ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on October 17, 2025.
Should I take a magnesium supplement? Will it help me sleep or prevent muscle cramps?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nial Wheate, Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Magnesium supplements are everywhere – lined up on pharmacy shelves and promoted on wellness blogs and social media. Maybe you have a friend or family member who swears a daily tablet will help everything, from better sleep to
Australia’s tech lobby wants deregulated ‘digital embassies’ for offshore clients. Here’s why that might not be a great idea
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Angus Dowell, PhD Candidate, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau When Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets US President Donald Trump on Monday, the visit is expected to seal major big tech investment deals on artificial intelligence (AI) and data centres. In the lead-up, Atlassian cofounder Scott
Why has support for One Nation surged since the 2025 federal election?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shaun Wilson, Associate Professor of Sociology, Macquarie University At the 2025 federal election in May, Pauline Hanson’s One Nation recorded a primary vote of 6.4%, about half that of the Greens at 12.2%. But since then, support for the right-wing populist party has surged, with polls showing
Some major Australian towns still have poor phone reception. It’s threatening public safety
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Meese, Associate Professor, School of Media and Communication, RMIT University PeopleImages/Getty Australians rely on their phones and the internet for education, business, socialising and in emergencies. And as Optus’ recent Triple Zero outage highlights, the consequences of a network outage can be fatal. But the problems
9 ways to help your brain and boost your memory during exam season
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Mundy, Professor and Executive Dean, Faculty of Health and Education, Torrens University Australia Tatsiana Volkova/Getty Images It’s exam season in Australia. Year 12 students are sitting final exams, while university and younger school students also face end-of-year assessments. No doubt, students will be spending time memorising
The true political fights of One Battle After Another unfortunately happen on the edges of the frame
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Missy Molloy, Senior Lecturer in Film, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Photo Courtesy Warner Bros. Pictures One Battle After Another, written, produced, and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is among the most exciting Hollywood films to hit cinemas this year. It is technically brilliant,
Friday essay: the Nuremberg Trials at 80 – could such a reckoning ever happen again?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Lanicek, Associate Professor in Modern European History and Jewish History, UNSW Sydney In November 2025, cinemas worldwide will release Nuremberg, a courtroom drama directed by James Vanderbilt. The film focuses on the International Military Tribunal against 24 major Nazi war criminals (though two were ultimately not
As social media age restrictions spread, is the internet entering its Victorian era?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alex Beattie, Lecturer, Media and Communication, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Getty Images A wave of proposed social media bans for young people has swept the globe recently, fuelled by mounting concern about the apparent harm the likes of TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat can
AI ‘workslop’ is creating unnecessary extra work. Here’s how we can stop it
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Steven Lockey, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Melbourne Business School Richard Drury/Getty Have you ever used artificial intelligence (AI) in your job without double-checking the quality or accuracy of its output? If so, you wouldn’t be the only one. Our global research shows a staggering two-thirds (66%) of employees
With 83% of its buildings destroyed, Gaza needs more than money to rebuild
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Tookey, Professor of Construction Management, Auckland University of Technology The Gaza Strip is a tortured piece of land that is about 40km long and 11km wide. Some 2.3 million souls are crammed into a space of around 360 square kilometres. This is barely larger than central
Inside the far-right social media ecosystem normalising extremist ideas in UK politics
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ed Harrison, PhD Candidate, Institute for Digital Security and Behaviour, University of Bath Last September, Reform leader Nigel Farage dismissed a policy of mass deportations as a “political impossibility”. Now, a year on, the party has pledged to deport up to 600,000 illegal migrants and retrospectively strip
Grattan on Friday: Master communicator vs master tactician, the race between Chalmers and Burke
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra It was a classic “old bull” versus “young bull” struggle, and the old bull showed he had life in him yet. Paul Keating was only one among many critics of the controversial aspects of Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ proposed superannuation tax
Billions in private cash is flooding into fusion power. Will it pay off?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Hole, Professor, Mathematical Sciences Institute and School of Computing, Australian National University The ITER fusion reactor under construction in 2021. Jean-Marie Hosatte / Getty Images Over the past five years, private-sector funding for fusion energy has exploded. The total invested is approaching US$10 billion (A$15 billion),
Some US protein powders contain high levels of lead. Can I tell if mine is safe?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Evangeline Mantzioris, Program Director of Nutrition and Food Sciences, Accredited Practising Dietitian, University of South Australia whitebalance.space/Getty Images This week, the United States non-profit Consumer Reports released its investigation testing 23 protein powders and ready-to-drink shakes from popular brands to see if they contained heavy metals. More
The climate crisis is fuelling extreme fires across the planet
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hamish Clarke, Senior Research Fellow, The University of Melbourne We’ve all seen the alarming images. Smoke belching from the thick forests of the Amazon. Spanish firefighters battling flames across farmland. Blackened celebrity homes in Los Angeles and smoked out regional towns in Australia. If you felt like
What a surprise spike in the unemployment rate means for interest rates and the economy
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jeff Borland, Professor of Economics, The University of Melbourne The rate of unemployment in Australia is on the rise again. Official labour force data released on Thursday shows that in the month to September, Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate jumped from 4.3% to 4.5%. That’s the highest
How voluntary assisted dying in the NT would be different to down south
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Geetanjali (Tanji) Lamba, Public Health Physician, Medical Advisor and PhD Candidate, Monash University Felix Cesare/Getty Voluntary assisted dying is being debated in the Northern Territory (NT) parliament this week. The NT is now the last jurisdiction in Australia without voluntary assisted dying laws. But it wasn’t always
As Gaza starts to rebuild, what lessons can be learned from Nagasaki in 1945?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gwyn McClelland, Senior Lecturer, Japanese Studies, University of New England At first, there might not seem to be any immediate similarities between a devastated Nagasaki after the US atomic bombing in 1945 and Gaza today, aside from massive destruction. But in considering Gaza’s recovery from war –
