Nights for Thursday 21 August 2025

8:10 Animals used in space research have few protections

It was one small step for man, and one giant leap for canines, when in 1957 the stray dog Laika was launched into space aboard Sputnik 2 — the first animal to make it into orbit.

But Laika wasn't the first animal, and certainly not the last, to be used to test the limits of life outside Earth's atmosphere, just this week, Russia is expected to launch a biosatellite carrying 75 mice and 1,500 fruit flies.

However, nearly 70 years after Laika's flight, ethical and legal concerns persist about how animals are treated in space research.

Dr Anna Marie Brennan is a senior lecturer in law at the University of Waikato, where she specialises in outer space law and she speaks to Mark Leishman.

8:25 The House

Tonight on our Parliament show - The House - Phil Smith looks at another interesting interpretation of Parliament's rules this week, and the almost immediate flow-on effect. 

8:30 Myth Takes

Classics educator and enthusiast Ben Jackson is back for his monthly chat.

Tonight, he's taking us through the rise and fall of Athens as the powerhouse of ancient Greece.

8:40 The Reread with Chris Tse

This is an experiment we run on Nights, where we ask a member of New Zealand's literary community to reread a book they once read years ago, that had a profound effect on them, and then tell us what's changed.

How have they changed? How has the world changed? Do they feel differently about the book this time around?

Tonight, on the eve of the announcement of New Zealand's next poet laureate, we have the current-reigning Chris Tse: an award-winning poet, the youngest-ever appointed to the position of poet laureate, whose writing and advocacy has taken him all across the globe.

He joins Mark Leishman to reread What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver.

9:05 Nights Quiz

Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Mark Leishman as he dons his quizmaster hat.

If you get an answer right, you move on to the next question. If you get it wrong, your time in the chair is up, and the next caller will be put through. The person with the most correct answers at the end of the run goes in the draw for a weekly prize.

9:25 A mathematician's guide to winning a game of Guess Who

Mathematicians have worked out a fail-safe strategy to win at the game Guess Who.

You'll know the famous board game: two people trying to guess which character their partner is thinking of from a series of 24 different-looking options.

David Stewart is a mathematician at the University of Manchester. He's part of the group that devised this new strategy, and he speaks to Mark Leishman.

Give the strategy a go on their online model.

9:40 Live at the Pacific Music Awards

We cross to RNZ's So'omalo Iteni Schwalger who is at the Due Drops Events Centre in Manukau, where the Pacific Music Awards are taking place.

9:45 Pacific Waves

A daily current affairs programme that delves deeper into the major stories of the week, through a Pacific lens, and shines a light on issues affecting Pacific people wherever they are in the world. Hosted by Susana Suisuiki.

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10:17 The Detail

Tonight on The Detail - As rate payers feel the pinch, plans for rate capping offer welcome relief. But councillors here and across the Tasman have warnings. 

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10:45 The Reading: 'The Thrill of Falling'

Tonight is the final episode of our reading of Witi Ihimaera's 'The Thrill of Falling' read by Matu Ngaropo

On a visit to Wellington, Koro has told his grandson to be his own navigator in his search to find the spirit of Tupaea within himself.
 
Little-Tu is growing fit and strong, training at the gym with his French friend's father Jean-Luc.

11:07 The Mixtape

Lauren Tapper is the co-founder of Kiwi fashion label Harris Tapper, which she started alongside 

her creative partner, Sarah Harris Gould in 2017. She joins Kara Rickard to discuss some favourite 
songs.