ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on July 30, 2025.
Should I limit how much fruit my child eats because it contains sugar?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Fuller, Clinical Trials Director, Department of Endocrinology, RPA Hospital, University of Sydney Parents are often told fruit is “bad” because it contains sugar, prompting concerns about how much fruit they should allow their child to eat. This message has been fuelled by the “sugar-free” movement, which
How should a company deal with a scandal like the Coldplay kiss cam? Here’s what we learned
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ekant Veer, Professor, University of Canterbury Tibrina Hobson/Getty Images When a scandal goes viral – as it recently did for the former chief executive of IT company Astronomer at a Coldplay concert – companies face nuanced challenges in a new era of crisis communication. The clip of
How China’s pandas became its most valuable diplomats – and its vulnerable children
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Smith, Associate Professor in American Politics and Foreign Policy, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney Anthony Albanese’s recent visit to Chengdu’s panda breeding base showed the enduring power of China’s panda diplomacy. China has been sending pandas to other countries, sometimes for obviously political reasons, since
The giant cuttlefish’s technicolour mating display is globally unique. The SA algal bloom could kill them all
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Doubleday, Marine Ecologist and ARC Future Fellow, University of South Australia Great Southern Reef Foundation, CC BY-SA Every year off the South Australian coast, giant Australian cuttlefish come together in huge numbers to breed. They put on a technicolour display of blue, purple, green, red and
Take fish, salt in vats, leave in sun for months: why ancient Romans loved fermented fish sauces like garum
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tamara Lewit, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne Photo by Engin Akyurt/Pexels If you slipped back through time to taste a dish from the Roman Empire, you’d likely be sampling some fermented fish sauce. Surviving Roman recipes add this to anything
New Caledonia’s population drops to below 265,000, census reveals
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Caledonia’s population has shrunk to 264,596 over the past six years, the latest census, conducted in April and May 2025, has revealed. This compares to the previous census, conducted in 2019, which recorded a population of 271,400 in the French Pacific territory. To explain the
China’s greening steel industry signals an economic reality check for Australia
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christoph Nedopil, Director Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University CUHRIG/Getty Australia has flourished as an export powerhouse for decades. Much of this prosperity has been driven by the nation’s natural endowment with two important raw products for producing steel the traditional way: iron ore and metallurgical coal. Worth
Should YouTube be included in Australia’s social media ban for kids under 16? We asked 5 experts
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Catherine Jane Archer, Senior Lecturer, Communication, Edith Cowan University Narong Khueankaew/Shutterstock The Austalian government has confirmed video-sharing platform YouTube will be included in the upcoming social media ban for children aged 16 and under. In recent days, the platform – owned by Google – attempted to persuade
How conspiracy theories about COVID’s origins are hampering our ability to prevent the next pandemic
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Edward C. Holmes, NHMRC Leadership Fellow and Professor of Virology, University of Sydney peterschreiber.media/Getty Images In late June, the Scientific Advisory Group for the Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO), a group of independent experts convened by the World Health Organization (WHO), published an assessment of the origins
We used tiny sensors in backpacks to discover the extraordinary ways birds migrate to find water
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Heather McGinness, Senior Research Scientist, CSIRO Heather McGinness/CSIRO, CC BY-NC-ND Every year, nomadic Australian waterbirds fly vast distances to find food and the perfect nesting site. They have to be good at finding not just water, but the right kind of water. But across much of Australia,
The new childcare bill relies on something going wrong to keep kids ‘safe’. Here’s what else we should do
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marianne Fenech, Professor, Early Childhood Governance, University of Sydney Pancake Pictures/ Getty Images Federal parliament is debating the Albanese government’s bill to strip funding from childcare centres if they are unsafe. It follows a string of recent reports and allegations of significant safety and abuse problems in
Women’s rights in the US are in real danger of going back to 1965 – so Jessie Murph’s new song is no laughing matter
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Prudence Flowers, Senior Lecturer in US History, College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Flinders University Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Stagecoach 1965, a trending new song by TikTok sensation and country music rebel Jessie Murph, is prompting heated online conversation about the status of women in the
NZ is prepared to take ‘further action’ over the Gaza crisis – here are 5 options
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Treasa Dunworth, Professor of Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Bashar Taleb / Getty Images Is the tide turning over the crisis in Gaza? International pressure and condemnation of Israel’s actions has been increasing, with news and images of malnourished and starving Palestinians now hard to
‘Darkening’ cities is as important for wildlife as greening them
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Dunn, Professor of Urban Design, Lancaster University Nighttime in Jakarta, Indonesia. Akhnaffauzi/Shutterstock For billions of years, life has depended on Earth’s rhythm of day and night. DNA codifies body clocks in all animals and plants, which helps their cells act according to this cycle of light
Albanese government to include YouTube in social media ban for under-16s
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government has decided to include YouTube accounts in its ban on access to social media for those under the age of 16. The decision will be controversial with many social media users, especially young people, and face resistance
How Pacific students took their climate fight to the world’s highest court. And won
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – Yet it was here in this Dutch city that Prasad and a small group of Pacific islanders in their bright shirts and shell necklaces last week gathered before the UN’s top court to witness an opinion they had dreamt up when they were at university in
Fiji ‘failing’ the Gaza genocide and humanity test, says rights group
Asia Pacific Report The NGO Coalition on Human Rights in Fiji has sharply criticised the Fiji government’s stance over Israel’s genocide in Gaza, saying it “starkly contrasts” with the United Nations and international community’s condemnation as a violation of international law and an impediment to peace. In a statement today, the NGO Coalition said that
View from The Hill: Albanese wants international cover before Australia recognises Palestine as a state
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Anthony Albanese will recall well when another Labor prime minister was feeling the heat over Palestinian status. It was 2012 and then-Prime Minister Julia Gillard was forced into a corner over the stand Australia should take on a motion to
From futuristic design icon to environmental villain – the 80-year history of the plastic chair
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geoff Isaac, Research Fellow, Design, Architecture and Building, University of Technology Sydney The Magis Bell Chair, made from recycled plastic, saves energy during production and transport and produces less waste for recycling or disposal at end of life. Magis What springs to mind when you’re asked to
Air-dropping food into Gaza is a ‘smokescreen’ – this is what must be done to prevent mass starvation
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amra Lee, PhD candidate in Protection of Civilians, Australian National University Israel partially lifted its aid blockade of Gaza this week in response to intensifying international pressure over the man-made famine in the devastated coastal strip. The United Arab Emirates and Jordan airdropped 25 tonnes of food
