Afternoons

Time for our Tuesday music feature, where we take a deep dive into an artist, album, style or era. Today we're looking at a staple of the American indie-rock scene, The Shins. For some listeners this might be a band they know well, but for others it could be an introduction. So we're focusing on the band's first three albums, which were released on the legendary Seattle label Sub Pop. To guide us through the music, Jesse is joined by RNZ studio operator and engineer, musician, and DJ Cameron Willicott.

Afternoons' book critic Catherine Robertson joins Jesse to share what she's been reading: The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune (Tor) The Homemade God by Rachel Joyce (Penguin) Light Over Liskeard by Louis de Bernières (Vintage)

It's time for Mayoral minutes .. where we speak with a local mayor about the challenges they're facing ... how they're working to solve them... and what makes their community special. Today we're heading to Whangarei in Northland from where Mayor Ken Couper chats to Jesse.

It seems saunas are super popular right now, and it turns out, humans aren't the only creatures who like to reap the benefits. University of Otago Professor Crid Fraser has published research showing some birds use geothermal steam as health spas. Professor Fraser is with Jesse to discuss the details.

Now usually Dr Grant Morris joins us to talk about New Zealand legal history .. but that's not his only speciality area .. he's also extremely knowledgeable about mediation in New Zealand. So knowledgeable in fact, he's just published his second edition book on the topic .. it's called Mediation in New Zealand. Grant chats to Jesse about the topic.

There has been a lot of research about the benefits of sleep for young people but most of it is based on environmental conditions and lifestyles in places like America and Australia. Now for the first time researchers are turning their attention to the Pacific region and specifically Samoa. Here to tell us more is University of Auckland chronobiology scientist Dr Nicola Ludin.

A new advocacy group has launched with the aim of giving parents a more organised voice in New Zealand's ongoing debates around education. The Parents' Alliance says it wants to be evidence-based and non-partisan, and to have a say in the way education policy is made. Its' co-founder and executive director is Anya Zohrab. Anya is a mother of three who's worked in the public sector, in banking, she's done not-for-profit work, and advised ministers. She chats with Jesse.

Faith is sometimes hard to come by .. just ask any Warrior fan. For years, the story of religious faith has been the story of decline. But the reality is more complicated than that. New data from the Pew research center shows that in America anyway, young people aren't just moving away from faith, they're moving away from certainty. Former Baptist pastor Ryan Burge is now a professor of practice at Washington University in St Louis and a prolific author. He's considered the one of the leading data analysts on religion and politics. He's written about the Pew study on his recent substack Belief Isn't Dying, It's Just Getting Less Certain.

Afternoons TV critic Philippa Rennie shares what she's been watching with Jesse. This week it's Good Bones (TV3) and Billy Idol Should Be Dead (TVNZ+)

It's time for our expert feature and today we're talking about drones. In the modern world drones are used for just about everything, from fishing to military use to nighttime light displays. A while back Jesse even spoke to a guy who had invented chainsaw drones for felling trees. Our expert today is Philip Solaris, chief executive of Obsidian Systems, a New Zealand robotics company developing autonomous systems across air, land, sea, and sub-sea environments.