Cuneiform Ledger Tablet - Gift of Lindsay Rogers; Otago Museum Collection

Cuneiform Medical Tablet - Gift of Lindsay Rogers; Otago Museum Collection Photo: Supplied

7:12 Ancient Texts in the Otago Museum
Assyriologist Prof Wayne Horowitz on the significance of 3500 year old cuneiform texts in the Otago Museum.
He's the leader of the Cuneiform in Australia and New Zealand (CANZ) project, which aims to translate all cuneiform inscriptions in New Zealand and Australian collections.

7:35 Upbeat
Opera Etiquette. Are jandals and skinny black jeans appropriate attire for the opera? Can I boo at my favourite villain? I want to tweet, is that ok? We get the low-down on opera etiquette from Westie turned opera singer Wade Kernot who's on stage with New Zealand Opera's The Magic Flute.

8:12 Nights' Science - Toxicology
Burning pain, itching, and numbness are what you have to look forward to if you run into the native nettle Ongaonga. Toxicologist Dr. Leo Schep tells us about this prickly plant.

Ongaonga - Urtica ferox

Ongaonga - Urtica ferox Photo: Wikipedia

8:30 Window on the World
Growing Malawi - Malawi, in Sub-Saharan Africa, is one of the world's poorest countries with its GDP nearly at the bottom of the global league table. Malawi desperately needs economic growth yet despite hundreds of millions of dollars of donor money which has poured into the country for decades, overall the impact on the ground has been disappointing - poverty levels remain stubbornly high, education standards and job opportunities pitifully low. But there is a rare piece of good news from Malawi: a new alliance between the private sector, a group of smallholder farmers and one of the country's biggest international donors - the European Union, is helping to run a sustainable sugar cane business and turn lives around.

9:30 Insight 
Teresa Cowie asks if New Zealand can cope with rapidly growing tourism and the negative side effects it brings.

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 At the Eleventh Hour
The Sounds of Memphis-Beale Street Caravan this evening has a mixed bag of blues and Americana.There's old time rockabilly-country from The Motel Mirrors, then The Memphis Ukulele Band do Elvis and Orbison.Following on is innuendo filled blues from Libby Rae Watson, and Terry "Harmonica" Bean with real old style Mississippi blues, and to wrap it up is more Motel Mirrors.