Afternoons for Tuesday 8 May 2018

Short Story Club

This week we feature two poems

To the trees of summer by Marty Smith

Into the first cold by Albert Wendt

We'll have a giveaway book for the writer of the best email - jesse@radionz.co.nz

1:10 First song

1:15 More plant life means lower asthma risk

One in 7 New Zealand children take medication for asthma, in fact it's one of the most common causes of hospital admissions for kids.

But why do some get it and some don't? A new Massey University study has found the answer lies in the flora that surrounds them. 

More plant life means a lower chance of asthma. To explain we're joined by author of the study, Jeroen Douwes, Professor of Public Health at Massey. 

1:25 The kiwi in the US doing daily Trump updates

Every day since Donald Trump became the US president, a kiwi living in the US has been writing daily updates of his bizarre presidency on her twitter feed - under the name Sassy Little Hobbit.

Her real name is Lamia Imam and she's currently in Texas where she works as a writer and communications consultant. She tells us about the last 472 days under Trump.

Day 1: pretty shit eh

— Sassy Little Hobbit (@LI_politico) January 21, 2017

1:35 50 years of the New Zealand Book Awards

They began in 1968 as the Goodman Fielder Wattie Book Awards, and are now the Ockhams. We look back on the past 50 years with author, Paula Morris.

1:45 Great album: Nirvana - Nevermind

2:10 Books about interesting women for Mother's Day

Lisa Glass shares ideal books with interesting female protagonists to give to the mother's in our lives this Sunday.

Her suggestions:

Woman in the Window by A-J Finn

Educated by Tara Westover

Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine by Gail Honeyman

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

2:20 Whistling in popular music

Simon Sweetman talks about the use of whistling in popular music - and plays us some of the songs that make use of this sound in unique ways.

3:10 Why flies deserve our respect

For most of us, it's hard to come up with a list of things to love about flies, they're annoying, they bite, they spread disease.   

But for Dr Erica McAlister, curator of Diptera at the Natural History Museum in London, flies are endlessly fascinating and important.

Afterall, there are 17 million flies for every person on earth so we ignore them at our peril  She shares the hidden world of flies and why they are worthy of our respect instead of our disdain in her book, The Secret Life Of Flies. 

3:30 Ours

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

4:05 The Panel with Niki Bezzant and Max Ritchie