Nine To Noon for Thursday 31 January 2019

 

 

09:05 Meningococcal disease cases on the rise in NZ

New figures out today show a steady increase in cases of meningococcal disease in New Zealand since 2014, including those of group W, the strain responsible for the outbreak in Northland. Professor Martin Maiden has been researching the deadly disease for more than 20 years.

09:25 What to do when sleep is elusive?

The summer heat has impacting sleep patterns recently, and with parents trying to get their children back into regular bedtimes compatible with the school year, we're looking at some solutions. Sleep researcher and child psychologist Sarah Blunden says sleep is one of the most challenging issues parents face - from unsettled babies, toddlers changing sleep patterns - and then there are the teenage years and young lives dominated by screen use. Dr Blunden is the founder of the Australian Centre for Education in Sleep, and also directs the Paediatric Sleep Clinic based in Adelaide.

09:45 The next Brexit move and a speeding MP jailed

Theresa May vows to renegotiate her Brexit deal, a British MP who claimed someone else was driving her car when she was caught speeding has been jailed for three months and seat cushions are found by searchers looking for missing footballer Emiliano Sala.

10:05 Opening a new window into the universe

Dr Nergis Mavalvala is a Pakistani-American quantum astrophysicist who was part of the team that first observed gravtation waves (ripples in the fabric of space time) in a landmark discovery in 2016. She joins Kathryn Ryan to discuss what it is like to be working at the global forefront of astronomy research.

Dr Mavalvala will be giving a free public talk at 5.30pm, on Thursday 31st January at Otago Museum:  The 100-year Quest for Einstein's Gravitational Waves.

10:35 Book review - Best of 2018

Stella Chrysostomou from Volume bookstore shares her picks for the best books of 2018:

The Long Take by  Robin Robertson, Census by Jesse Ball, and Women in the Field, One and Two by Thomasin Sleigh.

"Three excellent 2018 fiction titles, all have a journey in a physical, as well as an emotional, sense at their core. In the beautifully written Census, a dying father journeys across America with his down-syndrome adult son. In the epic narrative poetic novel, The Long Take, we walk with a traumatised returned soldier, aptly named Walker, along the city streets of 1950s America observing the disenfranchised and the impact of war on an individual, as well as a nation. And in Women in the Field, One and Two we cross the sea from England to New Zealand with a young art advisor and a Russian emigre in a story laced with intrigue, verve and wit."

10:45 The Reading

Mona Minim & the Smell of the Sun by Janet Frame read by Dick Weir.  Episode 4 of 9 

11:05 Apple's profits sour and deep fakes get deeper

Technology commentator Bill Bennett looks at what's been a bad week for Apple; the world’s first trillion dollar company has seen its profits drop just as a new security bug was discovered by a teenager. The world’s first quantum computer has been unveiled and are deep fakes the new arms race?
 

11:25 How to love (almost) every parenting minute

Want to be a happier parent? KJ Dell'Antonia is the former lead editor of the New York Times Motherlode blog, who over the years has asked and answered plenty of questions about parenting. She says the one she was most intrigued by was 'why isn't it any fun?' She has advice for looking after kids as they grow into their tweens and teens.

11:45 Tidying Up with Marie Kondo and At Eternity's Gate

Lara Strongman reviews Tidying Up with Marie Kondo -- does it spark joy? And watches the Vincent van Gogh biopic At Eternity's Gate, about the tragic final years of the artist's life.