Nights for Thursday 1 February 2024
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Internet Archive embroiled in lawsuit
10:40 PM.It's one of the biggest online repositories of information in the world, but a court case brought by a group of book publishers in America has called its future into question. Read more Audio
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Dotterel minders put in time for endangered shorebird
10:30 PM.Clad in hi-vis, volunteers around the Hibiscus Coast are getting to work to protect the dotterel after a tough breeding season. Read more Audio
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NASA issues warning as stadium-sized asteroid passes by Earth
10:17 PM.Asteroid 2008 OS7 is expected to come within 2.8 million kilometres of Earth. Read more Audio
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Ockham Awards longlist celebrates best in Kiwi books
9:35 PM.New Zealand greats Catherine Chidgey, Damon Salesa and Tusiata Avia have all made the cut - with some exciting newcomers in the mix, too. Read more Audio
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I Was There When: Shortland Street first aired
9:15 PM.Don Reynolds was an executive at South Pacific Pictures when the idea of making a New Zealand soap opera first popped up. Read more Audio
7:12 Our Changing World
On Our Changing World this week, pollen is a big trigger for New Zealand's high rates of hay fever and asthma.
But for 35 years, we've had no current data on pollen levels - until now.
Senior producer Justin Gregory heads to the rooftop of the Auckland Museum, where a trap is tracking pollen levels to inform efforts to help New Zealanders with asthma and allergies.
Master's student Natasha Ngadi checks the pollen trap on the rooftop of the Auckland Museum. Photo: Justin Gregory / RNZ
7:35 The Reading
Tonight's reading is the second part of the two-part story 'Margam. . .And so'. by poet, Sudha Rao.
Rao reflects on the challenges facing a teenage Indian girl who, in 1968, arrives with her family to live in Dunedin
8:15 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.
Photo: RNZ / Jarred Bishop, Michel Tuffery and Jeff McEwan
8:30 Health Check from the BBC
Today...Malaria in Cape Verde & Cameroon; Air Pollution & eczema; Kidney transplant; The hypochondria paradox...and A cookbook for heart surgeons.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct4pf6
9:07 Nights Quiz
Do you know your stuff? Come on the air and be grilled by Emile Donovan as he dons his quiz master 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.
The quiz is themed - find out more about tonight's theme on Nights' Facebook page.
9:15 I Was There When: Shortland Street first aired
We're back for another segment of I Was There When.
We speak to people who were on the scene during a big moment in New Zealand's history.
The cultural sensation that is Shortland Street all started back in May 1992. Now at 33 seasons, and nearly 8,000 episodes, it's our longest running soap.
One man who was there right at the very beginning when Shortland Street first aired is former South Pacific Pictures executive Don Reynolds.
9.35 Ockham Awards longlist released
Today is Christmas for New Zealand's writers and book publishers with the long-list for the prestigious Ockham New Zealand Book Awards is out with a record breaking 44 titles.
The awards showcase the best of the country's literary talent - covering poetry, prose, general and illustrated non-fiction.
To find out all there is to know about the list Nights is joined by Nicola Legat, the Chair of the New Zealand Book Awards Trust.
10:17 NASA issues warning as stadium-sized asteroid passes by earth
Scientist will be keeping a close eye on steroid 2008 OS7 which is expected to come within 2.8 million kilometres of Earth.
While it's extremely unlikely to do any damage to us here on Earth, Nasa has issued a warning calling the asteroid
"potentially hazardous".
Nights speaks to director of the Otago Museum and Astronomer Dr Ian Griffin about what's going on.
10:30 Tough breeding season for at risk native bird
It's been a tough breeding season for the Northern dotterel.
Emile Donovan talks to a couple of Hibiscus Coast dotterel watchers about why it's been so tough for the plucky plover and what's being done to help it.
There are just over 2000 northern New Zealand dotterels, and they are found around much of the North Island. Another subspecies now breeds only on Stewart Island. Photo: CC BY 2.0 Chris Gin
10:40 Internet Archive under threat
The future of one of the largest online repositories of information in the world is in question.
"Universal access to all knowledge" is the clarion call of the Internet Archive, but it's currently embroiled in a copyright court case with book publishers in America, after the Internet Archive lent books online for free during the early days of the Covid pandemic.
While the Internet Archive has appealed the case, it's thrown up big questions about freedom of information and the very purpose of the internet as a place for sharing knowledge.
To make sense of the case Nights is joined by Ajay Singh Chaudhary, the executive director of the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research in New York.
11:07 Music 101 pocket edition
Our guest picking the songs this week is musician Ebony Lamb. Ebony has been making music for years, previously with her band Eb & Sparrow, but just last year released her debut album under her own name to great acclaim.
Ebony is also an esteemed portrait photographer, capturing many of our finest writers and musicians.
She's just been announced as support for Calexico when they tour New Zealand next week.
New Zealand musician and photographer Ebony Lamb Photo: Supplied