Nine To Noon for Friday 29 November 2019

 

 

09:05 NZ methane-busting seaweed cattle feed nears market

A New Zealand technology firm in the race to produce the world's first methane-busting cattle feed supplement made from seaweed is planning to grow and process seaweed in Southland. CH4 Global was founded by a group of local tech and bioscience entrepreneurs, and has been working with Australia's national science agency CSIRO,  developing the product made from Asparagopsis armata - a native red seaweed which grows in New Zealand and South Australian waters.  Co-founder Nick Gerritsen says trials of the product on sheep, dairy cows and feedlot beef cows in the US and in Australia show methane reduction effects ranging from 60 per cent to more than 90 per cent. CH4 Global has just received $500 thousand dollars from the Provincial Growth Fund to establish seaweed processing in Southland. 

09:20 World must act to prevent a mountain of EV batteries

Researchers are warning that as more and more consumers switch to electric vehicles, better methods of recycling their batteries are urgently needed to prevent a mountain of waste. One million EVs sold around the world in 2017 including 546 here, up from 63 in 2016. In September this year, 605 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in New Zealand. Research from the University of Birmingham say that when the batteries from the 2017 fleet begin to wear down in around 20 years, they'll create 250 thousand tonnes of waste - and that's just from that one year. Kathryn talks with the study's lead author, Gavin Harper, a  research fellow at the University of Birmingham's Faraday Institution. 
 

09:30 Making do with nothing new

Robyn Annear is the author of five books on history and her latest work  is titled Nothing New - a history of second hand.   An avid Op shopper, she'll discuss what buying things second hand means to different people, treasure or junk?, and also  look at whether the rampant consumerism of the past decade or so, is an aberration when put in a historical context.

09:45 Asia Correspondent Ed White

Another week of major developments in Hong Kong with local elections, a new US law in support of the protesters and the siege at Hong Kong Polytechnic University drawing to an end after days of violence. And the latest young death in the K-Pop world is causing more pain in South Korea and concern for what is said online.  

Ed White is a correspondent for the Financial Times, based in Seoul. 

10:05 Sex and socialism. When unregulated capitalism kills the mood

"Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism" is a book with a seductive title but contains a serious argument. In it Kristen Ghodsee explains how, when done right, socialism offers more opportunities for women to live better lives than unregulated capitalism. She got to this conclusion having researched the transition from communism to capitalism in eastern Europe, which created, she says, a perfect laboratory to investigate. Kristen Ghodsee, a professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, will be appearing at the New Zealand Festival of the Arts with Marilyn Waring and Ngahuia te Awekotuku for a panel discussion on 'Sex, politics and Gender'.

10:35 Book review - Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum

Melanie O'Loughlin from Unity Books reviews Rabbits for Food by Binnie Kirshenbaum, which is published by Serpent’s Tail.

New Year’s Eve 2008, and Bunny, a successful writer under the spell of clinical depression, is at dinner with friends. She wonders how long she can take five people discussing the merits of balsamic vinegar. It turns out not long. What comes next lands her in the psych unit of a prestigious New York hospital. Razor-sharp comic timing illuminates mental illness, love and relationships in the best possible way.

10:45 The Reading

The late Nancy Brunning reads 'The Empty Page' a short story by by Debra Rewiti.

11:05 Music reviewer Jeremy Taylor - The Beatles B-sides

Jeremy Taylor from SlowBoat Records takes a look at the flip side of the Beatles, with a selection of single B-sides from the newly singles released box set, along with an avant-garde pop classic from 2020 NZ Festival guest curator Laurie Anderson.
 

11:30 Sports commentator Brendan Telfer

Brendan talks to Kathryn about the Black Caps team playing England in the second test in Hamilton today. Also a look at whether Russia will be banned from next year's Tokyo Olympics.

11:45 The week that was - BBC furore over six chip limit

Our comedians Te Radar and Melanie Bracewell have a feast of funnies, including slim pickings at the BBC's canteen in London's Broadcasting house, where the fish and chips are coming up short!