Nine To Noon for Wednesday 10 April 2019

 

09:05 New York declares public health emergency amid measles outbreak

New York city officials tackling a measles outbreak, particularly affecting the Orthodox Jewish community in the borough of Williamsburg will make it mandatory for unvaccinated people in certain zip codes to get the MMR vaccine. If they don't, they could be fined US $1000.  Gary Schlesinger is the chief executive of Parcare, which has health and medical centres in the two Brooklyn suburbs at the centre of the outbreak -  Williamsburg and Borough Park. He talks to Kathryn about whether the vaccination imperative is enough.

09:20 Insurance crackdown may not stamp out bad behavior: CEO

As the government moves towards a crackdown on sales incentives offered by life insurance companies, the Chief Executive of one insurer is warning this may not stamp out bad behavior detrimental to consumers and could reduce the number of people with insurance. In January, a report into the conduct of life insurance companies by the Financial Markets Authority and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand found life insurers in particular were encouraging advisers to put sales and profits ahead of customers' needs. The report recommended that insurers remove or substantially revise their sales incentives, including high up-front commissions for insurance advisers, giving them until the end of the year to do so. Kathryn talks with Naomi Ballantyne, the Chief Executive of the life insurer,  Partners Life.

09:40 Friend or foe ? How gorse is saving Giant Mahoenui wētā

Gorse, a pest for most, but a home for others! While generally considered to be New Zealand's worst scrub weed - gorse also provides important protection for one of the world's largest insects, Mahoenui giant wētā.That's putting the Department of Conservation in an unusual situation. If they want to sustain the wētā population, they will need to preserve the gorse in the King Country region, the only place where they can be found. Masters student, Hannah Stilborn grew up in the Mahoenui area and won a research scholarship with DOC to research Mahoenui giant weta. 

09:45 Where's the election announcement ScoMo?

Australia correspondent Bernard Keane looks at why Prime Minister Scott Morrison has held off on making an election date announcement. Delaying the election means the government will have more time to sign off on Commonwealth approvals for the controversial Adani coal mine in Queensland.

10:05 Senior moments: reversing memory loss in old age

American neuroscientist Robert Reinhart is making advances in attempting to reverse memory loss. He has, with his team at Boston University, worked out how to give someone in their sixties or seventies the memory agility of a twenty-something, using electrical pulses to temporarily improve working memory.  Robert Reinhart is Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences at Boston University.  He explains his research to Kathryn Ryan.

10:35 Book review - The Dollmaker by Nina Allan

Today Lisa Finucane reviews The Dollmaker by Nina Allan, published by Hachette NZ ($37.99).

10:45 The Reading

The Life And Death Of Laura Friday (And Of Pavarotti, Her Parrot) by David Murphy. Part 7 of 12.

11:05 This year's great crop of music films and docos (and it's only April!)

Music journalist Yadana Saw looks at upcoming docos and biopics such as Elton John's Rocketman and Aretha Franklin's Amazing Grace, and the crop of local and international releases you might have missed, like the Fyre Festival, the Bros boyband doco, and RNZ Music's own Alien Weaponry web series.

11:20 Action sport for trauma recovery

Sport may seem trivial in times of tragedy, or around difficult life events, but the research shows it can be a powerful tool for helping in recovery. Waikato University Professor Holly Thorpe is now in the final six months of a three year Marsden grant that examined the role of action sports in post-disaster and conflict zones, including earthquake hit Chrischurch, New Orleans, Gaza and Afghanistan. She talks to Kathryn Ryan along with her Phd student Nida Ahmad, who is doing research on sport in the lives of Muslim women around the world.

11:45  How AI can test embryo viability and out with science 'manels'

Science commentator, Associate Professor Dr Siouxsie Wiles, joins Kathryn to discuss how a new AI approach can identify with great accuracy whether a 5-day-old IVF human embryo will progress to a successful pregnancy - and there's a new guide out from the group 500 Women Scientists on how to avoid 'manels' - or panels made up entirely of men.