New Zealand professor Gary McLean is an international authority on coronaviruses. He remains confident there will be a universal vaccine for Covid-19 before long, though he warns it may need to be re-administered yearly.

Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett Jr. has pretty much done it all - and won it all - as an actor. Yet the industry legend shows no sign of slowing, having recently received an eighth Emmy Award nomination for his role in Watchmen.

Motivational speaker and author Jimi Hunt says mental illness is an epidemic that we can no longer ignore. The formerly Mexico-based Kiwi says improving your mental fitness just one percent every day can add up to substantial gains.

Celebrated actress Miriam Margolyes became a naturalised Australian in 2013, but over the course of filming her new series, Miriam Margolyes: Almost Australian, she realised there was a lot she didn't know about her adopted homeland.

In her latest book, What We Talk About When We Talk About Books, Harvard Professor Leah Price dispels the myth of the end of the golden age of reading by suggesting that reading might not have been so uniformly great in the first place.

Covid-19 numbers in Victoria are finally dropping. Meanwhile, Australia PM Scott Morrison says he is open to the idea of Christchurch mosque gunman serving out his sentence across the Tasman. Rebekah Holt is with us from Melbourne.

At 15, Bella Powell was told she had only two years to live if her CF went untreated. With nothing to lose, Bella, now 17, started taking a drug called Trikafta, and within hours she noticed results. Bella and her mother Alexandra are with us to discuss.

Aucklanders are waiting for their clocks to hit midnight and a much-anticipated return to alert level 2, along with the rest of the country. But plenty of Covid-19 questions remain. Professor Michael Baker is back to answer those questions.

Justice being seen to be done in Christchurch; media companies bounce back from Covid crisis; 'dark money' and think tanks putting political issues on the media agenda; overwrought warnings of a state takeover of industry.

Our weekend panelists Jane Clifton and Richard Harman discuss, among other topics, $300 spot fines for people who don't wear masks on public transport, lockdown fatigue, the Green School in Oakura, and the death of Bonus Bonds.