Afternoons for Wednesday 6 June 2018

Short Story Club

This week our short story is by Maurice Gee. It's called Waterfront - read it here and email us your thoughts to be in to win a copy of Rachel Barrowman's biography; Maurice Gee: Life and Work

jesse@radionz.co.nz

1:10 First song: The NZ Guitar Quartet live

The New Zealand Guitar Quartet are performing as part of the Dunedin Symphony Orchestra's Guitar Extravaganza. They join us live from our Christchurch studio

1:15 Oxygen for sick patients may increase risk of death

Watch any medical drama, or visit any emergency department, and there's one thing that seems to be a universal source of respite - oxygen.

But what if that steady stream of oxygen is actually doing more harm than good? A ground-breaking study by New Zealand researchers has found that too much oxygen increases the risk of death in patients.

And the study's discovered the more oxygen given, the higher the risk of death.

Co-author of the study, Dr Paul Young from the Medical Research Institute of New Zealand, tells us more.

1:25 The technology behind farming

Those of you in rural parts of the country probably already know that this year's Fieldays kicks off next week.

It's a chance for farmers and those in the agri business to get together and check out the new tech in the industry. 

Nowadays tech is a crucial part of farming, with drones and robots integral to the operation.

To explain how some of these things work on the farm and why they're needed, is Xero's Head of Agri, Paul Churchman.  

1:35 What happy goats can tell us about animal welfare

Ever wondered how happy your goat is? 

Unless you're a particularly observant farmer, perhaps not, but the moods and personalities of goats are being studied to figure out what impacts their well-being. 

Other farm animals are on the horizon, but Agresearch's animal welfare team started with goats. We ask why. 

1:40 Great album: All That You Can't Leave Behind by U2

2:20 Bookmarks with Annaleese Jochems

Last month at the Ockham Book Awards Annaleese Jochems' debut novel Baby won the Hubert Church Best First Book Award for Fiction.

It was described by the judges as 'a strange and strangely moving love story built on obsession, narcissism and damage...The kind of novel that lingers in the memory long after you put it down.'

Annaleese is 23 years old and hails from Northland. She tells us about the books, movies, music and other things that inspire her.

3:10 The good and the bad of processed food

Most of us love to hate processed food. It is a modern culinary conundrum; we want food to be wholesome and fresh, but we also want bread that doesn't go stale after two days.  

Science writer Nicola Temple wants us to take a more realistic view of food processing, the good and bad, in order to make better decisions about what we feed our families.  

Her new book is called Best Before:The Evolution and Future of Processed Food.  

3:35 Science and environment stories

Stories from Our Changing World.

3:45 The Pre-Panel Story of the Day and One Quick Question

4:05 The Panel with Ali Jones and Tim Watkin