RNZ: Saturday Morning

Rob Thorne is an internationally renowned Māori taonga pūoro musician and anthropologist, at the forefront of the revival of traditional Māori instruments. 

Vasanti Unka is an award-winning writer, designer and illustrator, her newest children's book PukaPuka is a celebration of reading and the role library's play in our communities. Vasanti was also awarded the Arts Foundation Mallinson Rendel Laureate Award for Illustration in 2021. She speaks to Mihi Forbes about her journey into the world of children's books, South Asian voices becoming part of New Zealand's landscape, and the importance of libraries for the young.

Chef Del Holland is back to show us how to whip up something impressive, without breaking the bank this Christmas. 

Locals claim K'Rd's Malaysian Restaurant, Sri Penang is the best Malaysian food spot in Auckland but owner Ange Siew and her chef husband Kun are calling it a day.

The founder of storytelling platform Nuku has published a book to normalise discussion around a young woman's first menstrual cycle. 

At 50, Katherine Leamy packed her bag and headed off on a big international trip with nothing more than a backpack weighing 5 kgs. 

They're especially useful for communicating with people who've lost the ability to speak or move their body. At the extreme, one brain-computer interface prototype can decipher imagined sentences, and comes with password protection to avoid revealing private thoughts. To understand more, Mihi is joined by University of Auckland Professor of Psychology Anthony Lambert.

We all love to receive gifts - especially at this time of the year - but there is joy to be had in giving too. And the latest results from a study of over 200 children suggests that that joy can be experienced from a very young age. Professor Annette Henderson, director of the Early Learning Lab at Auckland University joins Mihingarangi to explain what this can mean for children and their parents.

Aviation pioneer Charles Kingsford Smith's plane disappeared on a flight from England to Australia. What happened has remained a mystery – until now. 

Wellington is playing host to the stars of Tinseltown, with the third Avatar movie Fire and Ash having its Australasian premiere there tonight. 

The southern hemisphere has had no shortage of aviation pioneers. In New Zealand we celebrate the exploits of Richard Pearse and Jean Batten while Australia has Sir Charles Kingsford Smith - the first person to pilot a flight between our two countries. This year marks the 90th anniversary of Kingsford Smith's disappearance on a flight from England to Australia. While some wreckage later washed up near Burma, now known as Myanmar, what happened to Kingsford-Smith and his co-pilot has remained a mystery - until now. Award-winning Australian film maker Damien Lay spent over twenty years scouting for wreckage and presents his account of why and how their plane, The Lady Southern Cross went down, in his book Of Air and Men. He talks to Susie Ferguson about his mission to uncover the truth.

At 97, Maureen Maclean is one of several seniors to sign up for a 31-day New Year yoga challenge at their local studio in Hamilton. 

Investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr's recent TED talk This is What A Digital Coup Looks Like is the most viewed of the year. 

Twelve-year-old golfer, Javier Rogers-Pou is a Kaikohe kid with his eye set on the prestigious Masters Tournament. 

In the United States, San Francisco's City Attorney is suing 10 major food manufacturers over what's known as Ultra-processed Foods, or UFPs. 

This week the government announced significant changes to the Resource Management Act. 

Experts are warning there could be further drownings at notorious black spots this summer. 

This week Syrians took to the streets to mark the one-year anniversary since the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. 

The NZ Bravery Awards were announced this morning. Among the recipients, Detective Sergeant Heath Jones, for his actions during Cyclone Gabrielle. 

Christmas is fast approaching, and if you're looking for a gift for the gardeners in your life, Hannah Zwartz might just have the answers. 

Many of our beloved feline pets love a good, long, lazy snooze. But there are quite a few across the country who have jobs, which they take pretty seriously. 

The History of Sound is the award-winning book by Ben Shattuck, set to hit the big screen this month with its highly anticipated film adaptation. 

For many, conversations about menopause and its effects are difficult, perhaps none more so than with your boss. But now a new guide for employers aims to make employees feel more supported. 

The ring of fire is more than just a Johnny Cash song, and it affects us here in the Pacific. But what is the Pacific Ring of Fire and what drives it? 

Turning her caustic gaze to the moral delima of reporting on someone else's misery, is journalist and writer Phoebe Greenwood. 

The award for Best Film at the New Zealand Screen Awards went to a small Maori film company, whose historical account of the battle of Orakau took the prize in a pool of audience favourites. The movie, Ka Whawhai Tonu, set inside a fighting pa, tells the story of the last stand in the Waikato war told in te reo Maori, using multiple dialects to represent the different iwi and hapu who came to fight the Crown. Ka Whawhai Tonu producer Piripi Curtis speaks with Mihi Forbes.

Acclaimed British author and ancient Rome nerd Elodie Harper has turned her attention to Boudicca and her daughters in her latest novel. 

In 1986 the world watched in horror as radiation spewed from reactor number four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine - then part of the Soviet Union. Releasing more radioactivity into the atmosphere than the atomic bombs that were dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Ngagasaki in World War Two, it prompted a mass evacuation and the enforcement of a 30 kilometre exclusion zone to prevent further contamination and loss of life. It remains the worst nuclear accident in history. Remarkably however, nature found a way to survive - and award-winning UK science writer, Alex Riley will tell you that there are many other examples of life in the extreme - if you know where to look. Alex is the author of Super Natural - How Life Thrives in Impossible Places. He speaks to Susie about nature's incredible resilience - and what life could look like on other planets.

Taken as a group, blood cancers are the fifth most common type of cancer in New Zealand - affecting around one in twenty people during their lifetime. But some patients are forced to seek help overseas because a treatment that could save them isn't available here. The Wellington based Malaghan Institute of Medical Research is working to change that. Winner of this year's Breakthrough Project category in the KiwiNet Awards, Malaghan is currently conducting phase two of its CAR-T cell therapy clinical trials. The therapy essentially uses the body's own immune system to target and kill cancer cells. Professor Robert Weinkove is the Clinical Director and he speaks to Mihi about the next major step in their push to make it a standard part of cancer care in New Zealand.

There's a lot of football news this weekend and fresh off the back of Liam Lawson's re-signing in Formula 1, the Grand Prix championship is up for grabs. Our resident sports aficionado Jamie Wall joins Susie to share his insights and predictions.

Banking done better is the promise behind Open Banking which started in New Zealand this week. It's a buzzword that you might have heard floating around for a few years. But now it is actually here, what does it mean and should you even care? RNZ's money correspondent Susan Edmunds joins Mihingarangi to explain the pros - and any cons.

Ukrainian and European officials have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "wasting time" after ceasefire talks ended in a stalemate. Meanwhile in San Franscisco, the City Attorney David Chiu is suing 10 corporations over ultra-processed foods. US Feature Story Correspondent Nick Harper explains.

Ousted Te Pati Maori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has been awarded a temporary court order to reinstate her into Te Pati Maori. Her case was heard by Justice Paul Radich in the High Court at Wellington on Thursday morning. She spoke with Mihi Forbes about her future plans.

This week, the Government said it will limit rates rises to 4% a year throughout the country by 2029. It's been tried overseas with limited success, to the extent a New South Wales mayor has warned our local authority leaders about the risks of rates caps. Hamilton mayor Tim McIndoe has signalled tough times ahead.

The UN's Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in Geneva has expressed concern over continuing reports of racially motivated attacks on Maori, Pasifika and other ethnic and religious communities in New Zealand. Maori health leader Lady Tureiti Moxon spoke to Mihi Forbes. 

Kate Williams did a 180 on her career and she couldn't be happier. She runs her Canterbury flower farm alongside her husband, as a place for the community to come together. Her new book Floral Abundance touches on it all.

A grave in a Christchurch cemetery serves as a reminder to a love lost in one of the world's most famous maritime disasters - the sinking of the Titanic.

Award-winning children's book writer and illustrator, Gavin Bishop has over 70 books to show for the last five decades of his life. His latest work is all about the mythical monsters of Aotearoa, Taniwha.

Kiwi actor and musician Jordi Webber has just joined the cast of the New Zealand-filmed series Spartacus: House of Ashur. 

Our food regular Del Holland is back this week to get us cracking on Christmas prep. 

An electrician by day, best-selling writer Hira Nathan's latest book is a bilingual journal about using matauranga Māori every day to set up healthier habits.

A Welsh man has won the waiata category in the Compose Aotearoa! national choral composition competition - for works with substantial Te Reo Maori content.