Rnz: Afternoons With Jesse Mulligan

Scrabble expert Chris Tallman joined Jesse to share his wisdom on how to conquer the game of Scrabble.

Live from the Paihia iSite!

Our TV critic for this week, Claire Chitham, reviews Dying For Sex, Caréme, and Étoile.

There's a new short documentary that takes a deep dive underwater in Wellington. Seaweed: A Love Story follows Dr Nicole Miller scuba diving in the city's harbour highlighting both the beauty and underwater plight of its underwater forests.

Watching a monarch caterpillar strip a swan plant can be one of those lasting memories from childhood. But now people are being urged to report sightings of live monarch butterflies as experts sound the alarm over their declining numbers - especially in cities. Over winter they survive by gathering in clusters on tall trees or in urban green spaces but there's been a noticeable drop off in those habitats. Jacqui Knight from the Moths and Butterflies Trust spoke to Jesse.

Most of us try a few different jobs in our lives - and work in a few different places - but once Sally Hanrahan made the decision to become a nurse, that was it.

It's often said New Zealand has no native snakes, but that's not quite true. The venomous, ocean-dwelling yellow-bellied sea snake (Hydrophis platurus) occasionally drifts into our waters. Around 6 to 10 are spotted each year, and because they arrive naturally, they're officially classed as a native species. Chief Executive of Forest & Bird, Nicola Toki, told Jesse this beautiful snake is a true pelagic species, spending its entire life at sea and even giving birth in the open ocean.

Gardening guru Lynda Hallinan talked to Jesse about how to grow and take care of Pansies.

Maggie Tweedie, host of Music 101 on RNZ each Saturday afternoon from 1pm talks about what's happening on the music scene over the weekend, what's coming up on her show tomorrow and because Friday is new music day - she'll pick us a track to play.

Sam Parish talked to Jesse about making a delicious caramel slice that has banana as the base.

Many of us suffer from Imposter Syndrome, when the inner critic in us doesn't think we are good enough. Even former Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern spoke about it in her speech at Yale this week. Alison Shamir is an expert in this field and has written a book called Conquer Your Imposter, a guide to help high achievers reclaim their self-worth. She told Jesse how we can conquer Imposter Syndrome.

We've probably all had the chance to take a wander through botanic gardens, but how much thought do we give to just how important they are. This week is Botanic Gardens Week and this year the message is that 'botanic gardens are the zoos for plants'. Emma Simpkins from Auckland Botanic Gardens spoke to Jesse.

Weather-willing, 45 hand-made rockets will shoot into the air from a Dunedin park on Sunday. They've been crafted this week at free rocketry workshops as part of Techweek, which has been celebrating technology and innovation across the country. Mike Turner is a rocketry enthusiast and is the man behind the workshops - the literal teacher of rocket science.