Sunday Morning for Sunday 3 December 2023

8:10 Lisa Kaltenegger: The search for life on other planets 

If there was life on other planets, what might it look like, and would they even bother coming to Earth? 

Lisa Kaltenegger is the Director of the Carl Sagan Institute to Search for Life in the Cosmos at Cornell and Associate Professor in Astronomy.  

She is a pioneer and world-leading expert in modelling potential habitable worlds and their detectable spectral fingerprint. Her research focuses on rocky planets circling other stars, looking at potentially Earth-like exoplanets in the Habitable Zone. 

8:40 Ali Hill: The Nutrition Edition 

After our chat with Dr Ali Hill from Otago University's Department of Human Nutrition last week, many of you got in touch with questions. She answers some of these and takes a deeper dive into the benefits of wasabi. 

9:00 Mediawatch 

Mediawatch looks at how Winston Peters' grievances against the media made headlines this week  - as soon as the new government took power. 

Also: reports that have put Wellington's mayor under pressure - and why are all the weekly TV politics shows going off the air now, just as the new government gets going.  

9:40 Marc Wilson: Do pets actually make us happier? 

Victoria University of Wellington Professor of Psychology, Dr Marc Wilson, joins us once again. His topics this week include why women are more likely to give us bad news, EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing), and the latest research into whether pet ownership actually makes us happier. 

10:10 Sebastian Faulks: On being Homo sapiens  

Sebastian Faulks, worldwide bestselling author of Birdsong, is back with a new thriller, inspired, he tells us by a tweet from Richard Dawkins. 

The Seventh Son tells the story of a young American academic Talissa Adam who offers to carry another woman's child, with no idea of the life-changing consequences. 

Sweeping between New York, London, and the Scottish Highlands, it is a novel about unrequited love, unearned power and what it means to be human. 

10:40 Peter & Josh Solorzano: The brothers making planespotting cool 

You’ll find planespotters camped out at most airports around the world watching incoming and outgoing aircraft, keeping track of Airlines, destinations, makes and models, flight paths etc.  

Sibling planespotters Peter and Joshua Solorzano of hit YouTube channel L.A Flights happen to do their thing at the fourth-busiest airport in the world, LAX. This means there’s no shortage of comings and goings making their channel the go-to for planespotters everywhere. For the Solorzano brothers this isn’t some geek side hustle, this is their full-time job.

11:10 Gilbert Enoka: Mental skills for sport and life 

All Blacks Mental Skills Coach Gilbert Enoka, is moving on to on new pastures. Enoka, who also held the title of All Blacks Manager - Leadership, was with the team for 23 years, having first joined with Wayne Smith in the year 2000 and has been involved in 291 Tests including five Rugby World Cups. 

He talks to Jim about his time with the team – from boy to man – and where life may lead him now. 

11:30 Martyn Craddock: Why retirement homes must be better 

Martyn Craddock is the chief executive of United St Saviour’s, the charity behind Appleby Blue,  a new block of social housing for over-65s in Southwark, South London that’s hoping to re-shape how we view housing for older people.