Nights

Wednesday is National Anaesthesia Day. A surgical risk calculator has been launched that uses unique New Zealand data so Kiwis can better understand the risks versus the benefits of the operation they are undergoing, taking into account their age, type of surgery, pre-existing health conditions and ethnicity. Melody Thomas talks with anaesthetist Dr Nigel Robertson about his chosen profession, as well as some simple things you can do to ensure a speedy recovery after surgery.

To mark 2019 as the year of the Periodic Table, RNZ Nights has teamed up with the MacDiarmid Institute to bring you Element of The Week. Tonight, Professor Simon Brown, MacDiarmid Institute Principal Investigator and Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Canterbury introduces us to the element bismuth and the reason for tonight's sonic tonic dedicated to Diarrhoea.

Fergus Barrowman joins us once again with his pick of the best Jazz tracks.

We get a local perspective on the Rugby World Cup from our overseas correspondent Motoko Kakubayashi.

"Ghost Rugby Clubs Of Wellington" is a new book exploring New Zealand's social history, through the sport of Rugby Union. Author Gordon Noble-Campbell joins us in the studio.

We talk to Peter Simpson author of the extraordinary first volume of a two-volume work chronicling forty-five years of painting by our most important artist, Colin McCahon.

Kiwi musical legend Debbie Harwood joins us with news of her new EP and Single.

Tonight, in a special interview, we meet Adam Dooley, a Sport & Exercise Scientist who helps the men and women serving in the NZ Defence Force do their jobs better.

Postal voting in the Local Body Elections finishes tomorrow with ballot box voting closing on Saturday. Tonight we chat to a local councillor about the work they do and the importance of voting.

A play about sexuality, identity, and the dynamics of love makes its Wellington debut at Circa Theatre this weekend. We talk to director Shane Bosher.