Saturday Morning

Deep in the heart of Auckland's North Shore, the seemingly uninterrupted suburbia is punctuated by an oasis of native bush. It's no accident - a group of local volunteers has been working hard at it for 50 years.

Musician and long-time Warriors superfan Peter Urlich joins us to talk the Wahs ahead of Sunday's big game.

Te Wiki o Te Reo Maori starts on Monday and so if you've always wanted to try, there's no better time! For some that desire to learn a bit of te reo, and find out more about te Ao Maori comes through sport... it's front and centre for some, from the All Blacks haka, and now the Warriors haka. In other sports it may be a little less visible but no less important. Representing New Zealand Cricket we welcomed Pou Tikanga David Bhana and White Fern Eden Carson who won the ICC Women's T20 and a bronze medal at the Birmingham Common wealth Games. First Emile asked about Eden's exposure to te reo as a child.

Eagle vs Shark, What We Do in the Shadows, 800 Words, Funny Girls - Jackie van Beek has been an ubiquitous face in the Australasian comedy scene for nigh on two decades. Now she's appearing in a sci-fi splatter satire Mum, I'm Alien Pregnant, which came out this week and is described by critics as 'one of the strangest films they've seen in a decade' Now, this chat with Emile contains several references to the full gamut of the human anatomy. Not because Jackie relishes the P word, but because it's necessary to describe the plotline of the film. Nonetheless, if you do have little ones listening and you don't want to expose them to that - keep your ear pods in.

One of the world's best-known crime writers, Richard Osman has attracted millions of fans with his distinctive mix of mystery, humour and memorable characters. Building on the success of his Thursday Murder Club series he's now launched a new series featuring an unlikely team of amateur sleuths - with his latest novel We Chase Shadows that comes out next week. But Osman also talked to Emile about being a master-multitasker, one of the minds behind hit podcast The Rest is Entertainment, game show creator and panelist and presenter on shows like Pointless, 8 Out of 10 Cats, Would I Lie to You, and Taskmaster.

Our regular space expert former NASA astronomer and science communicator Michelle Thaller joins us to discuss everything beyond the Earth's atmosphere. She's the recipient of Nasa's highest honour, the Exceptional Achievement Medal. From her home in Wisconsin she explained to Emile the possibility of AI data centers in orbit and Nasa's latest telescope as well as answering some questions from listeners.

The All Blacks series against South Africa's Springboks conjures memories of the deep history between two great sporting nations. Despite more than 30 years since the first free and fair elections in South Africa which swept Nelson Mandela to power, access to sport is still deeply affected by the decades spent under apartheid and colonial powers before that. Emile talked to Associate Professor of Sport History at Stellenbosh University Francois Johannes Cleophas, starting with what, if any, power the name 'The All Blacks' carried as he was growing up in South Africa

It turns out not all heroes wear capes, some wear lab coats! In an age where facts seem debatable and the truth can be so easily manipulated, one woman is on a mission to root out mistakes, fraud, and cheats in the scientific world. Dutch microbiologist and scientific integrity consultant Dr Elisabeth Bik is famous for scanning biomedical literature to detect image duplication and research fraud. She spoke to Emile from her home in Amsterdam.

After years of suspense, Auckland's City Rail Link is finally opening on Sunday morning. Former Auckland Mayor Len Brown was one of the infrastructure project's progenitors, with his lobbying for central government support one of the dominoes that had to fall before Auckland could cut the ribbon on its shiniest new toy. Brown joined Emile on the show to discuss his legacy, as written in train lines.

It's 100 years since a Russian ballerina visited our shores and left her name here forever. Everyone knows the pavlova was named after Anna Pavlova, but what's still debated is exactly where and when the dessert got the name, with people on both sides of the Tasman laying claim. Writer and cultural historian Andrew Paul Wood may be the closest to knowing the answer - he's done extensive writing and research on the topic. Whatever its point of origin, the meringue-based dessert has become an icon of our national character and an undebatable part of Kiwiana.