Nine To Noon for Wednesday 10 March 2021

 

09:05 Are interest rates on the turn?

Interest rates are at historic lows with many economists picking they will begin to rise in the short to medium term. Kathryn speaks with independent economist Tony Alexander.

09:25 Fine forecasting: super-technology speeding up the America's Cup

Next-level weather forecasting is helping Emirates Team New Zealand steer a faster course, and helping the environment.  While much of the technology interest of the America's Cup has focused on the yachts' foils, Dr Mike Williams is leading NIWA's work with Emirates Team New Zealand, providing them with sophisticated weather information which allows the crew to understand changes in wind and currents every twenty seconds during the race.  Dr Williams tells Kathryn Ryan fine weather forecasting can also help other marine sectors which rely on detailed weather forecasting, which in turn could help combat climate change.

09:45 Pressure mounts over Christian Porter rape allegation

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn to look at how Prime Minister Scott Morrison is rejecting calls for an independent inquiry into a historical rape allegation against Christian Porter, the country's Attorney-General, as the woman's former sexual assault counsellor confirms she was told about the alleged attack eight years ago. What are the details of Australia's vaccine rollout - and why is Italy holding up a shipment?

10:05 From a shaky start-up to the rise of Elon Musk's SpaceX

Now for the inside story of the origins of leading-edge rocket company. SpaceX is headed by business magnate Elon Musk, who designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla motors, and he has a background in industrial designing and engineering. Space editor at Ars Technica, Eric Berger is a journalist, specialising in covering astronomy, ventures into space and NASA policy, He is also a certified meteorologist, and the author of the new book Liftoff, which is about the rise of SpaceX.

10:35 Book review - The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison

Leah McFall reviews The Stubborn Light of Things by Melissa Harrison, published by Allen & Unwin.

10:45 The Reading

2000ft Above Worry Level, part eight. Written by Eamonn Marra and read by Jack Sergent.

11:05 Music with Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan

Charlotte joins Kathryn to share songs from Jon Batiste, Team Dynamite and Sheep Dog and Wolf.

11:20 Kami: Kiwi online learning company's Covid boom

New Zealand children - particularly those in Auckland - will be extremely familiar by now with online learning, thanks to Covid. But their experience is well short of what other kids around the world have had to cope with. One New Zealand company has been helping to support them - finding particular success with teachers in the United States. Kami, formerly known as Notable PDF, has 24 million users worldwide, making it one of the top online learning tools. Its founders include husband and wife team Hengjie Wang and Alliv Samson, who join Kathryn to talk about why the pandemic-induced change to learning might be permanent.

11:45 Batty directions, heat-resistant coral and counting barnacles

Science commentator Siouxsie Wiles joins Kathryn to talk about how fruit bats navigate through their sense of smell and large eyes, rather than echolocation. Researchers have discovered a cheap way of identifying corals that are more heat-resistant and could help regenerate damaged reefs. And want to know how long an object has been drifting at sea? Count the barnacles!

Associate Professor Dr Siouxsie Wiles is the head of Bioluminescent Superbugs Lab at the University of Auckland.