Saturday Morning for Saturday 3 June 2023

Colin Peacock is presenting the show this week

8:10 Thomas Hertog: Stephen Hawking's final radical theory

At the end of his life Stephen Hawking asked his friend and collaborator Thomas Hertog to write a book about the cosmological theory they'd developed over 20 years of working together in the theoretical physics department at Cambridge.

The result is On the Origin of Time, outlining a new quantum theory which has a radical vision of our place in the order of the cosmos.

It's centred on a revolutionary idea: the laws of physics are not set in stone but are born and co-evolve as the universe they govern takes shape. Once upon a time, perhaps, there was no time. 

 

8.45  Tom Barraclough: are your social media threads under threat?

This week the government released a Safer Online Services and Media Platforms 'discussion document' proposing to regulate online content the same way other media is regulated. Its set off alarm bells for everyone from Stuff head Sinead Boucher to the Free Speech Union, yet has been welcomed by others as a big step towards making the internet a safer place.

The proposal doesn't look to expand the categories of illegal content, says Tom Barraclough, and takes its lead from the European Union's recently implemented Digital Services Act.

Tamaki Makaurau based, the Brainbox Institute researches emerging technologies and corresponding policy and legal issues.

Barraclough is on a panel discussion this afternoon at the Doc Edge film festival on deepfakes,1pm at the Ellen Melville Centre.

 

9:05  Sister Unity of the LA Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence

When a major league US baseball team recently picked a fight with a group of queer and trans 'nuns', they struck out.

After announcing the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence would be honoured with a community heroes award, the LA Dodgers buckled to conservative pressure from Republican politicians and some Catholic groups, revoking the award and an invitation to their Pride Night.

Founded in San Francisco in 1979, the Sisters use extravagant Christian imagery to push back against religious homophobia. They are devoted to community service, ministry and outreach to those on the edges. They also raise money for unhoused queer and trans youth, HIV and breast cancer research.

The dumping by the Dodgers sparked a frenzy of support for the Order and a full back down, apology and reinvitation to Pride Night.

We'll ask Sister Unity from the LA chapter for all the T on the drama.

 

9:35 Samuel Mehr: thinking differently about music 

Do we hear music differently across cultures? What about between the sexes? And does singing to a baby improve their mental health?

These are some of the questions The Music Lab's Principal Investigator psychologist Dr Samuel Mehr is looking to answer.

Based at the University of Auckland and Yale University, the lab's current studies focus on the ability of babies to perceive harmony and melody, and the effects of singing to a baby in the first year of life. The lab also runs citizen-science experiments such as musical IQ tests. You can test yourself and contribute via their website.

 

10:05 Dame Penelope Wilton: Downton Abbey star’s new film

Beloved British stage and screen actor Dame Penelope Wilton is perhaps best known as Ann, the long-suffering wife of Martin in BBC sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles and Isobel Crawley in Downton Abbey.

She's now starring alongside Jim Broadbent in a new film The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, based on Rachel Joyce novel.

The titular Fry is a pensioner on a lone walking journey across England, while his wife, played by Dame Penelope, has a journey of her own without leaving their four walls. 

Dame Penelope has also starred in Netflix hit After Life, Doctor Who and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is in cinemas in New Zealand 8 June.

 

10:35 Adventurer Thor F. Jensen: circumnavigating New Guinea in an outrigger

Danish adventurer, filmmaker and writer Thor F. Jensen completed a  6300km circumnavigation of the Island of New Guinea in a traditional outrigger sailing canoe.- a world-first achieved in collaboration with three Papuan master sailors. 

The almost 14 month nautical expedition is the focus of his new documentary Sailau, which is also plays tribute to the Papuan sailors and their mission to preserve their traditional skills.

Thor be attending the film's world premiere at the Doc Edge Film Festival and doing Q and A sessions after each screening. 

Jensen has also released a memoir about the exploit, Salt Water and SpearTips. He is a member of the Adventurers' Club of Denmark.

 

11:05 Suzie Miller: putting legal injustice against women centre stage

Australian Suzie Miller's play Prima Facie has been called "one of the most electrifying pieces of theatre on Broadway" and this year won an Olivier Award following a Westend run.

The one-woman play is a dialogue on sexual assault, consent and a searing indictment of a legal system which Miller calls out as failing women worldwide. 

It follows a lawyer representing men accused of sexual assault, who is assaulted herself. 

Miller writes from first hand experience, having worked as a human rights lawyer before pivoting to playwriting in 2010.

Prima Facie comes to Aotearoa stages later this month with productions in Auckland and Wellington

 

11:40 Organic gardener Kath Irvine: time to plant fruit trees

Nomad gardener and The Edible Backyard author Kath Irvine has parked up the house truck and settled down for winter in Golden Bay.

The cold season is the time to plant fruit trees, so she's joining us with tips and tricks on how to choose the right tree for your location, and how to plant and feed them. 

She's taking listener questions about fruit trees, so if you've got one please email it in to us.

 

 

Books featured in this episode

On the Origin of Time: Stephen Hawking's Final Theory 
By Thomas Hertog
Published by Penguin Books
ISBN: 9781911709091

Salt Water and Spear Tips
By Thor F. Jensen
Published by Pegasus
ISBN: 9781784656850

 

Music featured in this show:

Pull up to the Bumper
Performed by Grace Jones
Played at 9.05am

Queen of Denmark
Performed by Sinead O'Connor
Played at 10.30am

Selfish Soul
Sudan Archives
Played at 11.30am