The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

Our London Lives by Christine Dwyer Hickey. This is wonderful. In 1979 Milly and Pip are misfits, part of the Irish diaspora in London who after a brief romance go their separate ways - but out of sight they’re rarely out of mind over the next 40 years. This is an eloquent and wonderful story of lost opportunity and regret, spanning four decades against the landscape of an ever-present London.

A Voyage Around the Queen by Craig Brown. This is a biography of Queen Elizabeth the second, by the author who wrote the wonderful Yes, Ma’am about Princess Margaret and One Two Three Four about The Beatles. Combining biography, essays, cultural history, dream diaries, travelogue and satire, he presents a kaleidoscopic portrait of a woman who was the most public, and the most private.

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Travel trends are constantly changing, especially in an era where living costs are keeping Kiwis grounded.

According to new data, plenty of people have been able to make room in their budgets for overseas trips - with Europe being the top destination for travellers based in New Zealand.

Australia comes second, with Asia coming a very close third.

BloggerAtLarge writer Megan Singleton unpacks the findings of this poll further.

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This week on the Sunday Panel, editor and journalist Jo McCarroll and NZ Herald senior writer Simon Wilson joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the week - and more!

Should insurers have access to genetic testing or be able to force genetic testing, to set premiums? Do we need more regulations here?

The Australian Government is looking to ban social media for children, with legislation set to come through by the end of the year. Is a ban the solution? Do we need to educate children to stay safe online?

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Body mass index (better known as BMI) has long been used to calculate a person's body fat levels - but how reliable is it?

To calculate someone’s BMI, you divide their weight in kilograms by their height in metres times itself.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara explains the history of BMI and whether or not it can be trusted.

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Cook time: 10 minutes

Prep time: 30 minutes

Serves: makes 10-15

375 ml warm water

250 ml milk

1 tbsp dried yeast

1 tbsp raw sugar

400 g plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

Pinch of salt

Sunflower oil for cooking

Serve with some Marmalade & soft butter

Combine the water, milk, yeast and sugar in a jug and set aside to activate.

Place the flour, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Slowly stir in the yeast mixture and continue to mix until smooth. Cover with a clean damp towel and set aside somewhere warm to ferment for a hour. The batter should start to bubble during this time.

10 minutes before you start to cook the crumpets, dissolve the baking soda in a little water. Mix through the batter and set aside.

Heat a large cast iron frypan over a meduim heat. Add a touch of oil and spread it around. Drop in some 10cm crumpet moulds or steel pastry cutters. Spoon in about 1/4 cup of crumpet batter into each mould. Allow the bubbles to rise to the surface for a couple of minutes before removing the moulds. After 5 minutes flip and continue to cook on a low heat until golden. Repeat until all the batter is used.

Serve hot with marmalade and butter.

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Did you ever dream you had X-ray vision when you were a kid? While that might sound like something from comic books, new research published in Science this week could bring us one step closer to making it a reality.

Scientists have found a way to see inside the bodies of living animals without surgery by using a surprising tool: a food dye that is common in America. This breakthrough discovery revealed that the dye, known as tartrazine, can make skin, muscles, and connective tissues temporarily see-through!

Tartrazine is a yellow food dye commonly found in products like Doritos and other snacks in the U.S. The dye doesn’t just colour food; it has an unexpected ability to change how light moves through tissues. Normally, light entering biological tissue scatters because of the different structures inside the body, like fatty membranes and cell nuclei. These structures have a different refractive index from the air around them, which is why light doesn’t travel smoothly through our skin and other tissues.

This scattering effect is what keeps us from seeing through our skin - or anyone else's. However, in this study, tartrazine was found to reduce the amount of light scattering inside tissue, allowing light to penetrate more deeply. The result? Scientists could see through the skin of living animals.

In a fascinating experiment using mice, researchers applied tartrazine to the animals' skin. When rubbed onto the belly, the dye allowed scientists to clearly see the liver, intestines, and bladder beneath the skin. When applied to the scalp, they could even observe blood vessels in the brain!

Even more amazing, the skin returned to its normal colour after the dye was washed off, meaning the effect wasn’t permanent.

To understand how this works, think about what happens when you place a pencil in a glass of water. The pencil appears bent or distorted because light behaves differently when it passes through water compared to air. This is due to something called the refractive index, which measures how much light bends when it passes through different materials. The same principle applies when light passes through biological tissues like skin.

Under normal circumstances, biological tissues scatter light, making it impossible to see through them. The dye used in this study helps certain wavelengths of light pass through tissues more easily, reducing that scattering effect.

While this discovery is ground-breaking, it’s not perfect. The effect is limited by how deeply the dye can penetrate into tissues. For now, the transparency only works on surface-level tissues. However, the scientists are already developing techniques like micro-needling and injections to allow the dye to reach deeper layers of skin and tissue.

Although this study was conducted on mice, the potential applications for humans are enormous. Imagine doctors being able to visualize organs, blood vessels, and deep tissues without invasive surgery. This technology could revolutionise fields like diagnostics, allowing for real-time monitoring of the body’s internal structures with minimal risk to the patient.

The future possibilities are exciting. With further research, this dye technique could become a powerful tool for non-invasive medical imaging, bringing us closer to a world where X-ray vision isn’t just a superpower - it’s science.

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On the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 15th September 2024, Liane Moriarty talks death, destiny and the random thought on a plane that inspired her latest book.

Two Raw Sisters are back with what they say is there best book yet - they tell us how to make a great salad.

Should life and health insurers be able to access the results of genetic testing to set premiums? Lawyer Emma Moran gives us her legal perspective and concerns around the lack of legislation in this area.

Steve Newall previews the Emmys and Michelle Dickinson talks about see through mice!

Get the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast every Sunday on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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If it seems like the Emmys just happened, you’re not wrong.

The 76th Emmy Awards are tomorrow, roughly nine months after the last celebration of the best television. Last year’s Hollywood strikes delayed the show’s 75th edition.

The Bear, Shogun and Baby Reindeer are favourites to win this year's edition.

Steve Newall from Flicks.co.nz unpacks the nominees ahead of the ceremony.

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Two Raw Sisters’ Margo and Rosa Flanagan are back with their latest cookbook.

The pair have built a brand around crafting healthy, sustainable, veggie-based recipes - and their latest offering shows people how to craft the prefect salad.

More Salad is available in bookstores and online now - and the duo have enjoyed getting creative with their recipes.

"We've had two years to create this book - and that extra year has been an absolute game-changer cause we've actually been able to take the time to get really creative, think a little bit more."

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Best-selling Aussie author Liane Moriarty is tackling more heavy subjects in her latest novel.

In her 20-year career she’s written nine adult fiction books - all international bestsellers with over 20 million copies sold.

Her books have also gone on to inspire several films and TV shows.

Her latest book, Here One Moment, examines death and mortality - and was inspired by an experience on a flight.

"It was at a time of my life where I was considering my own mortality, because in the preceding years a few things had happened. My sister got diagnosed with breast cancer, I lost my dad, we had the pandemic - I think all of us were thinking about death."

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