Sunday Morning for Sunday 6 November 2022

8:10 Mark Reason: Weekend Sports Update

We get an update on the Black Ferns clash with France, the All Blacks match against Wales and the Black Caps performance in the T20 World cup with Mark Reason, Senior Sports Columnist with Stuff.

8:20 Dr Angelo Tedoldi: Why Am I Gay?

Auckland neuroscientist Dr Angelo Tedoldi travelled around to find out about the role of genes in sexuality to answer why people are gay, straight or bisexual. “Why am I gay?” is a question he’s asked himself, and in a new documentary he talks to academics, and takes a scientific test himself. The answer is complicated and fluid.

Dr Tedoldi’s Why Am I Gay? screens on TVNZ1 this Tuesday night (November 8).

8:40 James St John: picking your nose may increase risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia

A world-first study has demonstrated that bacteria can travel through the olfactory nerve in the nose and into the brain in mice, where they create markers that are tell-tale signs of Alzheimer's disease.

It’s thought human brains are not unlike mouse brains, with researchers at Griffith University in Queensland finding that picking your nose may increase risk for Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. Professor James St John, Head of the Clem Jones Center for Neurobiology and Stem Cell Research at Griffith University, joins us.

9:05 Mediawatch

Mediawatch looks at findings from the biggest ever survey of New Zealand's journalists so far. What does it tell us about who they are, what they believe and how they work?

Also: the new justice minister and the media both believe name suppression is granted too often by our courts. But is change really in the public interest?   

9:40 Antonia Prebble: Taking on Hitchcock's North By Northwest

Alfred Hitchcock’s spy thriller North by Northwest is regarded as one of the best suspense movies of all time. Innocent advertising executive Roger Thornhill is chased across the United States by agents of a mysterious organisation – it’s a tale of mistaken identity, full of car chases and plane crashes.

How on earth could you turn this into a stage play? The Auckland Theatre Company has found a way. North by Northwest is at the theatre, adapted for the stage by Carolyn Burns, directed by Simon Phillips, and starring Antonia Prebble who played Lorretta West in Outrageous Fortune.

North by Northwest is showing from now until November 19 at the ASB Waterfront Theatre in Auckland.

10:05 Lee & Andrew Child: Jack Reacher’s Plan B

Author James Grant, aka Lee Child, decided to stop writing his well-regarded books, but the world wouldn't let him. So, he came to an arrangement with his younger brother Andrew, who would take over the writing. There would be a transition period with both of their names on the cover – we're in the middle of that period.

In the latest novel No Plan B, famous action-hero Jack Reacher witnesses a murder that everyone thinks was an accident. All he has with him is a toothbrush.

A Lee Child book is sold every 9 seconds, and that has added up over time to a number well over a hundred million. And he's won many of the top writing awards.

10:40 Dr Thomas Neitzert: designing safer automobiles

NZTA, Waka Kotahi, says NZ is well-placed to benefit from the uptake of electric vehicles on our roads, because of our short average commutes, 22 kilometres a day, because 85% of our homes have off-street parking, although some inner city homes are being designed now in ways to discourage car ownership, and because we have plenty of electricity to accommodate EVs. The Government wants 30% of NZ's light vehicles to be electric by 2035.

Overseas, though, questions are being asked about how we are transitioning to these vehicles globally, with regard to safety and affordability. 
  
Dr Thomas Neitzert is an engineer, and an emeritus professor at AUT. He used to teach at the University of Stuttgart and at one time worked for Mercedes-Benz, designing safer automobiles.

11:05 Dr Grainne Cleary: why do birds do that? Part Two

Last week we took a look at why birds do what they do in light of Bird of the Year. Not just the grand, beloved birds that win awards, but the more humdrum ones we see outside our homes every day.

We spoke to Dr Grainne Cleary hails who from Dublin but now, works in Australia as a wildlife ecologist and Research Fellow at Deakin University. She's the author of the book Why Do Birds Do That?.

You all enjoyed it so much we invited Dr Grainne back to answer more bird-y questions.

11:40 Karen Kasler: US Correspondent

US Correspondent Karen Kasler joins us once again with the latest from the US as pundits predict a ‘red wave’ in the midterms.