The Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin

It's no secret that hotel rooms can be gross - but how can you get around the worst of it?

Other people will likely be getting their germs all over the TV remote, the cushions, the ice bucket and concerns have been raised over how safe toothbrushes are in the bathroom.

For more advice about how to get around the worst of the icks, Megan Singleton's made a list of her findings. 

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This week on the Sunday Panel, Resident Economist at Opes Partners Ed McKnight and TV producer, journalist and commentator Irene Gardiner joined in on a discussion about the following issues of the day - and more!

The Herald's Poll of Polls came out today, and it shows the minor parties could potentially hold more power this time around. What do we make of this? Do we know which side we want to vote for? What do we want to see from National or Labour?

The Norway v England FIFA World Cup quarter-final took place this morning - what did we think of it? And what did we make of last night's All Blacks v Italy match? Does the TMO have to go?

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Listen to the Sunday Session with Francesca Rudkin Full Show Podcast for Sunday 12 July.
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Mitochondria are the powerhouses of your cells, and they generate the ATP needed for survival. 

Declining mitochondrial performance is strongly associated with aging and age-related diseases.

Naturopath and wellness expert Erin O'Hara reveals how to improve your mitochondrial health, including diet and stress management tips.

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Rewana with kawakawa pesto 

Cook time:30 minutes 

Prep time: 1hr 10 minutes

300 gm white flour  

100 gm wholemeal flour  

220 orange kumara, cooked and mashed 

230 ml water 

1 tsp yeast 

1 tsp salt 

1 Tbsp fennel seeds (or any herbs)

Pesto 

10 kawakawa leaves 

(mixer of holes and non) 

1 cup curly parsley 

1 cup flat leave parsley 

1 cup coriander leaves 

1 cup sunflower oil  

salt and pepper 

1 cup almonds, toasted and crushed 

1 cup parmesan, finely grated

Mix together flour, yeast and fennel seeds 

Add salt and mix 

Add mashed kumara and water and mix 

Once you have a dough with no dry bits pop it into a oiled loaf tin and pop somewhere warm with a tea towel on top for 1 hour   

Preheat the oven to 200*c and bake for approx 30 minutes. Or until it has a nice hard golden top.

Leave to rest for 30 minutes on a rack before eating.  

To make up the kawakawa pesto, place the parsley, coriander and oil into a blender and blend in quick bursts. Do not over heat, otherwise you will lose the colour. Add in half the kawakawa and blend. Season and taste. If you can't taste the bitter tones of the kawakawa add a little more until you can. 

Finish with the almonds and parmesan.  

Serve alongside the bread. 

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For centuries, people have argued about what separates something that's alive from something that's simply chemistry. 

Every living thing, from bacteria to blue whales is ultimately made from the same atoms as the rocks beneath our feet. The difference isn't the ingredients. It's how they're organised. 

So how few ingredients can you assemble before chemistry starts behaving like life? 

A team of synthetic biologists have taken a step towards answering that question by building what they call a synthetic cell entirely from carefully chosen chemical components. Published this week they assembled every component themselves, creating a tiny cell-like structure whose complete ingredient list is known. 

The cell can't survive on its own, can't evolve naturally and still depends on scientists to feed it, but it can repeatedly feed, grow, copy its DNA and divide into daughter cells, performing several of the key behaviours we associate with life. 

They carried out a series of experiments, each asking whether one more essential feature of life could be recreated from non-living ingredients. 

Experiment 1 - Can you make an artificial cell grow? 

The researchers began with tiny fat bubbles called liposomes as artificial cell membranes. Inside they placed a carefully designed 90,000-base-pair synthetic genome spread across seven plasmids, along with a purified protein-making system called PURE that could read DNA and build proteins. 

Real cells grow by taking in nutrients, artificial cells can't, so the team invented tiny "feeder" liposomes loaded with fresh proteins, ribosomes, enzymes and membrane material. 

The question was - can one artificial cell feed another? 

To find out, they engineered the synthetic cells to manufacture a membrane protein called α-hemolysin carrying a short histidine tag. Feeder liposomes were coated with nickel-containing lipids that recognised this tag. When the two met, they fused together, delivering both nutrients and fresh membrane material. 

The researchers watched the membranes merge, the contents mix and new proteins begin to appear inside the enlarged synthetic cells. 

Remarkably, the ability to feed wasn't controlled externally, it was encoded by the synthetic cell's own DNA. Cells that produced more of the membrane protein fed more efficiently and grew larger. 

Experiment 2 - Can it repeat the process? 

Growing once isn't life, living cells must grow repeatedly. 

Every 12 hours the synthetic cells were fed, their DNA copied and the population divided before beginning the cycle again. 

The synthetic cells successfully completed five generations of feeding, genome replication and division. 

Each generation produced new DNA, new RNA and new proteins while maintaining much of the original 90,000-base-pair genome. Around 30% of daughter cells still inherited the complete genome after five generations, an impressive result given that the system lacked many of the sophisticated mechanisms real cells use to organise DNA during division. 

Experiment 3 - Can evolution begin? 

This experiment asked whether the synthetic cells could experience something resembling natural selection. 

The researchers deliberately introduced a tiny genetic change. 

One version of the synthetic genome contained a stronger promoter controlling production of the feeding protein α-hemolysin. That meant these cells could produce more feeding proteins, fuse with more feeder liposomes and potentially grow faster. 

They then mixed equal numbers of fast-growing and slow-growing synthetic cells together. 

After just five generations, the faster-growing cells had become the majority. 

When food became scarce, their advantage became even larger. 

The synthetic cells weren't evolving in the full Darwinian sense because the beneficial mutation had been introduced by the researchers rather than arising spontaneously. 

But they were undergoing selection. 

The cells with the more advantageous genome produced more offspring, causing that genetic version to spread through the population, one of the defining processes that shapes life on Earth. 

So... is it alive? 

That depends on who you ask. 

The synthetic cell doesn't yet tick every box that biologists would associate with life. It can't survive without scientists feeding it. It borrows ribosomes from bacteria rather than making its own. And while it can undergo selection, it doesn't yet evolve naturally because the beneficial mutations were introduced by the researchers rather than arising spontaneously. 

The more interesting question isn't whether this tiny collection of chemicals has crossed some invisible line between chemistry and life. It's whether scientists are finally beginning to understand what that line actually is. 

For the first time, researchers can begin asking not just what life is, but which parts of life are absolutely essential. 

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The 2026 New Zealand International Film Festival is just around the corner for another year, running from July 29 to September 9.

The festival features over 100 films, from acclaimed international directors to Kiwi auteurs alike.

Entertainment correspondent Steve Newall outlined his picks.

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A new era is on the way for one of the nation's most iconic fashion labels.

Urban streetwear brand Federation is celebrating 25 years in business this year. 

To mark the occasion,  founder Jenny Joblin is taking a step back, handing the reins to her children to evolve the business for the next generation.

"When we hit this milestone, we were like - okay, we need to pause for a moment and just really look at all these different chapters and celebrate it."  

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The shifting support of minor parties is likely to be make or break for November's general election. 

The NZ Herald-Motu Research Poll of Polls shows the coalition has a 70 percent chance of being re-elected. 

The current parliamentary opposition's chances has slumped to 7.2 percent.

Former minister Peter Dunne says support for Labour and National will remain fairly consistent. 

"Particularly, keep an eye on New Zealand First and the Opportunity Party - they seem to be where the movement's taking place, although New Zealand First's, I think, peaked a little bit. It's hard to say at this stage."

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The All Blacks have overpowered Italy with a dominant second half to claim a 47-17 Nations Championship win in Wellington.

The hosts' 14-10 lead at the break blew out with 5 second half tries, including a hat-trick to Will Jordan as he became the All Blacks leading test try-scorer.

Wing Josh Moorby and loose forward Anton Segner debuted off the bench.

Newstalk ZB rugby commentator Elliott Smith recapped the 'incredible' action in Wellington.

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