Navigation for Sunday Morning

8:12  NZ helps create first-ever World Drowning Prevention Day 

In New Zealand drowning is the leading cause of recreational death and the third-highest cause of accidental death, including around 80 preventable fatalities every year. Today is the first-ever World Drowning Prevention Day. New Zealand, along with 80 countries worldwide, co-sponsored this historic resolution. Water Safety New Zealand CEO Daniel Gerrard is with us to look at how the day came about and what the relevant bodies are hoping to achieve. 

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Photo: Google image

8:18 Why more older New Zealanders are becoming entrepreneurs

All over the world there has been an increase in people aged 50+ starting businesses. In New Zealand there are patterns to confirm the trend, with evidence that businesses started by older entrepreneurs may have a higher survival rate than by those younger. To find out more, Dr Judith Davey conducted 20 in-depth interviews with people who had started new businesses after the age of 50 - and the results found they're not just motivated by money.

Bearded businessman working with team new project. Generic design notebook on wood table

Photo: 123rf

8:28 Stress does really turn hair grey (but it's reversible) 

It's long been considered a fact by many that stress turns our hair grey, but a new study out Columbia University is the first to offer quantitative evidence linking psychological stress to greying hair in people. Martin Picard, Ph.D., is an associate professor of behavioural medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and a co-author of the study, which was recently published in eLife

Fatigued older woman, headache, thinking, stress. (File photo)

Photo: 123RF

8:40 The Weekend Panel with Nalini Baruch and Neil Waka

This morning our panellists will be discussing the suspension of the trans-Tasman travel bubble, the Olympics and restrictions around females' sporting uniforms, whether we need to have Armed Response Teams, Rotorua becoming less of a tourist destination and more of a temporary housing location for the homeless, and the increase in sick leave from five to 10 days.   

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Photo: Supplied / Bianca Brown

9:06 Mediawatch

This week Mediawatch looks at how the media covered the country's biggest rural protest for years - and asks if our media are caught in the rural-urban divide. Also: the media agree principles for covering terrorism events - and should we believe economists' forecasts in the media?  

Tractors on Queen St Auckland in the farmers' protest

Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone

9:37 Calling Home: Amanda Ellis in Honolulu  

There is a strong French theme running through the places Dunedinite Amanda Ellis had lived in prior to arriving in Hawai'i in 2016 (Paris, New Caledonia, Geneva), but no other place outside of New Zealand has had a stronger impact on her own personal growth than Hawai'i, where she also resided as a university student in the 1980s. She's Calling Home this morning from Manoa Valley, Honolulu. 

New Zealander Amanda Ellis (centre) with husband Keric and son Mitchell in Hawai'i.

New Zealander Amanda Ellis (centre) with husband Keric and son Mitchell in Hawai'i Photo: Supplied/Amanda Ellis

10:06 The evolution of human fatherhood 

Human fathers put more time and energy into rearing their offspring than most other mammalian dads, though our deepest ancestors were more preoccupied with focusing all their time and attention on mating -- which continues to be the case for our closest primate relatives. Dr Lee Gettler is an anthropologist from the University of Notre Dame whose key areas of research focuses on fathering and the biology of fatherhood. He's with us to discuss the evolution of human fatherhood and how human dads differ to those in other societies.   

A photo of a father and young daughter reading together

Photo: stockbroker/123RF

10:36  Voice cloning is revolutionising the way we communicate

Voice cloning is the process when a computer programme is used to generate a synthetic and adaptable copy of a person's voice. From a recording of someone talking, the software is able to replicate someone's voice speaking any words or sentences that are typed into a keyboard. The technology can be used for an array of reasons such as creating artificial voices for patients who can't talk without assistance or voice actors so they can 'future-proof' their career. Founder of VocaliD, Professor Rupal Patel joins us to discuss how the technology works.

Rupal Patel - Founder of VocaliD

Rupal Patel - Founder of VocaliD Photo: Supplied

10:46 Dave Gerrard at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo 

There isn't much Professor Dave Gerrard hasn't done when it comes to the Olympic Games, having attended the first Tokyo Olympics in 1964 as an athlete (where he reached the 200m butterfly semifinals) and going on to serve as a chef mission, team doctor and medical commissioner at nine subsequent Olympics. Gerrard's role in Tokyo this time is as medical commissioner for Fina (the international body for swimming and water polo). He's with us from Tokyo - where he is attending his 11th Summer Olympic Games - for an update on all the latest happenings. 

June 30, 2021, Yokohama, Japan - A large monument of the Olympic rings is displayed at a port city of Yokohama, suburban Tokyo on Wednesday, June 30, 2021 as the Olympic torch relay is held at the city.

Photo: Photosport

11:05 Album features sound of black holes colliding 1.3 billion years ago 

Musicology Professor Kim Cunio, UK artist Diana Scarborough and Dr Nigel Meredith collaborated on the album 'Celestial Incantations' to combine the sounds from within our solar system and beyond with acoustic instruments to create real-life science-fiction soundtracks. On the album you can hear gravitational waves which were a breakthrough discovery in 2016, the sound of compressed air bubbles escaping from a Stone Age ice core from Antarctica and the oscillations of a comet. Kim Cunio joins us to discuss the significance of hearing these unique sounds. 

Gravitational wave, abstract illustration.

Photo: SAKKMESTERKE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

https://soundsofspaceproject.bandcamp.com/album/celestial-incantations 

11:32 Why you'll need to quarantine before going to Mars 

NASA's Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has begun its search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. But we already know there is life on Mars, because we brought it. Indeed, humanity has sent around 30 spacecraft and landers to Mars since the space age began, and some microbes have managed to survive the trip. Writer and podcaster Nicola Twilley's latest book, co-authored with husband Geoff Manaugh, is Until Proven Safe: The History and Future of Quarantine. She joins the show to discuss the importance of planetary quarantine.  

This NASA photo released on February 19, 2021, shows an image from NASA’s Perseverance rover as it landed on the surface of Mars on February 18, 2021.

Photo: AFP / NASA

11:46 My Current Song: John Hanlon, This is New York 

Celebrated Kiwi musician John Hanlon appeared on Sunday Morning a couple of weeks ago when we caught up with him to discuss his latest album, Naked Truths. However there was a glitch in the matrix and John sent us the demo versions of some of the tracks by accident instead of the final versions of the songs. The demos sounded great to us, but we thought it only fair to get John back on and showcase one of the final, polished tracks off his new album, 'This is New York.' 

Kiwi musician John Hanlon

Kiwi musician John Hanlon Photo: Supplied/John Hanlon