Saturday Morning

7.11 'It's fascism': Lady Tureiti Moxon blasts Regulatory Standards Bill

Late on Friday the Waitangi Tribunal released its interim report into the proposed Regulatory Standards Bill. 

It says the Crown breached te Tiriti by failing to meaningfully consult with Māori before Cabinet made decisions about the bill on the 5th of May.

And it's calling for the bill to be immediately halted.

ACT leader David Seymour whose party is behind it, said in response to the report that the Tribunal's claims were "incorrect" and that no Treaty settlements will ever be affected by the bill.

The Regulatory Standards Bill is set to pass under the National and ACT coalition agreement.

Lady Tureiti Moxon - she is a highly respected health leader who is managing Director of Te Kōhao Health and Chair of the National Urban Māori Authority.

She speaks to Susie from Rome.

7.22 BBC's Sebastian Usher wraps up Trumps Middle East trip

Looking overseas now - and US president Donald Trump has been in the Middle East this week - visiting Saudi Arabia, Doha and the United Arab Emirates. 

He's signed a $142 billion arms deal and met with a president - who once led a group deemed a terrorist organisation by the US.

Trump is heading back to the US now as health officials in Gaza say hours of Israeli strikes have killed almost 100 people in the north of the strip. 

To bring us up to speed with the latest we're joined by the BBC's Middle East Editor Sebastian Usher.

7.32 Government pumps money into film rebate scheme

Just yesterday Finance Minister Nicola Willis pledged $577 million dollars to support film and TV production. 

That will boost funding of the rebate scheme to just over $9 billion. 

Under the scheme eligible productions can access a 20 percent cash rebate.

It'll be good news to those Kiwis at the 78th Cannes Film Festival - where there is plenty of wheeling and dealing alongside the glitz of the red carpet.

And of course, it's set against the backdrop of President Trump's announcement of a 100 percent levy on "foreign-made" movies, including our own.

Mihi speaks to NZ Film Commission CEO Annie Murray.

7.40 The economic benefits of clean air in schools 

A randomised study of air quality in primary schools in Milan has revealed that adding air purifiers to classrooms not only reduced children's exposure to air pollution but actually increased students' concentration and overall school attendance, reducing the expenses associated with absentees. 

Jacopo Bonan is Associate Professor of Economics at the Department of Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Milan and one of the key figures behind this study. He shares his research with Susie Ferguson.

Susie speaks to Jacopo.

7.48 When can we say we've found life on other planets?

Last month, scientists from Cambridge University found compounds that are considered hallmarks of life, in the atmosphere of a planet about 124 light years away from Earth.

It was described by the team as "the strongest evidence to date for biological activity beyond the solar system". 

But that finding has been highly controversial in the science community, according to Caroline Freissinet.

She's a research scientist at the French National Centre for Scientific Research - in the Laboratory for Atmospheres and Space Observations.

She frequently collaborates with NASA and is currently leading the study-of-samples - found by NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars.

8.10 The age-old question: cracking the code of waning immunity

Immunologist Dr Michelle Linterman is a Program leader at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research.

Along with her team, work is being done to understand how our immune system changes across our lifespan, why vaccines can be less effective in older age, and what can be done to change that. 

8.35 Soft materials mending hardened criminals

Prisoners in a level 5 maximum security prison in Missouri are the subject of a new and award-winning short documentary out on Netflix this week.

The Quilters follows a group of men inside the South Central Correctional Center, where, every Monday to Friday they head to a special sewing space inside the prison and work on quilts to give to local foster care children.

It's an intimate look at the men's struggles, triumphs and sense of pride in creating something beautiful while behind bars. Documentary director Jenifer McShane speaks to Susie.

9.06 The treadmill of tyranny: Marcel Dirsus

Is tyranny the default of human existence?

Strongmen are rising. Democracies are faltering. But how does tyranny end?  

In How Tyrants Fall  and How Nations Survive political scientist Marcel Dirsus offers insights into the minds of dictators and how they can be toppled from power. While Tyrants project invincibility, history shows us that eventually all of them fall. And it's what happens in the aftermath that can change the fate of a nation.

Marcel is talking at the Auckland Writers Festival this morning.

9.35 Axolotls lending a hand to human limb regeneration

While millions of people are living with the consequences of limb amputation due to injury or disease, axolotl salamanders can replace entire lost limbs, which are anatomically similar to human limbs.

Jessica Whited is an Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University.  Here at the Whited Lab she studies limb regeneration in axolotl salamanders, with the ultimate goal of discovering how to regenerate limbs in humans.  

Whited has developed several molecular tools to manipulate gene expression during limb regeneration, and is exploring signaling events in wound healing that initiate the regenerative process.

Jessica speaks with Mihi Forbes.

Marcel speaks with Susie Ferguson.

10.06 Ian Rankin: at the forefront of crime-writing

The recipient of a Diamond Dagger award, which recognises outstanding lifetime achievement in crime fiction, Ian Rankin is unparalleled in his field. 

The Scottish crime writer and philanthropist, best known for his Inspector Rebus novels, has sold multi-million copies worldwide and was knighted for services to Literature. Together with his wife Miranda Harvey, the pair anonymously ran a charitable trust supporting art, health and education (though not so anonymous now!)

Ian speaks with Susie Ferguson about his latest Rebus thriller, Midnight and Blue, which sees the Edinburgh detective behind bars, searching for a killer.

Ian Rankin is in New Zealand appearing at the Auckland Writers Festival tonight.

10.35 Grow your own 'Forage Garden' with Hannah Zwartz

So you like the idea of gardening but can't bring yourself to spend hours toiling away in the outdoors, making a self-sowing 'Forage Garden' might be the answer.

With minimum effort you can utilise a wild corner of your patch, relinquishing control and letting the garden do the hard work for you. When done right it creates dense growth where you can go and forage for greens - so you've always got a salad or stirfry to hand. It comes down to two things - choosing the right plants that will self-seed, and giving them a good start.

Gardening expert Hannah Zwartz shows us how, and will answer your listener questions. 

Hannah has over 30 years' experience gardening professionally, including looking after the herb and succulent gardens at Wellington Botanic Garden and running community market gardens in the Hutt Valley.

11.05 Black Faggot: just as relevant today

One of Aotearoa's most daring and decorated playwrights, Victor Rodger is a writer and producer of Samoan and Scottish descent.

Rodger's award-winning 2013 play Black Faggot was penned in direct response to Destiny Church's now-infamous "Enough is Enough" march on Parliament in 2004 and the 2012 protests against the Marriage Equality bill. More than a decade on, the play remains painfully relevant.

Black Faggot opens at Christchurch's The Court Theatre tonight, and goes on to play at Auckland's Q Theatre,

Victor speaks with Mihi Forbes.

11.35 Transforming the lives of people with dementia

Professor Vincent Mor is a world-leader in research into the needs of older people who has been working tirelessly to change the way we care for older adults and people with dementia.

He has co-led two $50 million grants aimed to transform the lives of people with dementia. The grants created a massive collaborative research incubator to develop trials aimed at evaluating interventions for Alzheimer's disease or Alzheimer's-related dementia. The first objective is to fund and provide expert assistance to up to 40 pilot trials that will test non-drug, care-based interventions for people living with dementia. The second objective is to develop best practices for implementing and evaluating interventions for Alzheimer's and dementia care and share them with the research community at large.

Professor Mor speaks with Susie Ferguson.