Drawing on unpublished archival material and new reportage, author and journalist Walter Marsh's book, Young Rupert pieces together the paper trail giving us a glimpse of the Australian media landscape at an extraordinary tipping point.

Walter Marsh: The beginning of the Murdoch Empire

Is it ethical to watch movies during a strike? Should moviegoers strike too? Will the strike actually kill Hollywood? Sarah McMullan is familiar to the RNZ audience. She watches a lot of films and writes about some of them.

Sarah McMullan: Should we stop going to movies to support the Hollywood strikers?

Mandy Hagstrom

How much do we have to exercise, really, to be healthy? And does a lot of the research done in gyms pertain to men, not women? We're joined by our go-to exercise expert, New Zealander Dr Mandy Hagstrom, senior lecturer at UNSW, School of Human Nutrition.

Mandy Hagstrom: Gender in the gym

Katie Steckles

At some time or another most of us will enter a maze and try and get out of it again. There's an easy way to do that, believe it or not. Dr Katie Steckles is a Manchester-based mathematician who lectures at a university in Sheffield, speaks at science festivals, and talks on the BBC about matters mathematical as well.

Katie Steckles: Amazing maths in a maze

Originally from Pukekohe, Jack Boulton now lives in Orkney, completing a PhD on Transitional Engineering studying ways to move petrochemical companies away from carbon use.

Calling Home: Jack Boulton in the Orkney Islands, Scotland

Minister's downfall triggers election speculation - and another resignation at RNZ.

Mediawatch for 30 July 2023

Lucy Scott

Experts are claiming dogs separated at eight to 12 weeks won't forget about their siblings for up to two years, and these same dogs often recognise their mothers beyond the two-year mark. Dr. Lucy Scott from Veterinary Behaviour Services NZ is a vet with a special interest in behaviour and training.

Lucy Scott: Puppies and sibling recognition

Katherine Wu

We all know people who wolf their food down, and probably we disapprove. But what if it's not actually all that bad? Dr Katherine Wu, a Harvard-trained microbiologist, and now a staff writer for the Atlantic Monthly joins us.

Katherine Wu: Are you really eating too fast?

Ali Hill

An Oxford University study has concluded that if all the meat eaters in the UK cut down their ingestion of meat it would be the equivalent of taking 8 million cars off the road. Dr Ali Hill joins us from Otago University's Department of Human Nutrition.

Ali Hill: The Nutrition Edition

Jean Twenge

Dr. Jean Twenge is a Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University, and the author of more than 140 scientific publications. She was last on RNZ six years ago discussing the less happy and more isolated smartphone generation of young people.

Jean Twenge: Generations

News, discussion, features and ideas until midday.

Do you ever hear a snippet of a tune and before you know it, it's on rotate in your head, and you can't seem to shake it for hours... or days, or even weeks? You're not alone. This pesky phenomenon - a catchy tune that runs through a person's mind - is known as an 'earworm'. A study of 240 American university students in 2020 showed 97% had experienced an 'earworm' in the past month. Professor Emery Schubert is from the School of the Arts and Media at the University of New South Wales.

Emery Schubert: Why earworm songs get stuck in our heads

Johnny Green

At the Easter of 1939, on the cusp of WW2 and when Aucklander Johnny Green was just nine years old, his mother gifted him an egg cup. It featured three ceramic chicks, contained a single chocolate egg, and it meant the absolute world to him. Johnny kept it with him always, even when he joined the British Army, and made the six-week voyage to New Zealand. He now has a collection of more than 11,000 cups which he proudly displays at Sunday markets around Tamaki Makaurau to raise money for Hospice.

Johnny Green’s 11,000-strong egg cup collection

Stephanie Dowrick

Dr Stephanie Dowrick is an award-winning writer, psychotherapy researcher and coach, public speaker, workshop leader, interfaith minister and the founder of The Women's Press in London. Her latest book Your Name is Not Anxious includes step-by-step guides that explain anxiety is treatable, despite more and more of us being or becoming anxious. Dr Dowrick gives us a preview of what we might learn in the 60-chapter read.

Stephanie Dowrick: How to beat anxiety

Aaron Hodges

Whakatane-born Aaron Hodges' job as a fantasy writer allows him to live anywhere he wants. So in 2019, he moved to Buenos Aires to learn Spanish, and has been there ever since. Aaron calls home to tell us about life in the vibrant Argentinian capital.

Calling Home: Aaron Hodges in Buenos Aires

A triumph on a tragic day; political parties roll out crime control policies; creative interpretations of a pretty prosaic political poll.

Mediawatch for 23 July 2023

Dan Carter

When All Blacks great Dan Carter retired from the game in 2021, he found no obvious career move at his doorstep. His new book, The Art of Winning: Ten Lessons in Leadership, Purpose and Potential, focuses on a series of hard-learned truths over his career and in the years to follow. Dan Carter tells us more about his new book, which he says, is not about rugby.

Dan Carter’s new book on leadership and purpose

We've spoken before on Sunday morning about cats, dogs and cows, and how they reveal their affection for us. Research is making great strides in analysing animals we're familiar with and ascertaining their emotional states. That, of course, will allow us to improve their lives. Even if we then eat some of them. Dr Fay Clark runs the Comparative Challenge Lab at the University of Bristol. Her research is concerned with the mental processes and mental health of animals. Her training is in zoology, biological anthropology, and psychology, and in her lab, in zoos and in the wild she constructs challenges for animals to see how they respond.

Fay Clark: Do animals feel joy?

Simon Schama

Simon Schama is a pre-eminent historian and the author of The Power of Art, Landscape and Memory and Citizens, the story of the French Revolution. He's a Professor of History and Art History at Columbia University and is a well-recognised face on television from his many series like Civilisation and The History of Now. Well now he's written Foreign Bodies - Pandemics, Vaccines &amp; The Health of Nations. Foreign Bodies is on the face it the stories of the bacteriologists and epidemiologists and other scientists who developed vaccines and saved the lives of millions, often in the face of considerable opposition and prejudice. But it merges that history with the now of Covid and the fear of what is coming next.

Simon Schama: A history of vaccination

The big movies of the year, Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible are out now (or soon) and the BBC has teamed up with the Open University in the UK to advocate seeing these films in the cinema. The essential argument is that we are social creatures and it's far better for us to be with other people even if they are loudly scraping popcorn out of a box. It is good for the body and the soul. Sarah McMullan is familiar to the RNZ audience. She watches a lot of films and writes about some of them.

Sarah McMullan: We should watch films in the cinema

Joanne Watson

King Charles' former butler Grant Harold has revealed the proper way to drink tea, if you want affect a regal manner. When you stir your tea with a spoon, if that's necessary, you shouldn't move the spoon crudely around the cup clockwise or widdershins. What you do is use a "very gentle back and forward motion." A circular motion risks spillage and noise. Another major revelation from Grant is that scones should not be cut in half. You may employ the Cornish method, with the cream on top, or the Devonshire way, with jam on top, but you must never employ any method of laceration or piercing probe into the middle of the scone itself. Joanne Watson The Old Town Hall Tea Room in Urenui until October last year and she's a bit of a scone aficionado.

Joanne Watson: Scone Etiquette

Sunday Morning

The best podcast episodes on Startups. For anyone working in a startup, or anyone interested in the incredible stories behind how people built companies like Instagram, and Facebook. Offering both practical advice and insights, as well as the stories for how many of the biggest startups got to where they are today. Add episodes you're interested into your queue below!

OwlTail

Best Startups Podcasts

What is this?
1 quote, 3 ideas & 1 question from a carefully curated podcast episode.
Every Monday & Wednesday.

Want a 3rd insight and episode every week? Email me at curation@owltail.com.