RNZ: Best Of The Week

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 28 June. This week ......the mixed messages by the media about the polar blast which hit the country last week; getting the message through about vulnerable kids using music and social media; what archaeologists are discovering about early European settlement in Aotearoa; using hydrogen to barbeque cook sausages; the precarious state of the bond market; six decades of working in neuropsychology - pioneering neuro scientist Dr Brenda Milner; the difference between moths and butterflies; in just a few generations, the bird calls changing in NZ and changing size and shape of swallows in Nebraska; and we ask children "what is art?"

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 21st June. This week ......Long-serving Labour MP Lianne Dalziel on why she's challenging Mayor Bob Parker for the Christchurch mayoralty, an interview with Radio New Zealand's new chief executive Paul Thompson, Wellington Zoo's chief executive who is credited with making a success of the previously underfunded zoo, the return of the native parrot- the Kaka to urban areas, the vital work of honeybees, and ditching urban apartment life for the wide open spaces of rural living.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 14th June. This week ......the former director of the government's spy agency - the GCSB, says it did not use data shared by other countries to circumvent New Zealand laws around what its allowed to access, the row about racism and responsibility in the media prompted by the publication of two newspaper cartoons recently, the debate on euthanasia, cricketing great Martin Crowe on his career and battle with cancer in his brutally honest memoir "Raw", the life of one of New Zealand's most colourful criminals, and whats involved in pet cremation.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 7 June. This week ......RNZ's webmaster tells all about our new website; the fine line between reporting facts and opinions; more cooking food equals better health outcomes; a new NZ bird website is launched; how living on the ice gets better photos; the science man behind the Everest expedition 60 years ago; using body signatures to recognise one human from another and Julie Andrews comes to Aotearoa for the first time

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 31 May. This week ......the EQC blogger reveals himself; the untold New Zealand-perspective stories of our work in Afghanistan; why Obama has not closed Gitmo; how our genes and DNA impact on disease and treatment; a Kiwi preserving the Star Spangled Banner; comedian Ruby Wax and her struggle with depression; gnomes are back at the Chelsea flower show and they're Kiwi; what would you prioritise if your day shrank to just 8 hours; researching and recording remarkable and personal wartime family history.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 24 May. This week ......the father of a disabled teen on his battle to expose his son's abuse in a Nelson care facility; to print a verdict or not; 70 years since the Dam Busters dared to drop spinning bouncing bombs; age no barrier at the Kaumatua Olympics; we go inside the Police's Electronic Crime Laboratory; the secret of perfect toast; diggers making cups of tea; God, religion and business; how buttons are being used in a memorial to the child victims of the Holocaust and Kiwis doing good things overseas...

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 17 May. This week ......a family's crusade to change bail laws, give victims a greater voice and make judges more accountable for their decisions following their daughters tragic murder, while there's much debate about state-funded school lunch and breakfast a pro-active community project is teaching children about gardening, nutrition, and providing them with meals, how to deal with the problem of the rising number of people with diabetes, 3D printers could dramatically change our lives, efforts to combat Kauri dieback disease which is killing thousands of kauri trees, and the return of a precious Maori cloak presented to a Chinese leader in 1957.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 3 May. This week ......who killed Meredith Kercher? Amanda Knox says it wasn't her; Are New Zealanders racist? Do our 35 year old abortion laws need revision; the hard life of the crucial honey bee; Puberty Blues author Kathy Lette speaks to our "spunk-rat" Bryan Crump; in search of Veronicas; grabbing riverstones legally and getting the lowdown of the pesto-base pinenut.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 26 April. This week ......we remember this country's coming of age on ANZAC Day; the pitfalls of the interaction between humans and computers; climate change sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton disputes human-induced temperature rises; Wayne Brittenden's Counterpoint looks at North Korea; working with both sides of your cultures - Maori and Indian; the impact of liquifaction and sewage on Christchurch's rivers post quakes; and celebrating the work with Girl Guides and ethnic communities of Dr Mary Dawson.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 19 April. This week ......reaction from the Boston marathon bombings; leaks lead to thousands exposed for secretly stashing cash in tax havens worldwide; the international black market trade in human organs; a survivor from Schindler's List tells her story; saving historic landmarks in Christchurch; using traditional Maori plants for cooking and medicine; from a landmark short film to directing Sex and the City - director Alison McLean shares working for the big and small screens; a tour of the National Radiation Laboratory and we meet the Duckman - friend of fallen waterfowl

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 12 April. This week ......is New Zealand ready for the digital switchover to watch TV; changing the thinking of imprisonment and rehabilitation; how will giant Kauri trees cope with increasing droughts; Joan Dye Gussow - one of the earliest converts to the eat-locally-think-globally food movement; tracing the story of the impressionist artists' retreat Pumpkin Cottage; saving the native long-finned eel; Rick Bryant plays favourites; our most popular recreational fish - the kingfish and remembering George Lowe - one of two Kiwis on the 1953 Everest expedition.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 5th April. This week ......controversial proposed changes to the Resource Management Act, we go to Antarctica to explore New Zealand's status on the ice, more on potentially dangerous interactions between grapefruit and some of our most commonly prescribed drugs, a man who's been described as a modern day Indiana Jones, scientists have developed a new test to track the causes of some food poisoning outbreaks within hours, the man behind the voice of the Daleks and Cybermen on the TV series Dr Who, and Scottish comedian Danny Bhoy.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 29 March. This week - the saga of the 2008 break in at the Waihopai surveillance base near Blenheim; The Barrister daughter of the late Sir Paul Callaghan talks to Kim Hill about a new short-form digital imprint of her fathers collective writing and speeches; The approval of four new salmon farms in the Marlborough Sounds has re-ignited passionate debate amongst residents and business owners in the region; The success of the Waikato-based Kapahaka Group Teh Iti Kahurangi at the National Competitions; Why could taking medicine and grapefruit together be seriously bad for your health? Our This Way Up team talks to a Canadian Clinical Pharmacologist about this; In the UK and Australia the parliaments of both countries have been debating their recommendations for beefing-up their media watchdogs - in order to rein in the worst excesses of the press; On Our Changing World We find out more about Naturewatch NZ; And American claw-hammer banjo player Abigail Washburn surprised audiences in more ways than one at WOMAD 2013.

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 22 March. This week ......there's no such thing as a free lunch but fill a journalist's stomach and get free publicity; farming and conservation running side by side on Banks Peninsular; the up-side of renovating social housing; the link between Maori and the Golden Shears competition; the exploitation of immigrants and vulnerable workers; from the electric fence to protecting the Queen - the story of Gallagher; Sir Don McKinnon on heading the Commonwealth; how asking questions changed Iceland; the NZ whale exhibition that keeps on touring; and William Shatner's work with the Vatican on the meaning of life

Highlights from Radio New Zealand National's programmes for the week ending Friday 15th March This week ......a plan to take on the main banks in a billion dollar lawsuit to claim back excessive default fees, a cancer survivor and pioneer in 'mind-body' medicine, which lake is officially the country's deepest, we visit a to a private bird sanctuary which provides respite care for unwanted birds, the work of an artist who's created portraits of many New Zealanders over the past 40 years, and John Anderson - frontman for legendary prog-rockers Yes, who is touring here next month.