Sunday Morning

Colorado-based Kiwi Chris Adams was in attendance at today's All Blacks v USA rugby test at FedEx Field in Washington, DC. He's also been travelling recently -- visiting four small, smart European countries with similarities to New Zealand (Finland, Iceland, Denmark and Swtizerland) and talking with tourism officials about how they have been able to reopen their borders and largely return to normal life. (Spoiler alert: high vaccination rates are the key.) Chris joins us, presumably on the side of the road somewhere in Washington, DC, to look back on the All Blacks' fifth official test against the USA, and highlight what's working Covid-wise in those aforementioned European countries.

We've all seen the incredibly positive social impacts of people taking to their balconies, windows, and rooftops to sing to one another during the pandemic. But there are health benefits to singing as well. Not only does singing songs that we know trigger the reward system in the brain that releases dopamine, the act of singing -- either by yourself or with others -- can help with everything from relieving pain to helping to improve your posture. Kay Norton is a professor of musicology at Arizona State University who studies the healing power of music.

Media mull mental health impact of lingering lockdowns; wrapping up the Vaxathon, MMP in the rear view mirror.

Joining us on the Weekend Panel this morning are Ali Jones, a Senior Consultant at RedPR and BRG Director Chris Wikaira. Among other topics, they'll be discussing the roadmap out of lockdown, what to do with vaccination rates, Auckland schools returning, housing issues, ageism and the British Royal Family getting political.

It's been 50 years since Don McLean wrote and recorded his seminal folk-rock anthem, American Pie. McLean says he wanted to write a big song that would tie everything together on his second album -- also American Pie -- and connect with the parts of America that mattered to him, starting with Buddy Holly. But he never anticipated the album's title track would touch and reach people the way it has over the past half century. (The Recording Industry of America lists American Pie as the fifth best song of the 20th century.) To mark the 50th anniversary of American Pie, McLean (now 76) will embark on a 35-date European tour, starting in Wales and ending in Austria, in 2022. Dr Jules Older used 'American Pie' as the name of the radio show he used to host in Dunedin. It was a format for American music and a bit of liberal politics. He joins the show to discuss the impact of American Pie and the day he interviewed the man himself.

New Zealander Dr Gary McLean is a Professor in molecular immunology at London Metropolitan University and a researcher with Imperial College. He's an international authority on coronaviruses. Professor McLean is back with us to look at comparing Covid vaccines, vaccine makers bracing for a variant worse than Delta, the lesson learned in the UK announcing Freedom Day too soon, and how vital boosters are becoming.

Ever wondered how some people are able to function optimally on just a few hours' sleep, while others still find themselves feeling a lot less than ideal after a solid eight hour shift? Those lucky people who thrive on limited but more efficient sleep ('short sleepers') could be benefiting from a gene mutation that allows them to live healthily on only four hours' sleep a night. Professor Ying-Hui Fu is a UC San Francisco professor of neurology and a pioneer in the study of sleep and genetics. She joins the show to discuss the science behind sleep and why it is so important for all of us.

Federico Rossano, director of the Comparative Cognition Lab at UC San Diego, joins the show to look at whether dogs do miss people when they're not with them.

Annabel Langbein and her daughter Rose have collaborated again, releasing their second cookbook, the aptly-named Summer at Home. After three years of life in the Big Apple, Rose is now living next to Annabel and husband Ted in a cabin on their Wanaka property. Rose joins us to discuss Summer at Home and the special relationship she shares with her Mum.

The Saudi Arabian-backed £305m takeover of the Newcastle United Football Club has been described as a new low in football's corruption by money. Tom McTague is a London-based staff writer for The Atlantic.