Nights

Our sci-fi geek, Eleanor Tremeeer is back - tonight she's taking a look at Spirituality In Sci-Fi - the intersection between mythology, folklore, religion, and Sci-Fi. Although we think of Sci-Fi as being purely scientific, these aspects have laid the foundation for some of Sci-Fi's most iconic works. Battlestar Galactica, Ursula Le Guin's novels, even Star Wars all draw from centuries of spirituality and mysticism.

Ahead of episode one of our new five-part New Zealand history series Kei Roto i te Miru: Inside the Bubble, which takes a look back at life in lockdown. We're joined by Host, Audio-Visual Historian and Project Lead Dr Emma-Jean Kelly and Executive Producer Teresa Cowie.

On The Rest Is History tonight we're staying in New Zealand and winding back 32 years this week to the 24th March 1989 when Rainbow Youth was conceived at a Gay and Lesbian Conference that was held in Auckland. The group first called themselves Auckland Lesbian and Gay Youth and organised get togethers and camps and other outdoor activities. Six year later in 1995 ALGY became an incorporated society and changed its name to RainbowYOUTH. It was mainly operated by a team of volunteers at an Auckland base. The first two paid employees were Shaun Hawthorne and Rhiannon Thompson, who were both involved from its inception as youth coordinators. They developed and ran education workshops for Auckland secondary schools. Shaun chats to Karyn about how far Rainbow Youth has come.

This week, the New Zealand International Film Festival has announced its dates and plans to return to movie theatres after last year's programme was delivered online. Karyn speaks with Festival director, Marten Rabarts, about how the Festival is being planned in a Covid-stricken world, and if there are any glimpses yet of the programme.

A regular train service connecting Hamilton with Auckland will begin next month making return trips from Frankton to Papakura twice a day during the week, and once on some Saturdays. The government put more than 80 million dollars into a five-year trial of the Te Huia service, with another 12 million from local authorities. Karyn speaks with the Chairman of the Waikato Regional Council, Russ Rimmington.

Our overseas correspondent from Estonia, Silver Tambur joins us from Tallin

Charlie Cuff starts his "Tech with a Teenager" segment on Nights - he's been experimenting with Mining Bitcoin and wants to talk about cryptocurrency.

Our regular space expert, Emeline Paat-Dahlstrom, Co-Founder of SpaceBase joins us to talk about the Future of Space Flight - reusable rockets and the future of space transportation systems.

Artistic Director Juanita Hepi join us to talk about a new show Tumahana which tells the South Island's unique creation story combining Toi Maori, circus, theatre, Taonga Puoro, and the Christchurch Symphony Orchestra.

In 1970 the US Antarctic Research Programme needed a woman to assist a US scientist scheduled to work on the ice cap. They called on the NZ Alpine Club for suggestions. Julia Millen was working at the Canterbury University Library having recently returned from a three-month hitchhiking trip to Chile with the NZ Patagonian Expedition. Julia tells the story of her Antarctic adventure in a new memoir Fair Weather Hitchhiker.