Afternoons for Wednesday 8 April 2020

1:10 Live coverage of the Ministry of Health's latest Covid Update

An update from the Government on Covid 19 - speakers today are Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Dr Ashley Bloomfield, Director-General of Health.

1:27 Auckland Airport focused on repatriation flights

This week there are five Airbus A380 repatriation flights leaving from Auckland to Frankfurt, as stranded German tourists make their way home.

Last week the government relaxed domestic travel restrictions for people who want to get out of Aotearoa, and there could be as many as 100,000 foreigners intending to leave the country.

We speak to Scott Tasker the head of the aeronautical commercial at Auckland Airport.

1:34 Ngā Taonga Sound Archives - Home schooling and the 1940s polio epidemics

Empty classrooms, parents struggling to home-school and teachers trying to work out ways to deliver feedback to students remotely… It sounds familiar but this was the reality in New Zealand 72 years ago, when schools stayed shut after the summer holidays and didn't reopen until after Easter.

In today's visit to the sound archives of Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Sarah Johnston will play some memories of that time, of a long, hot summer when a polio epidemic was keeping New Zealand children at home and indoors.

Listen to the full Spectrum documentary on the polio epidemics

1:50 Touring the Portrait Gallery online 

The New Zealand Portrait Gallery is working to make sure that people can still experience at while at home in their bubbles.

The gallery will be running online talks and tours, and the first one is online now.

Voting is now available online for the Adam Portraiture Award People's Choice.

We speak to New Zealand Portrait Gallery director Jaenine Parkinson.

2.10 Podcast picks for kids

Kirsten Johnstone takes a look at some great podcast options for the younger members of your family. She breaks them down into two main categories - stories for entertainment and educational podcasts.

Stories: Grim Grimmer, Grimmest; The Two Princes; Storytime; Story Pirates; Northwood and Moe Makes Music.

Educational: Nanogirl’s great science adventures; Short & Curly; Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls; Fierce Girls; ABC Kids News Time and That’s incredible.

2:30 Government announces distance learning plans for schools

The Education Minister has just outlined plans for distance learning during school closures

RNZ's Education Correspondent John Gerritsen explains what Chris Hipkins has announced and what it all means.

2:30 Bookmarks: Gilbert Enoka

Our guest today is possibly New Zealand’s best known mental skills coach, who has worked with the All Blacks for a record 20 years now. 

Gilbert Enoka’s list of clients include not only the ABs - he’s also worked with the Silver Ferns, the Black Caps, chief executives, you name it. 

He chats to Jesse about his favourite things and also give us some advice about coping with lockdown cabin fever.

3:10 Dr Lisa Mosconi - why more women get Alzheimers and is it linked to menopause?

Women get Alzheimer's disease more than men and neuroscientist  Dr Lisa Mosconi wants to know why. She says for far too long women's health has focused on the bits of the female body that can be covered by a bikini. Her  research focuses on a possible link between menopause and Alzheimer's. Her new book is called The XX Brain: The Groundbreaking Science Empowering Women to Maximize Cognitive Health and Prevent Alzheimer's Disease.

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World. Our immune system: ‘I think of it as an orchestra’

The human immune system is a complex system that battles invaders such as bacteria and viruses. Associate Professor Jo Kirman is an immunologist at the University of Otago, and she says you can think of the immune system as an army or an orchestra, with lots of different players working together to make the music, or the immune response.

3:45 The Panel with Ali Jones and Mark Sainsbury