Features

The American band The National celebrates 2023 by giving us not one, but two new albums. William Dart checks them both out. Audio

Charles Wesley’s well-loved hymn Love Divine, All Loves Excelling has been set to many different tunes over the years. In this week’s programme, you can hear a setting by English composer Howard Goodall. Video, Audio

Auckland RnB group LEISURE perform tracks from their new album Leisurevision. Video, Audio

Phil Thompson has spent over 20 years training people how to defend themselves. He says that if a person tries to pick a verbal fight with you, the best and bravest move is usually to walk away. Audio

It's a superfood that costs nothing, grows freely, and requires zero maintenance - it almost sounds too good to be true. Seaweed is one of Aotearoa's most plentiful resources, so why are we overlooking it in our diets? Audio

The new podcast Convicted was motivated by compassion for pain caused by the Christchurch Civic Creche Case, writes Alexander Behse.

El Conde (The Count) satirises Chilean dictator General Pinochet. In this film he's now a 250-year-old vampire with family problems. Video, Audio

Tweens may pull out  "teenager moves" but they are not the new teenagers, says parenting educator Michelle Mitchell. Audio

For too long, women have been constrained by a set of ancient biblical rules that define what it means to be "good", says writer Elise Loehnen.  Audio

All eyes will be on a name familiar to New Zealand sports fans when the Breakers get underway on Saturday night against the Cairns Taipans. Tom Abercrombie will play his 400th game for the club, in a career stretching back to 2008. Video

It's called the carnivore or lion diet - meat, meat and more meat. But does it really stack up? Niki Bezzant takes a look at what the experts say.

American choral conductor and composer, Dr Rollo Dilworth, is leading workshops and performances at this year's NZCF Choral Connect and Sing Aotearoa events. He's known around the world for 'I sing because I'm happy' – his adaptation of an African-American spiritual arrangement by Kenneth Paden. Video, Audio

The Detail - A multi-billion dollar industry has sprung up around mental health and wellness. Have the efforts to raise awareness been too successful? Audio

Love at First Sight is a pleasant enough rom-com lifted by two likeable leads in Haley Lu Richardson and Ben Hardy, writes Simon Morris. Video, Audio

With as few as 126 Southern New Zealand dotterels remaining in New Zealand, a team in Southland is tagging the birds to find out where they go to breed, a time when they are most at risk from predators. Audio

After a quiet few years with no live shows, and some notable weather-related cancellations, it's starting to feel like Aotearoa's music scene is back in fighting form.

Voices talks to Lalita Kasanji who's been on a mission with curator Stephanie Gibson to identify the people in the images and their descendants in the wider Indian community of Wellington. Video, Audio

A Canterbury University researcher is keen to find naturally gifted people with the “super abilities” required to match complex visual patterns without any training – and she’s developed an online test to assess them. Audio

Bats do not have the best reputation, but what is it about them that allows them to fend off ageing? Audio

Belgian clarinettist Annelien Van Wauwe talks with David Morriss ahead of her concert with the Auckland Philharmonia. She's performing Mozart's Clarinet Concerto on the basset clarinet, the historic, less-often heard type of clarinet for which he originally wrote it. Video, Audio

Run out of school holiday activities already? Pull on your aprons, it's time to get baking, writes Lucy Corry.

The "Swiftposium" will explore the megastar's influence on everything from the music industry to culture and the economy.

How can we bring more happiness into our lives? Arthur C. Brooks, a professor at Harvard Business School, best-selling author of 13 books and writer of the Atlantic Monthly’s How To Build a Life column, reckons he's got the answer.  Audio

Pathologist professor Richard Scolyer's melanoma research is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives, but now he's in a race to save his own. Audio