Saturday Morning for Saturday 30 April 2022

8.10 Owen Bennett: is Elon set for a scuffle with the EU?

Self-proclaimed free speech absolutist Elon Musk raised eyebrows around the world this week after it was revealed he is purchasing social media platform Twitter for $US44 billion.

The announcement came on the heels of the European Union agreeing on a groundbreaking raft of new content rules that look to curb the worst abuses across social media. Companies that don’t adhere to the rules under the Digital Services Act could see themselves fined up to six percent of their global revenue.

Owen Bennett is a senior public policy manager at Mozilla Corporation, a not-for-profit tech company and maker of the Firefox web browser. He is an expert in policy and law surrounding European content regulation.

 

8.35 Prof Gavin Giovannoni: the common virus thought to cause multiple sclerosis

Two landmark studies released this year have pointed the finger at the long-suspected Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) as being a leading cause of multiple sclerosis. The virus, which is a member of the herpesvirus family, is extremely common —  it is estimated that 95 percent of adults carry it. 

Gavin Giovannoni, a Professor of Neurology at Queen Mary University of London, says the next step is preventing people from getting EBV to see if that will indeed stop people from developing multiple sclerosis. There is currently no vaccine for the virus, but earlier this year Moderna began clinical trials of an mRNA vaccine. 

 

9.05 James Birch: bringing the Bacon to Moscow

English curator and art dealer James Birch is arguably best known for his innovative ways of championing British art – including exhibiting the works of figurative painter Francis Bacon in Moscow in the late 1980s, when Russia was part of the USSR.

Birch first met Bacon when he was a little boy, and maintained a close relationship with the artist until the end of his life in 1992. Birch’s new book Bacon In Moscow tells the story of his audacious effort to bring Bacon’s raw, unsettling works to more than 400,000 Soviet citizens.
 

 

9.35  Prof Erin Griffey: recreating Renaissance beauty products

Recipes for cosmetic concoctions from Renaissance Europe are being put to the test by a cross-faculty team at the University of Auckland. 

The Beautiful Chemistry Project is the brainchild of art historian Erin Griffey, who while researching for a book about beauty culture in the Renaissance, stumbled across fascinating recipes to keep one looking attractive and youthful. Eventually she accumulated thousands of recipes in a multitude of languages, all recorded between 1500-1700.

Professor Griffey roped in some on-campus friends from the Faculty of Science to try the recipes out, in the hopes of understanding the chemical processes at work. From there the project took on a life of its own. 

 

10.05 Stuart Murdoch: the eclectic religion of Belle and Sebastian’s frontman

Scottish indie pop band Belle and Sebastian are next week releasing their first full-length album in seven years, A Bit Of Previous. The title is a nod to the Buddhist idea of reincarnation, a concept that struck a chord with frontman Stuart Murdoch, who has been drawn to the spiritual practice in recent years.

Unable to travel to California to make the album, the band recorded in their hometown of Glasgow for the first time in two decades. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise as they reconnected with their old stomping ground, having formed there in 1994 when Murdoch was living above a church hall and working as its caretaker.

A Bit Of Previous is out May 6. Watch the video for the single ‘If They’re Shooting At You’ below.

10.35 Dr David Campbell: our wetlands are wildly misunderstood

When drained for farming, New Zealand’s little-appreciated peat bogs are among the worst culprits of carbon emissions in the country. Conversely, when returned to their wetland glory these bogs are incredibly effective carbon sinks, that could make up for carbon loss from soils elsewhere.

Currently, New Zealand’s emissions-reduction plans favour the use of forestry, but research by Waikato University ecohydrologist and wetland expert Dr David Campbell suggests wetlands are of vital importance. 

Campbell has been conducting hydrology and carbon research in Kopuatai, in the Hauraki Plains and the wider Waikato region for more than two decades. Kopuatai is a pristine freshwater wetland that is the largest unaltered peat bog in the country.

 

11.05 Jan Kemp: pioneering NZ poet shares new memoir Raiment

Jan Kemp burst onto the New Zealand poetry scene in the early 1970s, and became one of the few young women poets of her era to be allowed into male-dominated club of the time. In 1979 she hit the road with Alistair Campbell, Sam Hunt and Hone Tuwhare as part of the Four Poets Tour.

Kemp’s new memoir Raiment chronicles her life up until the age of 25 — tracing through the 50s, 60s, and diving into the literary community of the early 1970s — revealing what it took to be an independent woman.

Originally hailing from Morrinsville, Kemp now lives in Germany with her husband Dieter.

 

11.35 Rowan of Wycksted: celebrating witches’ new year in the Kaipara

In the Southern Hemisphere, April 30 marks the Pagan festival of Samhain, sometimes known as witches’ New Year's Eve. In Wicca, a modern Pagan religion followed by witches, it’s the night when the veil between the living and the dead is thinnest.

Rowan of Wycksted is a green witch living rurally in the Kaipara who follows traditions handed down through generations. For her, celebrating the Wiccan new year is a time of family gathering with ceremony and traditions, both serious and fun.

Rowan runs Wycksted.co.nz, an online witches store, repository for Wicca information, and — since Covid put a pause on covens — the site for the Wycksted School of Witchery.    

  

Books mentioned in this show:

Bacon In Moscow
By James Birch
Publisher: Profile Books
ISBN: 9781788169745

Raiment
By Jan Kemp
Publisher: Massey University Press
ISBN: 9781991151148

 

Music featured on today's show:

Mona Lisa
Marvin Gaye
Played at 9.35am

If They’re Shooting At You
By Belle and Sebastian

Played at 10.12am
 

Prophets on Hold
By Belle and Sebastian

Played at 10.30am

 

I Put a Spell on You
Nina Simone
Played at 11.30am