Saturday Morning for Saturday 29 July 2023

 

8.10 Prof Peter Ditlevsen: crucial ocean current system heading for collapse 

The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current (AMOC) is part of a conveyor belt of currents that circulate water around the world, regulating weather and sea level.  

Professor Peter Ditlevsen from Copenhagen's Niels Bohr Institute is co-author of a study, published this week in Nature Communications which predicts AMOC may dramatically slow down and then turn off, as soon as 2025 and likely by the end of the century.

The collapse of this system will have enormous implications, including more extreme winters and sea level rises affecting parts of Europe and the US, and a shifting of the monsoon in the tropics.

8.30 Dr Sarah Heath: how pain affects our pets' behaviour

How do we know when our cats and dogs are in pain? And how does pain affect their behaviour?  

These are among the topics being explored by Dr Sarah Heath, keynote speaker at next weekend's Kiwi Vet Behaviour Conference.

Dr Heath is a UK-based veterinary specialist recognised for helping establish Behavioural Medicine as a discipline.

Dr Heath will address the relationship between animal cognition, emotions and behaviour, also how vets can improve the design of their practices to make a visit more pleasant for an animal patient, especially cats.

9.05 Alice Sherwood: the fashion for authenticity in a world of fakes

Knock-offs are big business, worth $600 billion a year on the world market: anything from whiskey and bags to footwear and hair care products.

In her book Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture Alice Sherwood argues authenticity, the genuine article, is fashionable because it is rare: the market is flooded with counterfeits.

Alice Sherwood is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the Policy Institute at King's College London.

9.40 Marie Darrieussecq: reflections on insomnia

Shortly after the birth of her first child in 2001 French writer Marie Darrieussecq developed insomnia, and she's not been able to get a good night's sleep since.

She's spent some of her many waking hours writing a memoir dedicated to insomnia. Sleepless combines meditations from a list of revered writers (such as Virginia Woolf and Marcel Proust) with Marie's research and personal experiences. 

Darrieussecq is one of the leading voices in contemporary French literature. Her first novel, Pig Tales, was translated into thirty-five languages and she was awarded the Prix Médicis and the Prix des Prix in 2013.  

10.05 Deborah Hunt: the romance of Red Mole

Founded by the late Alan Brunton and Sally Rodwell in the early 1970s, avant-garde New Zealand performance collective Red Mole doggedly pursued a vision to embrace the energetic, romantic and erratic. 

Their shows which mixed theatre, music, dance, satire, fire-eating, and sometimes huge puppets, were performed wherever they could find an audience, from schools to strip clubs to opera houses.

Deborah Hunt is a mask maker, puppeteer and theatre artist who performs and teaches around the world. She was a core member of Red Mole for about 10 years. 

She features in Annie Goldson's new documentary film Red Mole: A Romance which explores the origins, performances, personalities and fate of Red Mole. it will screen at Whānau Mārama: New Zealand International Film Festival in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. 

If you or someone you know is affected by this story, some helplines are:

Lifeline: 0800 543 354 - available 24/7
Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) - available 24/7
Samaritans: 0800 726 666 - available 24/7
Depression Helpline: 0800 111 757 - available 24/7

10.45 Dr Alyssa Lie: could eye drops replace reading glasses? 

Eye drops are in the frame to replace reading glasses for the declining ability to see up-close, or presbyopia. The FDA has approved prescription-only Vuity™ drops for sale in the US to aid presbyopia.

University of Auckland physiology research fellow and optometrist Dr Alyssa is assessing Vuity™ drops in line with her on-going research into the role of moisture in eye health, and the prevention of cataracts as we age. Dr Lie is currently looking for more male participants to take part in her study.

11.05 Playing favourites with Joel Tobeck

Joel Tobeck is one of our most versatile and hard working actors, with a 35 year career in stage and screen.

His credits include Sons of Anarchy, One Lane Bridge, The Luminaries, Shortland Street, The Lord of the Rings, Eagle vs Shark, Topless Women Talk About Their Lives and Black Hands.  

He's also an accomplished guitarist and singer, and huge Prince fan.

Tobeck will be starring in Nightsong theatre company's new play I Want To Be Happy. He plays lab worker Paul, alongside Jennifer Ludlam who is a Guinea Pig. It's on at Auckland's Herald Theatre from August 18, and at Circa Theatre in Wellington from September 6.

 

Books featured on this show:

Authenticity: Reclaiming Reality in a Counterfeit Culture
By Alice Sherwood
Published by HarperCollins 
ISBN: 9780008412654

Sleepless: A Memoir of Insomnia
by Marie Darrieussecq
published by Text
ISBN: 9781922790088
 

Music played in this show

Artist: Sinéad O'Connor
Song:The Last Day of our Acquaintance
Time played: 8:40

Artist: Pomme
Song: Ceux qui revent
Time played: 9:35

Playing Favourites with Joel Tobeck:

Artist: Donny Hathaway, live at the Troubador
Song: A Song for You
Time played: 11:15

Artist: Prince
Song: Starfish and Coffee
Time played: 11:35

Artist: Don Covay (with Jimi Hendrix)
Song: Mercy, Mercy
Time played: 11:45

Artist: Rufus and Chaka Khan
Song: You Got the Love
Time played: 11:55