist at the University of California at Berkeley and an expert in Pacific prehistory, says for 30,000 years, the sea gap between the main chain of the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu was an invisible boundary. But then, around 3000 years ago, the Lapita, breached this voyaging barrier. Their unmistakable comb-toothed pottery is the most distinctive cultural signature they left behind, and it now helps to reconstruct their journey.
You can use the pottery and other material culture to trace the movement very clearly and with the assistance of radio carbon dating we’ve put a timeframe on that.
Patrick Kirch, University of California at Berkeley
This Lapita “bursting out into this part of the Pacific that had never been occupied by humans” ended at about 800BC in Tonga and Samoa, but just what motivated the rapid expansion is still a point of debate.
Population pressure is often discussed as one option, but Kirch thinks people were pulled rather than pushed. “By pull I mean things like new resources. We know in Vanuatu they had these tortoises and pigeons, they were great food items.”
Also, he says, there could be social factors such as a hierarchical clan structure in which younger sons may have wanted to establish elsewhere.
Although the dentate pottery – edged with toothlike projections – is the most consistent Lapita identifier, it’s clear that the people carried with them a suite of other skills, including open-ocean navigation, boat-building, fishing and agriculture. Archaeologists prefer to use the term Lapita Cultural Complex, rather than implying that Lapita was a homogenous group of people defined largely by their pottery design style.
Linguistically, the origins are clear. Lapita is just one chapter in the Austronesian diaspora.
Austronesian is unusual among language families: it’s extremely large, with more than a thousand modern languages, and it’s the most widely dispersed in the world (until the post-Columbus expansion of Indo-European languages). It extends from Madagascar to Rapa Nui, or Easter Island, and spans over 70 degrees of latitude, from Hawaii to the southern tip of New Zealand. All modern Polynesian languages are daughters of this family.
Like drawing up an evolutionary tree from the genetic diversity found in living organisms, modern languages can also be used to reconstruct ancestral proto languages and their relationships to each other. When this is done, Taiwan emerges as the most likely origin of Austronesian.
The archaeological record supports the notion that the Lapita journeys were a deliberate effort to colonise new land. Lapita sites discovered so far are close to the beach and, in Near Oceania they are mostly on small off-shore islands. The choice of coastal sites also suggests a dual subsistence economy, relying on both fishing and agriculture. Excavations have also revealed that the Lapita toolbox included a range of fish hooks made from shell, nets, spears and different types of stone adzes.
Intriguingly, the most complex patterns of decoration are associated with the oldest sites, and plain ware and more simply decorated pots make up a growing proportion of assemblages found in later settlements.
Why the Lapita might have abandoned the rituals and practices they had so treasured remains a mystery. Matthew Spriggs says once you move beyond Samoa and Tonga, the area of sea compared to the area of land “increases massively and there was probably a threshold of relatively easy travel back and forth”.
Topics: science, environment
Regions:
Tags: Pacific migration, Lapita, human migration, Pacific, Teouma, Vanuatu, Lapita pottery, burial rituals, Austronesian languages, archaeology, gout, Polynesian ancestors
Duration: 51'43"
21:46
'Air Puffs', Speech and Mobile Phones
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Adding air puffs that we produce during speech to mobile phones and hearing aids might make understanding conversations in noisy environments easier
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By Alison Ballance
“We’re looking at how the airflow that comes from people’s lips can be used to help them understand speech better.”
Donald Derrick, University of Canterbury
Here’s a new idea that might make it easier to make a phone call in a noisy place. When we talk face-to-face with someone we don't just listen with our ears, we also listen with our skin. Tiny puffs of air from speech land on us and can help us understand what we’re hearing. So what if we could feel appropriate air puffs as we listen to someone on a mobile phone in a noisy environment? Would that help us make out those tricky differences between the letters ‘b’ and ‘p’, for example?
Donald Derrick, a linguist at the New Zealand Institute of Language, Brain and Behaviour, believes the answer to this is ‘yes’, and he’s developing a technology that could, in future, be used with devices such as mobile phones, headphones and hearing aids.
To do this, Donald has had to develop novel ways of recording air puff information, separating it from the speech and then finding ways to deliver it. This stage of the project involves an innovative piece of equipment that has been developed at the University of Canterbury, called the ‘ping pong puff air flow meter’. It is, literally, a ping pong ball mounted on a carbon fibre rod, and at its base is a system for measuring the displacement of the ping pong ball by a speaker’s by air flow. This system has allowed Derrick to characterise the different air flows that are produced by words such as ba, pa, fa, sa and ta, as well as shh and chh.
You can try for yourself by holding the back of your hand in front of your mouth as you say those syllables, and you’ll get a sense of the strong wind created by pa, for example (which is an aspirated syllable), compared to almost no air produced by the very similar sounding but unaspirated ba.
“The air puffs are designed to simulate what lips about four or five centimetres away from a speaker would feel like,” and they are delivered through a small piezoelectric pump.
For the next stage of the experiment, Derrick says that it took him about six weeks to write a story that he could get study participants to listen to. “On the surface it’s an incredibly cheesy fantasy story,” he says, but it enabled him to use a whole lot of paired words that sound very similar and are commonly misunderstood in noisy environments. The word pairs included blowing and flowing, burrow and furrow, birch and perch, bumbling and fumbling, piles and vials, bills and pills, and plot and flop. More importantly, the story allowed him to use the words in continuous speech, not just as individual words.
In the study people listen on headphones to the story presented as a series of short excerpts. After each excerpt they are then asked to select which of two words they heard. The story is barely audible above a noisy background – Derrick says he used a signal to noise ratio of zero as this is a commonly encountered ratio in the real world – but the participants are also getting air puff information that they feel on their forehead.
Donald says that in experiments to date the addition of air puffs allows people to recover about one out of every four words that they would have lost. “So the enhancement is not the hugest in the world but it’s significant enough to be worthwhile. It’s similar, by the way, to the enhancement you’d get if you were looking at someone’s face while they were talking to you.”
Donald says the air puffs don’t have to be delivered to the face – they work just as well at the neck, hands and ankles – and no training is needed.
Donald is part of a University of Canterbury team working on the second phase of a science and innovation project funded by the Ministry of Business Innovation and Employment. The collaboration with colleagues Jen Hay, Scott Lloyd and Greg O'Beirne is called ‘Aero-tactile enhancement of speech perception’, and the aim is to commercialise the resulting technology. Tom De Rybel is the project's lead engineer.
This study builds on previous work by Donald and colleagues in Canada: in 2009 he co-authored a Nature paper titled ‘Aero-tactile integration in speech perception’ which involved applying slight, inaudible air puffs onto participants’ skin, either the right hand or the neck.
Topics: science, technology
Regions:
Tags: mobile phones, speech, hearing aids, air puffs, aero-tactile, listening
Duration: 13'28"
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