ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on May 20, 2025.
Can you treat headaches with physiotherapy? Here’s what the research says
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zhiqi Liang, Lecturer in Physiotherapy, The University of Queensland BaanTaksinStudio/Shutterstock You might’ve noticed some physiotherapists advertise they offer treatments for headaches and wondered: would that work? In fact, there’s a solid body of research showing that physiotherapy treatments can be really helpful for certain types of headache.
NZ joins call for Israel to allow full resumption of aid to Gaza
New Zealand has joined 22 other countries and the European Union in calling for Israel to allow a full resumption of aid into Gaza immediately. The partners also said Israel must enable the United Nations and humanitarian organisations to work independently and impartially “to save lives, reduce suffering, and maintain dignity.” Israel imposed a blockade
Can cats drink milk? Despite the stereotypes, it’s actually a bad idea
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julia Henning, PhD Candidate in Feline Behaviour, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide Shawn Rain/Unsplash Cats have a long history with humans, going back more than 9,000 years. Attracted to human settlements by the rodents that plagued (sometimes literally) our ancestors, cats ingratiated themselves
Boredom gets a bad rap. But science says it can actually be good for us
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Kennedy, Youth Mental Health Researcher, University of the Sunshine Coast We have all experienced boredom – that feeling of waning interest or decreased mental stimulation. Eventually we lose focus, we disengage. Time seems to pass slowly, and we may even start to feel restless. Whether it
15 years ago, I urged the AFL to launch a mental health round. Now it’s time for action
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Pat McGorry, Professor of Psychiatry, The University of Melbourne The death of former AFL footballer Adam Selwood, less than four months after the death by suicide of his twin Troy, is an unfathomable tragedy for the Selwood family. The devastating news has sent shockwaves through the AFL
Does drawing on memory help us solve problems? Our experiment gave some surprising answers
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anne Macaskill, Senior Lecturer in Experimental Psychology, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Getty Images Conventional wisdom suggests memories of past experiences can help us navigate problems in the present. For example, if a friend told you they were having a disagreement with their partner,
Speight’s Fiji coup had more to do with power, greed than iTaukei rights, says Chaudhry
Today marks the 25th anniversary of the May 19, 2000, coup led by renegade businessman George Speight. The deposed Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry, says Speight’s motive had less to do with indigenous rights and a lot more to do with power, greed, and access to the millions likely to accrue from Fiji’s mahogany plantation. On
The federal government wants to boost productivity. Science can help
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deanna D’Alessandro, Professor & Director, Net Zero Institute, University of Sydney Daniel Sone/National Cancer Institute In the wake of Labor’s resounding victory in Australia’s federal election earlier this month, there has been much talk about flailing productivity in Australia. In fact, last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
Fish driving cars and chimps doing maths: what teaching animals ‘irrelevant’ skills reveals about our own minds
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Scarlett Howard, Research Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, Monash University VixtorPhoto / Shutterstock Did you know goldfish can learn to drive cars? Have you heard bumblebees can learn to pull on a string? Would you believe some primates can perform calculations with Arabic numerals? These tasks seem
Surviving swamps on South Australia’s parched Fleurieu Peninsula are a lifeline to wildlife – and farmers
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Auricht, Visiting Research Fellow in Natural Resources Management, University of Adelaide Yundi Nature Conservancy, CC BY-NC-ND South Australia is famously the driest state on the driest inhabited continent. But even for South Australia, the current drought is extreme. Rainfall has been the lowest on record across
‘No pain, no gain’: why some primary students are following intense study routines
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christina Ho, Associate professor in Social and Political Sciences, University of Technology Sydney MNStudio/ Shutterstock Every year, thousands of New South Wales students sit a test to determine places for highly sought-after selective high schools. These are academically selective public schools often associated with high Year 12
NZ Budget 2025: anything less than a 5% increase in health funding amounts to merely standing still
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Professor of Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Health Minister Simeon Brown. Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images Minister of Health Simeon Brown claimed earlier this year that health funding in New Zealand has never been higher and that suggestions of underfunding are “fake news”. On
From the Liver King to ultramarathons, fitness influencers are glorifying extreme masculinity where ‘pain is the point’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Cornell, PhD Candidate in Public Health & Community Medicine, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Netflix/Untold: The Liver King A new Netflix documentary about a shirtless supplement salesman who claimed to be “natural” and was exposed as a fraud might seem like a punchline. But Untold:
Former Canberra diplomat Ali Kuzak dies on the way to Palestine
Ali Kazak: born Haifa, 1947; died May 17 2025, Thailand By Helen Musa in Canberra Former Palestinian diplomat and long-time Canberra identity Ali Kazak died on Saturday en route to Palestine. Sources at the Canberra Islamic Centre report that he was recovering from heart surgery and died during a stopover in Thailand. Kazak was born
Environmentalists question Henry Puna’s role in deep sea mining firm
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Environmentalists in the Cook Islands have criticised former Prime Minister and Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) head Henry Puna for joining the board of a deep sea mining company. Puna, who finished his term as PIF secretary-general in May last year, played a pivotal part in the creation of multi-use
Legal News – Former NZ Associate Minister Of Foreign Affairs Calls On NZ Government To Uphold International Law Over US Designation of Cuba
Source: Hon Matthew Robson Former NZ Associate Minister Of Foreign Affairs, Hon Matt Robson, has called on the New Zealand Government to uphold International Law. “New Zealand prides itself on being in the forefront of countries supporting the international rule of law and not the international rule of might ”, said former Associate Foreign Minister
Climate scientists are trusted globally, just not as much as other scientists – here’s why
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Omid Ghasemi, Research Associate in Behavioural Science at the Institute for Climate Risk & Response, UNSW Sydney I. Noyan Yilmaz, Shutterstock Societies increasingly rely on scientists to guide decisions in times of uncertainty, from pandemic outbreaks to the rise of artificial intelligence. Addressing climate change is no
Joe Biden has advanced prostate cancer with a Gleason score of 9. What does this mean?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Diepstraten, Senior Research Officer, Blood Cells and Blood Cancer Division, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) Former US President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has already spread to his bones. A statement Biden’s office issued
Open letter from John Cusack: ‘The children of Gaza need your outrage – end the siege’
Pacific Media Watch American film star celebrity John Cusack, who describes himself on his x-page bio as an “apocalyptic shit-disturber”, has posted an open letter to the world denouncing the Israeli “mass murder” in Gaza and calling for “your outrage”. While warning the public to “don’t stop talking about Palestine/Gaza”, he says that the “hollow
Russia is labelling Oscar Jenkins a ‘mercenary’, not a prisoner of war. What’s the difference – and why does this matter?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University Oscar Jenkins, a 33-year-old former teacher from Melbourne, was one of many foreigners who responded to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call in 2022 for volunteers to join Ukraine’s armed forces to help repel Russia’s invasion. In early 2024, Jenkins
