Nights

Every year competitors from around the world have descent on the town of Llanwrtyd Wells, mid-Wales to take part in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships. Prizes are awarded for the fastest swimmers to complete the 55-metre long trench in the Waen Rhydd bog, without once emerging. Fancy dress is optional but encouraged. Reigning world champion Neil Rutter tells Nights all about the event.

A southern right whale was spotted in Wellington Harbour today. The sighting prompted chatter that Matariki, the whale that enchanted locals with its presence for about a week in 2018, might be back. Mark chats to Greater Wellington Regional councillor Simon Woolf.

She's considered as one of the most innovative and modernist writers of the 20th century, and now one of her precious earlier works has a new lease of life online. Virginia Woolf's copy of her debut novel The Voyage Out, featuring handwritten notes, was recently rediscovered at the University of Sydney and has now been fully digitised for the first time. Mark Byron is a professor in the department of English at University of Sydney.

Harakeke or flax was a vital resource for Maori after arriving in New Zealand. And the natural fibre is still being used in modern innovation today. Tuhura Otago Museum's latest travelling science workshop, is sharing these Maori innovations of the past and present with the aim of inspiring the next generation. To explain what it's all about we are joined by the museum's science engagement co-ordinator Anna Farrelly-Rosch.

Rare and unusual squids have been discovered in NIWA's annual squid survey. Kat Bolstad is an Associate Professor at AUT, and in charge of what she calls the Squid Squad.

A nationally significant fossil site was saved from commercial mining earlier this year. Dunedin City Council reached an agreement to save Foulden Maar back in February. Foulden Maar is the site of a crater lake from 23 million years ago, with the diatomite of the lake preserving a fossil treasure trove. Why is Foulden Maar of such international significance? John G Conran is a Senior Lecturer in Evolutionary Biology, at the University of Adelaide.

Hundreds of baby seahorses have been released into "hotels" in Sydney Harbour, in what local scientists say is the world's biggest ever release of the marine creature into the wild. The White's Seahorse is endemic to Australia's east coast and became endangered in 2020 due to pollution and habitat loss. Mark chats with scientist Mitchell Brennan who helped release the baby seahorses.

In Porirua, a kindergarten group has blossomed into an all-ages health and development hub providing wrap around support to families in the area. Pioneered by Whanau Manaaki, a not-for-profit organisation behind 103 kindergartens across the North island, their CEO Amanda Coulston joined Mark Leishman.

Associate Professor of philosophy Zach Weber from the University of Otago chats to Nights about Critical Thinking and some common "fallacies" of reasoning to look out for.

The BBC's Pete Ross with the stories making headlines around the world.