Afternoons for Monday 8 April 2024

 

1:15 Forget bird of the year - it's all about 'Tree of the Year' now

Many of you will have heard of Bug of the Year ... and it would be hard to escape the frenzy around the notoriously controversial Bird of the Year.

Now we have Tree of the Year - but in contrast to the flashy fauna competitions, this one is all about the stories that connect us to the flora.

Nicki van Asch from the NZ Arboricultural Association talks to Jesse.

1.25 Textile Tuesdays, a special gathering in suburban Auckland

Each week a group of people gather at Avondale Library to work with wool that was destined to be destroyed.

The wool comes from a farm north of Auckland, and is burned when there is no market for it as a product.

'Textile Tuesdays' started small, but is growing as more people come along to learn how to spin, knit, crochet or sew for free.

We speak to  award-winning designer Liz Mitchell and Jill Ferrell - the passionate spinner who set this initiative up over a year ago.

1.35 Young men opting for vasectomies before fathering any children

When it comes to the birds and the bees, preventing pro-creation has long been the burden of women.

But there's a growing number of men - particularly young, childless men - picking up the contraceptive slack by opting for the snip.

Vasectomies are on the rise, and it's not among the cohort of already-fathers, but the I-don't-want-to-be-fathers ... ever.

Dr Simon Snook is the founder of SNIP - New Zealand's largest vasectomy provider. He speaks to Jesse.

2:10 Television Critic: Claire Chitham

Today Claire talks to Jesse about Gentlemen on Netflix, Palm Royale on Apple and the very brand new Ripley, also on Netflix.

2:20 Made in NZ: TrackGrip

This week for Made in NZ we head to Eltham in Taranaki where the Carac Group was formed and specialises in making 'tracks'.

We speak to Sonia Kiser, CEO about their unique products which are sought after all over the world.

2.30 Expert Feature: Laundry Science

Today's expert is a very practical one, it's all about the science of doing laundry.

If you'd like to know more about the different ways to approach this everyday task, we've got Emeritus Professor Raechel Laing with us. She's an expert in clothing and materials in human health and performance.

If you have any questions for her please text 2101 or email jesse@rnz.co.nz.

3:10 An outer space rendezvous with an asteroid heading towards earth

In the year 2182, an asteroid travelling between Mars and Jupiter right now, may end up on a collision course with planet earth.

So NASA decided to pay it a visit.

Dr Dante Lauretta is a planetary scientist at the University of Arizona, and the leader of a mission to  send a spacecraft to the asteroid  and bring back a sample. 

He takes us on the journey to make this rendezvous with a remnant from the creation of the solar system. His book is called  The Asteroid Hunter: A Scientist's Journey to the Dawn of our Solar System.

3:35 Here Now

Bringing his passion for all things Caribbean to the South Island has been one interesting journey for Jamaica's Honorary Consul to NZ - catch the conversation with Dave Phillips on Here Now, with Kadambari Raghukumar

3:45 The pre-Panel