Sunday Morning for Sunday 27 August 2023

8:12 Mark Reason: The All Blacks worst-ever defeat

The All Blacks have suffered their worst-ever defeat - 35-7 against the Springboks at Twickenham, in front of 80,000 rugby fans.

They have a fortnight before they play France in the Rugby World Cup and now there's deep soul-searching for the ABs as they head to a base in Germany.

Mark Reason is a senior sports columnist for Stuff. He has covered every Rugby World Cup since 1991 for major media, as well as Olympic Games and many big golf tournaments. He spoke with Jim Mora.

8.20 Bryan Johnson: The tech billionaire reversing his age  

Forty-six-year-old Bryan Johnson has spent millions of dollars to slow his body's aging process. 

He made his millions selling a tech company to eBay and has since pursued ventures in health tech, including his anti-ageing mission, Project Blueprint. 

He has a team of more than thirty doctors and health experts monitoring his every move, with the goal of reversing the aging process in every one of his organs. 

Bryan joins us to talk about his anti-aging mission and the potential takeaways for generations to come. 

8:47 Micheal Dearth: The rise of menu anxiety 

A new survey has confirmed what Millennials and Gen Z already knew - ordering food at restaurants can be stressful. For some, it can be so stressful that it's affecting the way they navigate eating out. 

Almost half of Gen Z and Millennials experience menu anxiety, stemming from everything from the taste, cost, and length of preparation time to the food's environmental impacts. 

Michael Dearth runs The Grove Restaurant in Auckland. He joins us to talk about how this phenomenon is impacting our eating out culture.  

9:00 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch looks at consternation caused by content that blurs the lines between ads and news.  

Also - the prospects for legislation to force big tech companies to pay for local news - and can a new body representing local ad agencies really help boost local media companies?  

9:37 Marc Wilson: How could Lucy Letby do the things she did? 

Victoria University of Wellington Professor of Psychology, Dr Marc Wilson is back, this time covering the harrowing case of nurse Lucy Letby over the murders of seven babies and the attempted murder of six others in her care at the Countess of Chester hospital in the UK.  

10:06 Janet Cade: Fidgeting is good for you 

We're taught as children not to fidget. Is fidgeting just a sign of being restless? Or is there more to it?  

What if fidgeting can help us maintain a healthy weight, manage stress, or even add years to your life? 

Janet Cade, a nutritional epidemiologist at the University of Leeds and her colleagues analyzed survey data from more than 12,000 women over the course of twelve years, uncovering that fidgeting can reduce your risk of long-term ill health as it interrupts the amount of time our bodies stay sedentary. 

10:22 Chris Patten: The last British Governor of Hong Kong 

Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes was a top Tory politician, prime ministerial material, and Chairman of the Conservative Party in the UK who went on to be the 28th and last Governor of Hong Kong, from 1992 to 1997. His brief was to make the 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China smooth, but also to protect the rule of law and to safeguard democracy. 

In the end the politics, as he puts it, were a snake pit. 

His book, The Hong Kong Diaries, is a journal of his time there, including his thoughts on the situation today. 

11:05 Peter Rowlett: Can mathematics help win lotto? 

Are there tricks that can maximise your lottery winnings? Should you avoid the number seven, for example or only pick numbers over 31?

Mathematician Peter Rowlett from University of Sheffield Hallam in the UK has some psychological strategies that may (or may not) improve your chances when playing the lottery. 

11:38 Calling Home: John Featherston in San Francisco 

Calling Home this morning is Dr John Feathersone, Dean Emeritus of the School of Dentistry at the University of California, San Francisco.  

 He's won numerous national and international awards, including the International Association for Dental Research distinguished scientist award for research into dental caries, and the Norton Ross Award for excellence in clinical research from the American Dental Association. 

This year he'll receive the American Dental Association’s highest award, their Distinguished Service Award.