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Enduring a week’s worth of cold water plunges can jolt the body’s cells into starting the process of autophagy to clean up and recycle old, worn-out, and broken parts, according to a new study. It highlights the potential of ice baths as a treatment for aging or chronic illness. · Earlier this year, we reported on a study into the health benefits of cold water plunges and cold showers to see whether they had a scientific basis. One of the…

Since Friday, social media has been burning up with discussion of the Benjamin Doyle child images scandal. · For those not reading social media, you’ve probably missed it because only two media outlets had published anything on it by Monday morning – the Centrist on Saturday and The Platform. · The rest of the legacy media, who each continually claim to be trusted keepers of editorial independence, have published nothing. Normally quick to…

It took just over 26 months to erect the Eiffel Tower, which was a breakneck pace given that it weighs 10,100 tons, stands 1,024 feet tall and is 410 feet wide. · The landmark on the Champs de Mars in Paris, constructed for the 1889 World’s Fair, would become one of the planet’s iconic structures, but there was no guarantee at the time that the tower would be permanent. · Eiffel Tower · Originally intended as a temporary installation, the…

In an attempt to concoct a preventative against scurvy, Captain James Cook brewed a batch of beer on Resolution Island in Dusky Sound, using rimu branches and leaves on April 1, 1773. · We … began to brew beer from the branches or leaves of a tree, which much resembles the American black-spruce. From the knowledge I had of this tree, and the similarity it bore to the spruce, I judged that, with the addition of inspissated [thickened] juice of…

April Fools’ Day—occurring on April 1 each year—has been celebrated for several centuries by different cultures, though its exact origins remain a mystery. April Fools' Day traditions include playing hoaxes or practical jokes on others, often yelling “April Fools!” at the end to clue in the subject of the April Fools' Day prank. While its exact history is shrouded in mystery, the embrace of April Fools' Day jokes by the media and major brands…

The last battle of the Waikato War began when the spearhead of a strong British force charged an apparently weak Māori position at Ōrākau, south-east of Te Awamutu on March 31st, 1864. After two frontal assaults failed, the British besieged the pā. · The battle immortalised as ‘Rewi’s last stand’ was not of Rewi Maniapoto’s choosing. The Ngāti Maniapoto leader did not want to fight in territory that was effectively already occupied by the…

Vaping has failed to cut teen smoking in New Zealand, according to new research published in The Lancet. The study shows that from 1999 to 2023, the decline in daily smoking among 14- to 15-year-olds continued at a similar rate despite the rise of e-cigarettes. · This contradicts a widely cited 2020 study, which claimed vaping may have displaced smoking between 2014 and 2019. · Asthma and Respiratory Foundation NZ CEO Letitia Harding said the…

The coalition government has passed changes to sentencing laws aimed at ending what it calls a “culture of excuses” for violent crime. · Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says the reforms reflect public frustration with lenient sentencing and send a clear message to the courts. · Judges will now be limited to a maximum 40% discount in sentencing, with repeat deductions for youth and remorse scrapped. New aggravating factors have been introduced,…

The Australia–New Zealand Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement, better known as CER, was New Zealand’s first comprehensive bilateral trade agreement, and one of the first such agreements in the world. · CER came into force on 1 January 1983, but the agreement was not formally signed until 28 March, by New Zealand’s High Commissioner in Canberra, Laurie Francis, and Australia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade, Lionel Bowen. CER…

The US Space Force has a contract worth up to US$60 million to develop and fly a kind-of aircraft carrier in space. No, it's not the result of a major typo. It's intended as a way to station space vehicles to quickly counter orbital threats. · During the last century, as wars raged on the surface of the Earth, space was seen as something of a sanctuary – a safe haven free of conflict. Even during the Cold War and the Space Race, weaponry in…