Nights for Wednesday 25 December 2013

9:45 PM.In January 1960, the town of Oodnadatta, in South Australia, registered the country's highest recorded temperature - 50.7 degrees celsius. In the recent heatwave, it recorded 48 degrees - Bryan talks… Read more Audio

7:13 PM.As the Head of Food Sciences at the University of Nottingham, Prof. Christine Dodd regularly pares back what we eat to a molecular level, for instance, her latest research has helped to pinpoint the… Read more Audio

9:12 PM.A séance, a high speed police chase, a budgie that speaks Glaswegian and the mating calls of Atlantic Seals - these are all a part of the treats and challenges that Chris Frear has trying to restore… Read more Audio

7:12 PM.NYC filmmaker Nina Davenport documented having a baby on her own in her forties: First Comes Love. Audio

7:12 PM.Lord Christopher Monckton and his views on the state of the world's climate and why he believes that the current political responses to the harm of a 'climate changed by carbon dioxide due to human… Read more Audio

9:10 PM.Stanford University Centre for Law and the Biosciences' director Professor Hank Geely on what is likely to be the next scientific phenomenon - de-extinction - and the ethical and environmental… Read more Audio

7:10 PM.We travel back to the early 1980's with Avice McKenzie and venture to Mason's Bay on the west coast of Stewart Island to spread the ashes of her dad at his turangawaewae. Audio

8:10 PM.Impromptu thoughts, perspectives and opinions on either the little or big things of life. Audio

9:12 PM.Earlier this year the Australian Federal Government apologised for its historical practice of forcibly taking babies born out of wedlock from their mothers. Should the New Zealand Government do the… Read more Audio

7:10 PM.Kila Kokonut Krew founder Vela Manusaute on New Zealand's first ever Pacific musical The Factory and the challenges of transforming the story into a web series. Audio

7:08 PM.Why the books of Jane Austen are still so adored, even though Jane's most famous novel Pride and Prejudice was published 200 years ago, with Professor Janet Todd from Lucy Cavendish College at the… Read more Audio

7:12 PM.Genealogical expert Brad Argent flicks through the files to find a connection between our very own Bryan Crump and another well-known Crump, Barry Audio

9:10 PM.The importance of theatre for refugees and asylum seekers is demonstrated by Handala, an Alrowwad Theatre production at Aida Refugee camp in Bethlehem, and the inspiration behind the concept of… Read more Audio

8:12 PM.Leanne Te Karu is on the spot talking about Maori health, gout, and why using good medicine wisely, matters. Audio

8:10 PM.Mark Scotson retired from Kiwirail after 50 years this April... but he's working for them again on a casual basis, driving steam locomotives. Audio

9:10 PM.Military historian Damien Fenton on the first singular history of New Zealand's involvement in the Great War - the Ministry for Culture and Heritage's landmark centenary publication, New Zealand and… Read more Audio

9:12 PM.Did the Milky Way and the Andromeda Galaxy collide about 10 billion years ago - and consequently, is our current understanding of gravity fundamentally wrong? With astronomer Hongsheng Zhao from… Read more Audio

7:15 PM.The delightful Whirimako Black on a life of music and singing in Te Reo Maori. Audio

8:40 PM.What's your poison? Dr Leo Schep from the NZ National Poisons Centre on substances taken internally or applied externally that are injurious to health or dangerous to life. Tonight, allergic… Read more Audio

7:12 PM.Why and how different fonts affect us, with Louise McWhinnie from the Faculty of Design, Architecture & Building at the University of Technology Sydney. Audio

9:10 PM.US Army veteran Mariette Kalinowski is adapting to civilian life after developing PTSD, with the assistance of a creative writing course. Audio