Afternoons for Monday 24 February 2025

1.10 New accessible housing for Hawke's Bay 

A shortage of accessible housing meeting the needs of those with disabilities has left more than 25 Hawke's Bay residents living in ages-care facilities. 

The waiting list is long, so this issue won't be going anywhere unless addressed now. 

Thankfully, Enliven Disability is charging forward with the construction of a built-for-purpose apartment complex to help ease the pressure. 

 

1:20 Seivin Kim - straight A student ready for the world 

Seivin Kim is Avondale College's Dux and deservedly so. As a year 10 student she was awarded Top in the World for IGCSE Mathematics and awarded a further five Outstanding Cambridge Learner Awards across four different subjects. She's represented Avondale in Maths Olympiad, Bebras thinking, Mathematical modelling. She represented New Zealand proudly in the International Chemistry Olympiad in Saudi Arabia last year.  On top of all of this, she also found the time to be part of Avondale's tuakana teina programme offering tutorials to students of all ages. And the list goes on. 

Jesse talks to Seivin after her prizegiving on Thursday night.  

1.30 the future of drones

We're all familiar with drones but how much do you really know about "Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles" and the role they could play in your daily life?

Or the role that New Zealand could play in putting UAVs into space? 

Daniel Sülberg is the Director of Cochstedt, Germany's National Experimental Test Center for Unmanned Aircraft Systems and visiting New Zealand and Tāwhaki National Aerospace Centre.

1.40 Assisted dying: situation report

Just over three years ago the End of Life Choice Act became law. 

The referendum was held in conjunction with the 2020 election, and passed after 65% voted in favour. 

So, three years on, we wanted to know how it's been going, particularly for the medical professionals who have been part of the practice. 

Dr Katie Ben is a leading clinician based in Nelson who has facilitated 25 assisted deaths.

2:10 Television Critic: The White Lotus and The Pitt

Caitlin Cherry reviews the hotly anticipated first episode of The White Lotus and reviews what she calls "the best medical drama ever made." 

2:20 Info center Cold Call

It's a simple concept: Jese calls an info center, chosen at random, with no advance warning. 

It could be good, fun chat. It could be a disaster. 

2.30 Expert Feature: funerals

As the saying goes - nothing in life is guaranteed except death and taxes. 

The end of the tax year is actually coming up. So maybe we'll get a tax accountant to answer your questions next month, but today we're focusing on the first of those inevitability's: death, and in particular funerals.

What do you want - or need - to know? Get your questions in via text to 2101 or email afternoons@rnz.co.nz. 

Out expert is Funeral Celebrant Timothy Giles.

3:10 Feature interview: the neuroscientist way to improve mental health 

There was a time when we had to work hard for a hit of happy hormones our bodies produce naturally. Sugar, alcohol, scrolling social media on smart phones make dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphins easy to access says Neuroscientist TJ Power.  Too easy, he says . For years Power struggled with addictions  and anxiety, damaging his brain while studying how it worked at the same time. His research led him to find a way to use the four natural hormones in our bodies with the acronym DOSE to improve mental health.  He shares practical ways to harness the power of our happy hormones  in his new book, The Dose Effect: Small Habits to Boost Your Brain Chemistry

3:35 Here Now

This week on Here Now, an artistic interpretation of the story of how Indians were coerced into working as indentured plantation workers in Fiji, up until the early 1900s. Artist and poet Nadia Freeman is in conversation with Kadambari Raghukumar in this episode. 

3:45 The pre-Panel

Wallace Chapman and producer Olvia Wilson join Jesse to preview tonight's installment of The Panel.