Afternoons for Monday 20 May 2019

Write an original Christmas Song!

We want you to write an original song inspired by Christmas. You can interpret that how you like – including in a non-religious way – your song just has to be relevant to the season in some way.

The prize is that you get to professionally record, engineer and then release your song in time for Christmas 2019!

Entries must be in to us by 5pm July 17th 2019. Entry details here

1:10 First song 

1:15 New Zealand asthma breakthrough

A new study has been released today which could change the way we treat asthma on a global scale. 

It's been headed by New Zealand researchers and the lead researcher Professor Richard Beasley of the Medical Research Institute of NZ  joins us on the line from Dallas to tell us all about what they found!

1:25 Behaviour change needed to make NZ Predator free 

A new bioheritage report has been released today and it warns that our behaviour is getting in the way of making Aotearoa pest free. 

Professor James Russell from the University of Auckland wrote the report and says we need to change our attitudes quickly if we want to implement change. 

1:35 GeyserCon Science Fiction gathering in Rotorua 

Rotorua is gearing up for GeyserCon! It's the 40th national science fiction and fantasy convention held in New Zealand and will look at novels, short stories, films, tv and even board games!

It all kicks off on Queen's Birthday Weekend and fantasy author and GeyserCon committee member Eileen Muller is here to tell us all about it. The book expo is free all weekend. Details can be found here 

1:40 Great album

Club Classics Volume One by Soul II Soul.

2:10 Graeme Tuckett 

Graeme is reviewing Game of Thrones - he absolute final will be on air as we broadcast! He will also look at  the new Catch 22 series on TVNZ on demand and Dead to Me on Netflix.

2.20 Ripping it up with Russell Brown

The first 101 issues of NZ music and culture magazine Rip It Up have been digitised by the National Library of New Zealand and can now be found and searched online. 

Longtime contributor to the magazine Russell Brown is in to tell us why it felt so deeply significant at the time. 

2:30 Menopause and HRT

How does society view menopause and how much understanding do we have of how it can affect people's behaviour?

Also how has hormone replacement therapy been viewed historically and why is that changing? 

Our expert today is Dr Mona Ponnen from First Woman Clinic in Pukekohe. 

3:10 Monkol Lek - Changing the genetics game

For most of his life, Cambodian refugee Monkol Lek seemed to have a guardian watching over him. His family was able to flee Cambodia during the brutal reign of the Khmer Rouge to live a peaceful life in Australia.

He was Dux at school, went to university and got a lucrative job with IBM.

Then he was diagnosed with Muscular Dystrophy. He decided that if someone was going to come up with a cure, it would have to be him. He went to medical school and now he has his own  genetics lab at the prestigious Yale University. 

Monkol Lek shares his story and his ground breaking work.

3:35 Voices

Remember the old days when all Kiwis just wandered next door for a cuppa and chat? 

Since March, a series of creative writing workshops have been held in different homes around Auckland city, celebrating food, culture and stories. 

Titled The Kitchen, the concept brings together strangers who end up leaving as friends.

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

4:05 The Panel with Russell Brown and Catherine Robertson