Rnz: Afternoons With Jesse Mulligan

Elliott Childs accepts a listener's recommendation and gives a podcast hosted by two marriage celebrants a hoon.

Author Vanessa Robertson joins Jesse to talk us through the process of collecting a family history.

How often do you think about the Roman Empire? If memes are to be believed, men think about it every day. But it's not just the men. University of Canterbury Associate Professor Alison Griffith does too. Alison teaches students about Roman society through a traditional Maori lens. She joins Jesse to explore how we can use that knowledge and apply it to our own society and culture.

Australian redback spiders found their way to New Zealand in the 1980s.   These dangerously venomous spiders are now found in Central Otago and New Plymouth, where they pose a risk to both people and our native endangered species.  To control these invasive spiders, a team of scientists at Plant & Food Research is working on a cunning trap.   It's a targeted, environmentally friendly alternative to pesticides.  But first, to get the trap working, the scientists need to enlist the help of the spiders themselves.  We join Ellen Rykers in the lab as she meets Dr Andrew Twidle and 800 redback spiders. 

The way our immune system fights off malicious bacteria and viruses is pure poetry to John Trowsdale, emeritus professor of immunology at the University of Cambridge.

This isn't your ordinary mac 'n cheese, thanks to a few surprising ingredients. Get the recipe here.

The Sherrif of Sounds himself, Matthew Crawley - is our music reviewer. 

Kiwi journalist Claire McCall and her partner set off on an epic walking adventure to tackle a 3034km route.

Over the few days, Oamaru residents and visitors to the town will be able to escape the 21st Century and step back into the Victoria era.

When we die, most of us will end up in a brown box, but the more eccentric among us may want something a little more ... them.

Dr Elizabeth Dunn and PhD student Dunigan Folk from the University of British Columbia decided to study the studies that claim to understand what makes us happy and found some surprisingly results.

Jese is joined by Michael Rennie, a member of the Yorta Yorta and Gunditjmara nations and a presenter and senior producer for NITV, the National Indigenous branch of Australia's SBS.

Afternoons book reviewer Catherine Robertson offers her latest literary recommendations.

Comedian and podcast titan Tim Batt delivers the latest in the world of tech. Today Tim and Jesse discuss Australian's new social media ban.

A Hawke's Bay bird-watching experience has been voted one of the top 15 family-friendly excursions in the world.

After 15 years the hogs have come back to the Canterbury A&P Show.

Released in 1984, Vigil was a watershed moment for the New Zealand film industry.

If genius is the ability to see things exactly as they are, singer, songwriter and poet Leonard Cohen fits the bill according to Professor Christophe Lebold. For 20 years, Lebold has traveled in Cohen's footsteps and poured over his writing. The two became friends after a chance meeting and spent time together before Cohen's death. In a biography that is part analysis, part ode to the beloved troubadour, Lebold excavates how the man and his music shines a light in the darkest places. The biography is called Leonard Cohen: The Man Who Saw the Angels Fall.

Every week Jesse calls an information center, out of the blue and at random.

Rachel Antony is the CEO of Greenstone TV and is ready to answer your questions about TV and how to make it.