Nine To Noon

Jenna Todd of Time Out Bookstore reviews People Like Them by Samira Sedira, published by Penguin Random House NZ.

The word "dinosaur" has only been around for a couple of hundred years, but people have been finding the fossilised remains of prehistoric animals for more than a thousand years. Dr Lowell Dingus' book The Dinosaur Hunters tells the stories of the remarkable men and women who have dedicated their lives to uncovering the bones of these ancient reptiles. It sweeps centuries, from the ancient Chinese who assumed the bones of dinosaurs must have once belonged to dragons, to the modern dinosaur hunters who have discovered things we assumed we would never be able to learn about dinosaurs. Dr Dingus also delves into the the infamous "Bone Wars", where two American dinosaur hunters competed to find more fossils than the other, even to the point of sabotaging each others' dig sites with dynamite.

In many states there are worrying rates of COVID hospitalisations, driven almost exclusively by unvaccinated people. Kelsey also reports on the newly instituted abortion rules in Texas which are rapidly becoming a major issue for Democrats seeking to protect the right to abortions in the US. And Congress is forging ahead with plans to write a multi-trillion dollar infrastructure bill this month.

Ben Shewry’s Melbourne fine dining restaurant Attica has been able to survive through lockdowns thanks to his mum’s lasagne recipe.

A new Australian study has found around one in ten university students have cheated, and the vast majority were never caught. Academics at the University of Western Australia surveyed students about how many of them had submitted assignments written by someone else. The results suggest it is between eight and 11 per cent and 95 per cent of those who admitted cheating were never caught. Kathryn speaks with lead author, Dr Guy Curtis, Senior Lecturer in Applied Psychology at The University of Western Australia.

The government is moving to increase the use of saliva testing as it implements mandatory weekly surveillance testing of three thousand essential workers crossing through Auckland's border. But we been too slow to adopt the technology? Saliva based tests are in used widely in many parts of the world, and have a number of advantages over current nasal swabs- they're less invasive, quicker and cheaper. But it has only been in the last month that border and MIQ workers have been given the choice of a saliva test rather than a nasal swab. According to the Ministry of Health website, 815 border workers have opted for regular saliva testing, and the trial will be reviewed mid this month. New Zealander, Dr Anne Wyllie, is a Research Scientist in Epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, whose team pioneered the SalivaDirect test, which was given the green light in the US last year.

Bill says it's time for a reality check and asks just how unreal is The Block reality series?. The TV reality show has four couples competing to "renovate" four adjoining houses or apartments. Increasingly these are new builds, by different designers and builders, finished off as part of the programme. Bill ponders - what is real, and what is entertainment?. Bill McKay is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland.

Scores of hectares of bananas are grown here, mainly in Northland. Whangerai farmer Hugh Rose has a banana plant nursery, where he also grows paw paw and sugar cane. When Hugh's not growing tropical fruit he's spokesperson for Tropical Fruit Growers of New Zealand. He tells Kathryn about growing banana plants and how New Zealand-grown bananas could be in our stores in about five years.

Neale, Brigitte and Kathryn discuss the call to urgently pass the counter-terrorism law and the government's actions on deportation following the LynnMall Countdown supermarket terror attack. Prior efforts to strip the attacker of his refugee status had been unsuccessful. Also, pressure is on the Government to secure more Covid vaccines as vaccination rates soar with the advent of the Delta strain. Neale Jones was Chief of Staff to Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern, and prior to that was Chief of Staff to Andrew Little. He is the director of Capital Government Relations. Brigitte Morten is a director with public and commercial law firm Franks & Ogilvie and a former senior ministerial advisor for the previous National-led government.

Joanna Ludbrook from Chicken and Frog books in Featherston reviews Melt by Ele Fountain, published by Allen and Unwin