RNZ: Best Of The Week

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 6 June. This week......TV3 apologising again after using TV footage and breaking the rules; the Zodiac serial killer identified - maybe; making cities more bicycle friendly; getting fat people to come out and exercise proudly; the role of St Peter's Anglican Church in Wellington history; something broke - take it to the Repair Cafe; getting to the heart of the bacteria and interactions in sourdough bread; building art with white lego and taking advice from Ask Amy.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 30 May. This week......unveiling Player X in the cricket match-fixing headlines; expunging the Tiananmen Square massacre from Chinese history; discovering Kiwi are not Australian but from Madagscar?; the baby woolly mammoth teaching scientists about the Ice Age; inside the operating theatre for hip revision surgery; what are the social implications of the use of first names in transactions these days; the hard working volunteers at the Wainuiomata Community Centre; digitising our bird calls and can you trigger traffic lights to make your trips quicker?

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 23 May. This week...... the wandering mind and what the brain does when we are not looking from Nine to Noon, from Mediawatch award winning jounalist Andrea Vance on whether she is still "mad as hell" after being spied on, a review of gender segregated powhiri at Parliament from this week's Insight documentary, Hello Sailor's Graham Brazier talking about his late friend Dave McArtney's book 'Gutter Black: A Memoir' from Afternoons, an archival interview from 2009 with Maori Battalion scholar and author Dr Monty Soutar from Te Ahi Kaa, from Saturday Mornings English author and theoretician in the field of gerontology Aubrey de Grey on the future of aging, from Standing Room Only Lynne Freeman speaks to one of the creative forces behind two of America's top rating sitcoms - The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men - Lee Aronsohn, a look at where the Kiwifruit industry is at after four years of PSA disease from Country Life, one-handed saxophonist Neill Duncan's story from Sunday Mornings, from Nights was a workers strike in 1889 the start of the modern labour movement? and from Our Changing World a rapidly melting section of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet enters a state of irreversible decline.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 16 May. This week......with two government ministers in trouble recently has the media played fair; the numbers of young people needing treatment for inappropriate sexual behaviour is rising; does a wine with an award affect your purchasing decisions as to quality; revolutionising the live music scene by holding gigs in your front room; understanding the mind of death row inmates; Trainspotting novelist Irvine Welsh; the use of plain words; Janice Galloway, the first University of Otago Scottish Writers Fellow here researching sheep; the myths behind baby teeth and pain and musician Che Fu on the influence of Stevie Wonder.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 9 May. This week......can the media take responsibility for the about turn by MPs over legal highs and should we be legalising cannabis; online retailing challenging the tax system; counting cockles to reveal the health of our ecosystems; the Vagenda blog questioning our modern contradictory views of feminism; the importance of Danish astronomer Tyco Brahe; the secret life of backing singers; where have all the butterflies gone as wasp numbers increase; kapa haka inspiring leadership and Ferran Adria the world's greatest chef on the legacy of his famous restaurant El Bulli.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 9 May. This week......can the media take responsibility for the about turn by MPs over legal highs and should we be legalising cannabis; online retailing challenging the tax system; counting cockles to reveal the health of our ecosystems; the Vagenda blog questioning our modern contradictory views of feminism; the importance of Danish astronomer Tyco Brahe; the secret life of backing singers; where have all the butterflies gone as wasp numbers increase; kapa haka inspiring leadership and Ferran Adria the world's greatest chef on the legacy of his famous restaurant El Bulli.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 2nd of March. This week...... What was Maurice Williamsom thinking when he picked up the phone and rang the police in the case of National Party donor, Donghua Liu, charged with domestic violence offences? From our Anzac Day Morning show American poet and former soldier Brian Turner, embracing the unexplained - dreams that come true - the feelings of de ja vu discussed with the head of religious studies at Rice University in Texas and more.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 25th April. This week......Where does the shock resignation of Shane Jones leave Labour just months out from the election, to mark Anzac Day 100 year old Hec Clare of Roxburgh talks about his war experience, and whats involved in feeding an army, the feasibility of mining the moon, efforts to boost the numbers of the rare rowi kiwi, we go to the Wunderbar music venue in Lyttleton, and English actor Ralph Fiennes one his new role - directing

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 18 April. This week......upping our cultural knowledge of China to improve trade; politicians and the media heading into elections; challenging our knowledge of the Gallipoli campaign; Don Brash on his memoir; Australian cartoonist Michael Leunig; moving 3D printing into the mainstream; chemicals that mimic estrogen in the body; a former Disney animator now living in NZ; the sports playing ballet brothers now performing for the Royal NZ Ballet Company; saving bees from pesticides and G.Wiz - making science and chemistry fun for students.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 28 March. This week......media coverage of the missing Malaysian airliner; our suicide rate is falling but it's still higher than the road toll; the ACT party leader explains his and his party's philosophy; understanding cow urine deposits to better the environment; a background on the troubles in Ukraine; how Spotify uses your broadband data; we visit the farm of Federated Farmers president Bruce Wills; research into electrical brain stimulation as a treatment for depression; Irish music Damien Dempsey on popularity and his working class accent and a Spike Milligan interview from 1980.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 21 March. This week......e-health - getting access online to your own health records; is competition good for us; more support needed for those with incurable eye disorders; creating smartphone apps for the visually impaired; taming wild horses; furthering education for teenage mums; the hard work of running a South Westland eco-tourism business; the artistic director and a performer speak about Womad; identifying voices from Gallipoli; ketamine as a treatment for depression and finding dark matter underground.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 14 March. This week......the winter paralympics free broadcast on the internet; being prepared for trips to Antarctica; the Irish Antartic hero Tom Crean is brought to life on stage; the near death experience - can you control when you die and seeing visions; bringing nature back into concrete streams in Wellington; the rich history of Tatua - NZ's smallest and oldest dairy co-operative; what scientists are discovering by testing our waste; America's role in troubled Ukraine; empowering women in the workplace, marketplace and community; and frontman of the Hothouse Flowers bringing world music and dance together.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 14 March. This week, the winter paralympics free broadcast on the internet; being prepared for trips to Antarctica; the Irish Antartic hero Tom Crean is brought to life on stage; the near death experience - can you control when you die and seeing visions; bringing nature back into concrete streams in Wellington; the rich history of Tatua - NZ's smallest and oldest dairy co-operative; what scientists are discovering by testing our waste; America's role in troubled Ukraine; empowering women in the workplace, marketplace and community; and frontman of the Hothouse Flowers bringing world music and dance together.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 7th of March. This week......the escalating crisis in Ukraine and the standoff over the Crimea peninsula, archaeologists uncover the history of Christchurch as quake damaged buildings are demolished, an in-depth look at the legacy of Prime Minister Norman Kirk who died forty years ago, the hoaxes and pranks carried out by broadcasters for entertainment, how marine reserves protect our coastlines, a mobile app which can help you learn te reo, and behind the scenes with ushers - the unsung heroes of live events.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 28th February. This week.... a new book reveals more about NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden and how the Guardian newspaper broke the story, is there a a left-leaning bias among the nations journalists , an international expert on stroke prevention and care, the country's flu pandemic of 1918 that killed over 8 thousand people, studies using cameras to find out where domestic cats wander and what they're hunting, whats involved in setting up the annual Chinese Lantern Festival in auckland, and the art of making the sweet French treat canele.