Nine To Noon for Wednesday 6 September 2023

 

09:05 Medicinal cannabis rules relaxed: What will it mean for patients?

The medicinal cannabis sector is welcoming the relaxation of rules surrounding the manufacture and exporting of their products. MedSafe, which regulates medicines and medical devices, says the new rules mean a wider range of plants can be grown locally, and more cannabis products exported. The changes will come into effect later this year. Kathryn speaks to Paul Naske, Chief Executive of Rua Bioscience, an east coast medicinal cannabis company and Graham Gulbransen, an Auckland GP who has been prescribing legal medicinal cannabis since March 2017. 

 

09:30 Using AI to detect companies at risk of financial collapse

A company owned by a New Zealand fin-tech entrepreneur is using AI to detect signs of accounting manipulation, and identify when a business is at risk of financial collapse. Transparently.ai works as a forensic accountant, using different A.I models to comb through company accounts and look for signs of manipulation. It recently ran a worldwide study of publicly listed companies and ranked countries by rates of accounting manipulation. It found New Zealand had the eighth least manipulation, ahead of the US, Australia and the United Kingdom. However Transparently.ai identified 16 New Zealand companies at risk of financial collapse. Hamish Macalister is the chief executive of Transparently.ai, which is based in Singapore. 

09:45 Australia: More turbulence for Qantas, second referendum proposed for Voice

Australia correspondent Chris Niesche joins Kathryn with an update on Qantas, which has been facing criticism of its sky-high profits and half billion kept in flight credits. Now its CEO Alan Joyce has called it quits two months early, even as the airline faces being prosecuted by the competition regulator for selling tickets on 8000 flights it had already cancelled, accused of bullying smaller airlines and asked to explain why Joyce will leave having pocketed a $10m bonus. And Opposition leader Peter Dutton has promised another referendum for a constitutional amendment if the Voice vote fails. 

10:05 Shane Barr: cobbler and TikTok star

Have you got a pair of boots at the back of your wardrobe that you never wear because they hurt your feet? Or perhaps some scuzzy old Birkenstock sandals that have seen better days? Shane Barr is an expert in repairing and breathing new life into leather goods - whether it's shoes, boots or bags. He's a cobbler based in Tauranga, and has become something of a TikTok star - with almost 400 videos explaining the magic of the shoe repairing business. His most liked videos on TikTok relate to fixing well known shoes like Doc Martens and Birkenstocks, but one video about bunion pliers, of all things, has 5.9 million views. 

10:35 Book review: The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks

Catriona Ferguson reviews The Seventh Son by Sebastian Faulks published by Penguin Random House 

10:45 Around the motu: Susan Botting in Northland

Susan Botting is in Northland, where Ripirō Beach locals are worried about hordes of off-roaders, four-wheel drives and motorbikes pouring onto their west coast beach over Labour weekend. And a project is underway to turn huge Cyclone Gabrielle-downed trees into firewood for needy families. In Dargaville, residents are hitting out at the local council's $8m plans to improve bike and walking in the town.

11:05 Music with Charlotte Ryan

This week Music 101 host Charlotte Ryan celebrates the music of Nile Rodgers who has just announced NZ show, and talks us through the Laneway Line up and the changes to the boutique festival.

11:25 Why we feel guilt and how to deal with it

Psychologist Karen Nimmo discusses guilt, a feeling many people experience for a variety of reasons. So what exactly is it, how does it manifest, and why do we feel it? And perhaps more importantly, what are some of the strategies we can use to deal with it? 

11:45 Science: El Niño stops carbon sink, water drag, new 'odour map'

Science correspondent Laurie Winkless joins Kathryn with three new fascinating studies. The first is into the effect extreme El Niño weather had on forest carbon sinks across South America - essentially, they were switched off. Hydrodynamic drag - that feeling of the water slowing you down when you're swimming - has been looked at by researchers at Brown University - with a finding that the drag on partially submerged objects is much higher than thought. And unlike with sight and sound, there's no way to accurately measure odour. But a new AI model has been trained to predict the smells of molecular structures - what are the implications?

Laurie Winkless is a physicist and science writer.