All articles

The government is moving to reform the struggling education system by introducing standardised reading, writing, and maths tests for Years 3-10, but some principals are resisting change. · The Ministry of Education has called for proposals to develop a single national assessment system. · It would replace the current mix of Progressive Assessment Tests (PATs) and Electronic Assessment Tools for Teaching and Learning tests (e-asTTle, an online…

According to economist Rob MacCulloch of Down to Earth Kiwi, in 2023, Treasury falsely claimed it had definitive proof that school lunches had no impact, even though this is a complex question no one has fully answered. · That bad advice came from the Treasury, not the actions of any particular political party. · The report dismissed the effectiveness of free school lunches, leading then-Finance Minister Grant Robertson to state that the…

The first satellite in a constellation designed specifically to locate wildfires early and precisely anywhere on the planet has now reached Earth's orbit, and it could forever change how we tackle unplanned infernos. · The FireSat constellation, which will consist of more than 50 satellites when it goes live, is the first of its kind that's purpose-built to detect and track fires. It's an initiative launched by nonprofit Earth Fire Alliance,…

A former TVNZ presenter and doctor, Samantha Bailey, has lost her medical registration and been fined after posting videos challenging mainstream COVID narratives. · Bailey’s content criticised vaccine efficacy and accused the medical industry of manufacturing epidemics for profit, racking up 18 million views along the way. · The Medical Council found her guilty of spreading misleading information after receiving 15 complaints. · Bailey…

It’s not every day that you see a US$1,000 motorcycle that’s ready to ride as it comes. That’s exactly what we have here in the form of the X-Pro MC-N025, a unique, commuter bike that comes from … China. Yep. · The likes of Benda and CFMoto are just a handful of reputed Chinese motorcycle manufacturers. The vast majority of the country's motorcycle sector continues to print imitation motorcycles at the most economical possible cost, and even…

Las Vegas was a small railroad town when Nevada formally established it in 1905. Five years after its founding, the U.S. census recorded only 800 residents. Yet by the 1950s, it was known as a gambling tourist haven, where visitors could see a show with celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. in between trips to the baccarat tables. · Although Nevada’s legalization of gambling in 1931 opened the doors for this transformation, that…

What can you cook with beans? For Ali Honour, who has three decades’ experience as a chef, it’s the wrong question. “What can’t you do with beans? I haven’t found the answer to that yet,” she says. “And I hope I never do. I hope I die asking that same question, while I’m eating my beans.” · For Honour, getting involved with the campaign Beans is How – which aims to double global consumption of beans, as well as other pulses and legumes, by 2028…

Men tend to be happier with life when they're married, as many studies have identified over the last few decades. But new research shows they also become fatter. In fact, they're more than three times more likely to be obese than men who remained unmarried. · In research to be presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2025) in Spain in May, Polish scientists looked at the data of 1,098 men and 1,307 women with a median age of 50,…

A rice wine native to the Philippines has grabbed the attention of researchers looking into new, natural ways to slow biological aging. But it's not the wine itself – sorry – in the spotlight, but what's left over after the liquid is ready to bottled. · The wine known as "tapuy" is made using a disc-shaped starter culture called "bubod" – made up of starch and beneficial microorganisms – which, when added to cooked native glutinous rices,…

A 2,500-year-old tomb with vibrant red wall paintings has been unearthed at the ancient Tarquinia necropolis in Italy, the Superintendence of Archaeology, Fine Arts, and Landscape for the province of Viterbo and for Southern Etruria announced on February 6. · Located about 45 miles northwest of Rome, the necropolis was started by the Etruscans, who lived in the region from the 8th to 3rd century BCE and had a great deal of influence on the…