Nights for Monday 15 August 2016

7:10pm Dean Baginent Mercer

Dean Baigent-Mercer has often invisibly been involved with the key environmental campaigns within Aotearoa over the past twenty years. He speaks to Bryan Crump about the work he's done here and overseas.

7:35pm  Upbeat

Indian musicians Purbayan Chatterjee and Taufiq Qureshi have been in Auckland this month teaching workshops at the University of Auckland School of Music. The duo takes classical traditions and put them into contemporary contexts and settings. Greg Booth sat down with the musician to discover more about the intricacies of Indian melodic and rhythmic language.

8:10pm Science - Botany

Underground conversations - Auckland Botanical Gardens Curator Bec Stanley joins Bryan Crump to reveal the secrets of how trees talk to each other.

8:30pm Window on the World

Power of Cute - A window into the human obsession with all things cute.There's been an explosion in interest in cuteness, particularly online, with an ever growing number of websites dedicated to pandas, kittens, puppies and of course babies.In The Power of Cute from the BBC World Service, zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explores the science behind our seeming obsession with all things adorable.

9:30pm Insight 

Teresa Cowie looks at zero hours contracts which have now been outlawed. But as Teresa found out, not much has changed for workers struggling to find employment and get experiences. She discovers  businesses are still looking to cut costs and permanent commitment to staff by hiring workers via temping agencies or labour hire companies.

10:17pm  Late Edition

A roundup of today's RNZ News and feature interviews as well as Date Line Pacific from RNZ International.

11:07 At the Eleventh Hour

The Nashville Babylon.