We're heading across the ditch this morning for Calling Home this week… and for any listeners perhaps looking for a winter getaway, we're touching base with Ruby Stobart in the Barossa Valley…where she has lived for close to 20 years.

We're joined by theoretical physicist Niayesh Afshordi-professor at the University of Waterloo and associate faculty at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics-and science communicator Phil Halper, a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society whose stunning astronomy images have appeared in The Washington Post, BBC, and The Guardian. Together, they've co-authored Battle of the Big Bang New Tales of Our Cosmic Origins, a book that challenges the boundaries of what we think we know about the origins of the Universe.

STEM education is more than just science, technology, engineering, and maths-it's about equipping the next generation with the tools to solve real-world problems. We speak with Morgan McKeen, a leading voice in STEM education, about how hands-on learning, inclusive classrooms, and a passion for curiosity are shaping the future.

The inimitable Fred Schneider of The B-52's joins us. For a chat about a new version of Love Shack, in collaboration with Kingston Sound System. Don't miss this first-hand glimpse into what makes Fred and The B-52's forever vibrant-and what's next on the horizon.

Paddy Gower is joined by the Right Honourable Jim Bolger and gets to wish him a happy 90th Birthday.

Our usual quizmaster Jack Waley-Cohen is taking a break this week - so former champion of TVNZ's Mastermind programme and former Mayor of Whanganui, Hamish McDouall, has kindly stepped in.

Ruth Shaw joins us for a captivating conversation about her latest memoir, Three Wee Bookshops at the End of the World.

Cora Fox discusses how Shakespeare's plays depict happiness, and whether that view is still relevant today.

A recent study found all living things, including humans, emit a ghostly glow that vanishes as soon as we die.

Do we need to be worried about arsenic in rice? And bananas; how many is too many?