Saturday Morning for Saturday 5 September 2020 Saturday Morning

Caitlin Moran: More Than A Woman

author interview

8:10 AM.Big bums, married sex, Botox, teenagers and ageing parents. Columnist and author Caitlin Moran has tackled writing about the challenges of middle age with the same passion and humour that endeared her… Read more Audio
Trauma Cleaner Sandra Pankhurst

life and society

9:07 AM.Australian cleaning specialist Sandra Pankhurst has undertaken some of the toughest jobs imaginable. Violent crime scenes, meth labs, and hoarder's houses are all in a day's work for Specialised… Read more Audio
Boosting crops using UV light: Jason Wargent

science

9:45 AM.Plant biologist Professor Jason Wargent studies how plants respond to UV light. From strawberries to medical marijuana, his research is showing that exposing seeds or seedlings to artificial UV rays… Read more Audio
Troy Kingi goes on a musical ghost hunt

music

10:07 AM.Northland based multi-award-winning musician Troy Kingi is set to release "The Ghost of Freddie Cesar", the fourth instalment in his 10/10/10 series - 10 albums in 10 years in 10 genres. The album has… Read more Audio

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Chris Fitch on the wonderful places beneath us

author interview

11:06 AM.Underground is where humans have kept our most sacred treasures and darkest secrets. From the subterranean cities of Cappadocia to smuggling tunnels on the US-Mexico border, caves full of tiny blind… Read more Audio
The shared genetics of cancer and placenta growth

11:25 AM.Dr Erin Macaulay is passionate about placentas. The Otago University academic studies the epigenetics of early human development and is intrigued by the fact that placentas display similar growth… Read more Audio
Curator Mary Kisler: tiny art inspired by Frances Hodgkins

arts

11:40 AM.Art historian and curator Mary Kisler discusses the opening of a touring Auckland Art Gallery exhibition at the Adam Art Gallery Te Pataka Toi in Wellington. The 19 Gallery's part of the Frances… Read more Video, Audio, Gallery
Listener Feedback for 4 September 2020

11:55 AM.Listener Feedback for 4 September 2020. Audio

8:10 Caitlin Moran: More Than A Woman

Photo: supplied / Penguin

Big bums, married sex, Botox, teenagers and ageing parents.

Columnist and author Caitlin Moran has tackled writing about the challenges of middle age with the same passion and humour that endeared her to readers of her best-selling feminist memoir How to Be a Woman.

Her brand new book More Than A Woman is a guide to growing older.

Moran was a published author at the age of 16 and became a columnist at The Times at 18. She has been named Columnist of the Year six times.

She's also written two volumes of collected journalism, Moranthology and Moranifesto, and a novel, How to Build a Girl, which has been adapted as a movie.

9:05 Trauma Cleaner Sandra Pankhurst

Australian cleaning specialist Sandra Pankhurst has undertaken some of the toughest jobs imaginable.

Violent crime scenes, meth labs, and hoarder's houses are all in a day's work for Specialised Trauma Cleaning Services, the Melbourne business she set up more than 20 years ago.

She has used her own trauma, including an abusive childhood and experience as a transgender woman, to offer empathy and bring order and care to people who are often going through the worst experience of their lives.

Pankhurst was the subject of Sarah Krasnostein's successful 2017 book The Trauma Cleaner.

Sandra Pankhurst Photo: supplied / Text publishing

9:40 Boosting crops using UV light: Jason Wargent

Plant biologist Professor Jason Wargent studies how plants respond to UV light.

From strawberries to medical marijuana, his research is showing that exposing seeds or seedlings to artificial UV rays can help to grow more pest-resistant crops with higher yields.

As the Chief Science Officer and founder of BioLumic in Palmerston North he's taking his ideas and technology global.

He has just been selected as a finalist in the 'Researcher Entrepreneur' category of the KiwiNet Research Commercialisation Awards.

Jason Wargent Photo: supplied

10:05 Troy Kingi goes on a musical ghost hunt

Photo: supplied

Northland based multi-award-winning musician Troy Kingi is set to release "The Ghost of Freddie Cesar", the fourth instalment in his 10/10/10 series - 10 albums in 10 years in 10 genres.

The album has a mysterious genesis. It's inspired by a cassette tape found and lost, and a father lost and never found.

Troy's dad disappeared without trace while driving from Rotorua to Auckland in December 2005.

His album is his creative re-interpretation of song fragments he recalls from a cassette tape his father left behind.

Troy is treating us to a live performance and a preview of a few tracks from the album.

He's performing with his band The Clutch in Napier, Wellington and Auckland in late October. Details here.

Troy Kingi Photo: supplied

11:05 Chris Fitch on the wonderful places beneath us

Photo: supplied

Underground is where humans have kept our most sacred treasures and darkest secrets.

From the subterranean cities of Cappadocia to smuggling tunnels on the US-Mexico border, caves full of tiny blind dragons and a seed vault located 1300km inside the Arctic circle, there are incredible worlds beneath us.

Writer and geographer Chris Fitch explores these extraordinary places in his new book Subterranea.

Fitch's 2017 debut The Atlas of Untamed Places was nominated for a 2018 Edward Stanford Travel Writing Award, and translated into several languages.

Chris Fitch Photo: supplied

11:25 Erin Macaulay: the shared genetics of cancer and placenta growth

Erin Macaulay Photo: supplied

Dr Erin Macaulay is passionate about placentas.

The Otago University academic studies the epigenetics of early human development and is intrigued by the fact that placentas display similar growth genes to cancer.

Placentas stop growing when some of these invasive genes get switched off through a process called DNA methylation.

So why does cancer just keep on growing, and not stop in a similar fashion?

By investigating these placental genes and DNA methylation she hopes to better understand tumour growth, knowledge that one day could even be used to develop new cancer treatments.

Photo: unsplash /Paulo de Souza Oliveira

11:45 Curator Mary Kisler: tiny art inspired by Frances Hodgkins

Art historian and curator Mary Kisler discusses the opening of a touring Auckland Art Gallery exhibition at the Adam Art Gallery Te Pātaka Toi in Wellington.

The 19 Gallery's part of the Frances Hodgkins: European Journeys exhibition she is curating.

By asking contemporary local artists to respond to Hodgkins' work with their own miniatures, it recreates a similar, charity-raising exhibition Hodgkins herself took part in back in 1934.

"The 19 Gallery"- David Kisler (born 1939) - England, New Zealand wood, plywood and MDF - First installed at Auckland Art Gallery as part of Frances Hodgkins – European Journeys, 2019.

"Portal (Seuil de Tanger)" 2019 - Areez Katki (born 1989) India, New Zealand - cotton thread hand embroidery applied over hand-woven cotton textile - Courtesy of the artist

"Cloud Flower" 2019 - Ryder Jones (born 1992) - New Zealand. plaster - Courtesy of the artist.

"Bridesmaids" 2019 - Julian Hooper (born 1966) - New Zealand - acrylic on canvas - Courtesy of Ivan Anthony Gallery.

"Vertical Floral" 2019 - Richard Stratton (born 1970) New Zealand - porcelain and underglazes with sealing medium - Courtesy of the artist.

"From Allude" 2019 - Bronwynne Cornish (born 1945) New Zealand - Earthenware.With copy of "Red Jug", 1931 in watercolour on card by Sarah Hillary - Courtesy of the artist.

"Unfolded Scarves" 2019 - Vita Cochran (born 1975) New Zealand - wool and silk fabric, cotton embroidery - Courtesy of the artist.

"Garden Shed" 2019 - Kirstin Carlin (born 1979) New Zealand - oil on aluminium composite panel (framed in a 3D printed frame) - Courtesy of Melanie Roger Gallery and the artist.

"Hodgkinsite (Hyacinthaceae Anemoneae)" 2019 - Finn Ferrier (born 1981) New Zealand - scagliola (plaster, glue, pigment, wax) - Courtesy of the artist.