Afternoons for Monday 11 September 2017

1:10 First song

1:15 Is the kiwi accent affecting our grammar and vocab?

Over 1 in 10 Kiwis can only read texts on familiar topics according to an OECD survey, and some literary experts are saying it's because of our accents.

They say New Zealanders  have a "vowel shift," it's what causes us to pronounce 'bed' 'bid' and 'pen' and 'pin' and that's why some people find it harder to associate the sound of words with their spelling.

Miriam Meyerhoff is professor of linguistics at Victoria University in Wellington and she says accents have nothing to do with it but our continued 'cultural cringing' does.

1:25 The healing power of the arts

Next time you're ill should you be reaching for a paintbrush instead of rushing to the doctor for a prescription?

A new study suggests that appreciating the "arts" can improve our mental and even physical health.

Jill Rivers has written 'the arts apothecary' and is an arts advocate. She says art in everyday life is  "a vital prescription for health, happiness and wellbeing"

1:35 Turning ocean plastic into footwear

16 months ago, New Zealander Andrew Lambie came up with an idea to turn plastic waste from beach clean-ups into something most of us actually wear to the beach - jandals.

It's been a mammoth effort to get the venture off the ground - but he and his brother have done it and the jandals, called Subs, are now on sale around the world. 

1:40 Great Album: Axis: Bold as Love - Jimi Hendrix

This week we're featuring great albums from 1967, including this one, the second studio album by Jimi Hendrix

2:10 Television Critic Jane Bowron

Jane discusses two documentaries, People and Power on Al Jazeera and Who Owns New Zealand Now, which screens on TV3 tomorrow night.

2:20 Black Sheep

Episode two of William Ray's new series of Black Sheep looking at events that occured in 1942, involving the head of  Security Intelligence Bureau and his claims there were Nazi spies in New Zealand.

2:35 Expert feature: Hibernation

Many of us slow down during the colder months, nights in front of the telly, weekends curled up with a book.

But what if we could skip them altogether,. do as our woodland creatures do and take a long, rejuvenating nap in preparation for the summer?

That may be the stuff of science fiction but scientists are now lookings closely at whether humans could in fact hibernate .. not for pleasure, but for use to travel to other planets.

Comparative physiologist, Tony Hickey of Auckland University is our expert today - he's here to tell us exactly how hibernation works... and how it could be the key to space travel. 

3:10 The Jihad Hunter who rescued his son from ISIS

They call him The Jihad Hunter.

Dimitri Bontinck's teenage son had been introduced to Islam by a girlfriend, and soon became radicalized. One night the teenager snuck out of their home in Belgium and fled to Syria to join ISIS. Bontinck tried desperately to  find him, and finally traveled to Syria himself to bring his son home. 

Now he gets calls from parents all over the world who are desperate for the return of their own children.

Dimitri Bontinck's book is called  Rescued from ISIS: The Gripping True Story of How a Father Saved His Son

3:35 Voices

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Emma Espiner and Barry Corbett