Later this month the James Webb Space Telescope will be shot into space, and when it reaches its destination - approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth - the massive telescope will slowly unfurl to its full size. All going to plan, it will allow us to see further into the Universe than anything else ever built, succeeding the Hubble telescope which has been orbiting the Earth since 1990.

Oxford mathematician Marcus du Sautoy says humankind's laziness might just be its saving grace. Despite being frowned upon, du Sautoy says our inherent reluctance for hard work can often lead us to think of clever ways to solve problems.

A strain of Hindu nationalism, Hindutva, has grown in global prominence since 2014 under Indian prime minister Narendra Modi's BJP party. Now tensions are rising in the Indian community, both here and internationally, between those supporting Hindutva, and those concerned it promotes racism and Islamophobia.

When Scott Guy was shot dead at the gate of his family farm in Feilding 11 years ago, and his brother-in-law was charged with his murder (later acquitted), six of Jo Guy's grandchildren were made fatherless. In the care of those grandchildren Jo Guy came to see how many more children are in the same boat. Now grandmother to 14 tamariki, Guy's insight and own experience of surviving and thriving has now been told through a children's book she has written, illustrated by Paul Cornwell, The Search for the Lighthouse People.

Kim reads listener feedback from the show.

It's only small, but as a city Whanganui is rich in design. This month the city was announced as New Zealand's only UNESCO City of Design, one of 40 such cities worldwide. Hamish McDouall has been Whanganui mayor since 2016 and vice president of Local Government New Zealand since July 2020, representing the provincial sector.

How viable is hydrogen as a major power alternative? Is it the key to a lower carbon economy and this country being more energy self-sufficient? Christopher Boyle believes so. He's the co-founder and CEO of AFCryo, a Christchurch-based company working in cryogenics - extreme cooling technology, which they're exporting internationally. They're providing superconducting technology for electric aircraft in the UK (set to take to the air late 2022), and developed a prototype hydrogen-fuelled chase boat for Emirates Team NZ. In May AFCryo unveiled what they bill as a revolutionary green hydrogen production system, in partnership with UK company Clean Power Hydrogen.

She's a bestselling, prizewinning author with her own bookshop in native Nashville, Tennessee, but in her new collection of essays This Precious Life Ann Patchett reveals that below the surface of any charmed life there are darker undercurrents.

How do we determine and stand up for what is rational in 2021? Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker tackles this question in his new book Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters.

When the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan in August, Nowroz Ali feared for his life. A wanted man for many years for his work with the New Zealand Defence Force, he was supposed to be on a Hercules sent to evacuate people, but such was the pandemonium he couldn't get to the plane.  Ali is finally here, staying in an Auckland hotel awaiting resettlement. Two of his sisters and a brother have also made it, while his parents and other siblings have been left behind.