Saturday Morning for Saturday 23 September 2023

 

8:10 Prof Mark Blagrove: the stories dreams tell

Director of Swansea University's Sleep Laboratory, Professor of Psychology Mark Blagrove is at the forefront of research into lucid dreams and the possible functions of sleep and dreaming.

Professor Blagrove's research is conducted in the lab, in dream salons and through dream reports collected by participants at home.
 
Blagrove has a YouTube channel with films of dream salons held at the Freud Museum in London, and his book The Science and Art of Dreaming, co-authored with artist Dr Julia Lockheart, explores a link between recounting dreams and empathy. 

 

8:35 Prof Emma Teeling: why bats may hold the secret to living longer

Cultural omen of darkness, reservoir of deadly viruses - bats don't have the best reputation.

But they do have some impressive and potentially helpful biological quirks, including the ability to resist the ageing process. 

Of the nineteen species of mammals that live longer than humans when adjusted for body size, eighteen are bats. 

So what is it about bats that allows them to fend off ageing?

Geneticist Prof Emma Teeling is on the hunt for answers to this question. She founded the University College of Dublin's BatLab and is co-founder of the Bat1K project which aims to map the genomes of all 1,400 species of bat.

9:05 David McAllister: Ballet Confidential

Internationally-acclaimed former principal dancer and artistic director of The Australian Ballet, David McAllister recently completed his tenure as acting artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Throughout his career David has made numerous guest appearances worldwide, dancing with the Bolshoi Ballet.

McAllister's book Ballet Confidential: A personal behind the-scenes guide lifts the curtain on a world of tutus, tulle and lycra, the pursuit of perfection, injuries and what it was like dancing for the Princess of Wales.

9.45 Supreme WOW Winner: Gill Saunders does it again

Nelson designer Gill Saunders is the Supreme Winner at the 2023 World of WearableArt™ show for her garment Earthling.

It's Saunders' second Supreme WOW award, and her seventh award win in the show.

Earthling is the third and final piece in Saunders wearable art trilogy.  It takes its inspiration from the popularity of adult colouring books.

10:05 Playing Favourites with Kerry Ann Lee

Kerry Ann Lee is a collage artist, scholar, DJ, and fanzine maker whose work explores Cantonese urban settlement and cultural collisions.

A third-generation Chinese New Zealander, Lee's parents ran the Gold Coin Cafe in Wellington in the 1970s and 80's.

She recently contributed to the installation at Wellington Museum celebrating her grandfather's business The Favorite Milk Bar. 

She is creative director of the Asian Aotearoa Arts programme which runs for two weeks from Monday 25 September.

 

 

 

11:05 Richard Scolyer: melanoma researcher experimenting on his own brain tumour

Pathologist Prof Richard Scolyer's melanoma research is credited with saving tens of thousands of lives, but now he's in a race to save his own.

He's the co-medical director of the Melanoma Institute Australia, which pioneered pre-surgery immunotherapy treatments that have boosted advanced melanoma survival rates from less than five per cent to more than 50 per cent.

In June Prof Scolyer was diagnosed with glioblastoma IDH wild-type, a cancer that is usually fatal within six to nine months. 

Rather than follow the usual treatment path he's become a human guinea pig, applying the lessons learnt from melanoma research to his brain cancer. 

11:35 Olive Jones: anarchy and idealism at the Graham Downs commune

In 1979, inspired by the countercultural movement sweeping the country, teenager Olive Jones embraced rural communal living.

By the age of twenty-one she was one of the founders of the Graham Downs farming community in the Motueka Valley.

Built on anarchy and idealism, with the aim of self-sufficiency, it was a bold experiment. 
 
Olive's book Commune: Chasing a Utopian Dream charts the course of the commune and the highs and lows of living without rules.

 

 

 

Books featured on this show:

The Science and Art of Dreaming
By Mark Blagrove and Julia Lockheart
Published by Routledge
ISBN: 9780367479947

Ballet Confidential: A personal behind the-scenes guide
By David McAllister
Published by Thames and Hudson
ISBN: 9781760763251

Commune: Chasing a Utopian Dream 
By Olive Jones
Published by Potton and Burton
ISBN: 9781988550541

Music played in this show

Composer: Tchaikovsky
Title: Swan Lake, Act 1 Finale
Performers: NZSO, Patrick Flynn
Time played: 9:45
 
Song: Will you Still love me tomorrow?
Artist: Dusty Springfield (1964)
Time played: 10:15

Song: The Private Eyes Theme song   (1976)    
Artist: Samuel Hui - 半斤八兩
Time played: 10:30

Song: Cruel Summer
Artist: Bananarama
Time played: 10:40

Song: Don't Know if U Heard (2018)
Artist: Coco Solid
Time played: 10:50

Song: Mexico 70  (1970)         
Artist: Perez Prado
Time played: 10:55