The Wire with Max

This week, Jogai and Jess catch up with Lisa Murray from Metservice to get an update on the weather that's quite literally taking the country by storm, and Jogai chats to performance artist and acclaimed poet Vanessa Crofskey to learn more about her new poetry reading venture, Fake American Accent. Producer Jess also has a report on the RSA's new fundraising campaign challenge, and bFM reporter Natasha Ahmed speaks to Otago University's Corinda Taylor, about the concerns plaguing our mental health system. Andrew Little is also back for our weekly chat, this time live from a visit to Edgecumbe. All this and more on the Thursday Wire - check out the full podcast here. 

This week, Ximena & Adam hear about some exciting new developments being forged by groups in New Zealand: Generation Zero's new Zero Carbon Act, Greater Auckland's Congestion Free Network 2 proposal & new research coming out of the University of Otago that looks at growing human teeth. Allan Blackman pops in for a morbid episode Dear Science, where he fleshes out the nutritional benefits of cannibalism (or more correctly, the lack of them), as well as discussing the history and uses of chemical weapons. We also hear from the curator of an upcoming series of talks at AUT called Critical Conversations, which examine the different ways algorithms and code shape our everyday lives.

As climate change is becoming ever more of a concern around the planet, advocacy groups are getting into action. Here in New Zealand, a proposal has been released which aims to see New Zealand carbon free by 2050. Generation Zero has unveiled their Zero Carbon Act, which outlines certain milestones and pathways, which the government should undertake to achieve this target. Adam Jacobson speaks to Generation Zero spokesperson Lisa Mclaren about what the Zero Carbon Act entails and the specific actions proposed.

Our lives are increasingly mediated by digital technologies and online structures. This in turn dictates the information we might be exposed to, the relationships we might have, and other ways in which we live. A new series of talks at AUT intends to look at the way in which algorithms & data interact with and shape our everyday lives. The series, called Critical Conversations, is split into three talks - space, origins & intimacy - and each involve a different theorist/ academic paired with an artist/ technologist. Ximena caught up with the curator of the event, Luke Munn, to learn more about the theme of the series and to chat about what to expect to come out of each conversation.