ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on October 15, 2025.
Why do kids want to talk about bums and poos all the time?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine E. Wood, Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist, Swinburne University of Technology Catherine Falls Commercial / Getty Images If you spend time around little kids, you may notice one topic seems to be more interesting and hilarious than any other. Children of all ages love to make
Finding culture and community through dance at the 2025 Lyon Dance Biennale
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Philipa Margaret Rothfield, Honorary Staff Member, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University; University of Southern Denmark Jan Martens, The Dog Days Are Over. Stefanie Nash/Lyon Dance Biennale There’s an intensity to festivals, a spillover effect where one event leads to another as if the
The government wants more of us living in high rises. Here’s why Australians don’t want to
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Baker, Professor of Housing Research, University of Adelaide Australia was once a nation where the great Australian dream was owning a home with ample space for a lawn and a garden. But by the 1990s, the dream had shifted, at least politically, with then prime minister
Politics with Michelle Grattan: pollster Tony Barry on why the Coalition can’t risk ‘lurching to the right’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra While the Liberals have been performing reasonbly well in Parliament lately, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley still finds herself in an unenviable position. Ley’s presiding over a party split over its political identity – and even who should be leading it.
Worried about turning 60? Science says that’s when many of us actually peak
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gilles E. Gignac, Associate Professor of Psychology, The University of Western Australia As your youth fades further into the past, you may start to fear growing older. But research my colleague and I have recently published in the journal Intelligence shows there’s also very good reason to
Polls and trolls: is violent online abuse turning women off local politics?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cassandra Mudgway, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of Canterbury Getty Images In her final speech as Wellington mayor, Tory Whanau spoke candidly about the relentless online abuse she faced during her term, much of it racist and sexist. None of it would have been reassuring for hopeful
Egypt peace summit showed that Donald Trump’s Gaza deal is more showbiz extravaganza than the ‘dawn of a new Middle East’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Hastings Dunn, Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science and International Studies, University of Birmingham Following the Middle East summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Donald Trump’s Gaza ceasefire deal has been compared in the media to the Good Friday agreement which brought an end
Israel is still not allowing international media back into Gaza, despite the ceasefire
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Colleen Murrell, Chair of the Editorial Board, and Full Professor in Journalism, Dublin City University The world’s media are currently busy recording the tales of released Israeli hostages, freed Palestinian prisoners and their families after a ceasefire came into effect for the war in Gaza. But they
How to use AI to guide your holiday plans – by a tourism expert
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Joseph Mellors, Research Associate in Management and Marketing, University of Westminster icemanphotos/Shutterstock If you ask an AI service like ChatGPT or Google Gemini to recommend a destination for your next summer holiday, it will happily provide you with a list of attractive destinations. But many of them
Blocked bays and failed handshakes: many public EV chargers are unusable – despite being ‘online’
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kai Li Lim, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow, The University of Western Australia and Research Fellow in E-Mobility, The University of Queensland Rafael Ben-Ari/Getty More public electric vehicle (EV) chargers will be built across Australia through a A$40 million funding boost, according to a recent government announcement. The
AI systems and humans ‘see’ the world differently – and that’s why AI images look so garish
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By T.J. Thomson, Senior Lecturer in Visual Communication & Digital Media, RMIT University Andres Aleman/Unsplash How do computers see the world? It’s not quite the same way humans do. Recent advances in generative artificial intelligence (AI) make it possible to do more things with computer image processing. You
The first Australian war crimes case in 30 years is going to trial. It raises big questions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rhys Knapton-Lonsdale, PhD Candidate, School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Murdoch University Earlier this month, former SAS soldier Oliver Schulz pleaded not guilty to the war crime of murder. Schulz’s prosecution is historic: he is the first Australian soldier to be charged with a war crime.
Our study of 267,000 kids reveals the hidden burden of multiple developmental conditions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jialing Lin, Research fellow in Health Systems, International Centre for Future Health Systems, UNSW Sydney Jessie Casson/Getty Our new study highlights a crucial, but often hidden, aspect of child health – the mental health impact of living with two or more neurodevelopmental conditions. We found children with
The government’s super retreat fixes some design flaws, but creates a new distortion
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Natalie Peng, Lecturer in Accounting, The University of Queensland After months of vociferous pushback from the superannuation industry and wealthy investors, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has softened his proposed super tax reforms. The move is a pragmatic political compromise – but it also raises questions about policy consistency
William Barak’s missing art: Wurundjeri Elders lead the search to reclaim lost cultural treasures
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nikita Vanderbyl, Honorary research fellow, Department Archaeology and History, La Trobe University William Barak, Figures in possum skin cloaks (1898) Wikimedia Esteemed ngurungaeta (headman) William Barak is well-known to Victorians as a leader and artist who witnessed the signing of the controversial Batman Treaty in 1835. William
Pacific Media Watch backs RSF call for urgent end to Gaza media blockade
Pacific Media Watch Pacific Media Watch supports the call by the Paris-based global media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders (RSF) for justice for the victims of crimes against journalists in Gaza, and its demand for immediate access to the Palestinian enclave for exiled journalists and foreign press. The ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, confirmed
New minister in ‘rollercoaster’ French politics causes concern in New Caledonia
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk As part of a never-ending rollercoaster of instability in French politics, the latest appointment of a Minister for Overseas has caused significant concern, including in New Caledonia. In the late hours of Sunday, French President Emmanuel Macron approved the latest Cabinet lineup submitted to him by
Keith Rankin Analysis – Post-Covid Immigration to New Zealand by Nationality
Analysis by Keith Rankin. An increasing proportion of New Zealand’s immigrants are foreign citizens. In the 2010s – especially the later 2010s – a critical driver of immigration had been returning New Zealand citizens. As the headlines have indicated, that process of sourcing immigrants from the New Zealand diaspora has long finished. Where have New
Indonesian police arrested hundreds after August riots, sending a chill through civil society
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rafiqa Qurrata A’yun, Assistant Professor, Universitas Indonesia – Associate, CILIS, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne Mass protests against the greed of politicians led to protests in late August across Indonesia, calling for major reforms to the political system and police force. Civil society groups played
Noodles, pita bread, rice? How more diverse hospital menus can improve care – and reduce costs
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zhaoli Dai-Keller, Honorary Senior Lecturer, School of Pharmacy, University of Sydney; Nutritional Epidemiologist and Lecturer, School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Koumaru/Getty Images More than 5,400 cases of malnutrition develop in Australian hospitals each year. This means a patient doesn’t get enough nutrients during their stay for
