Independent Analysis and Reportage
Source: Radio New Zealand 123RF A national study has found New Zealand children’s enjoyment of reading, writing and maths has dropped, in some cases significantly. The number of older primary school children who do not enjoy the subjects has doubled since 2018/19, as has the percentage who believe they are not good at them. The…
Source: Radio New Zealand Getting the kids out the door for school can feel like herding cats in the rain. Just when one child is ready, another can’t find a shoe, someone remembers homework, and someone else starts crying because they want more breakfast. Is there a calmer way to get through the mornings with…
Source: Radio New Zealand Supplied / Te Ara Scientists are once-again raising concerns about de-extinction as a US biotech company promotes a “major breakthrough” in artificial egg technology. Colossal Biosciences on Wednesday announced the development of an artificial egg that it says is a crucial step toward resurrecting the South Island giant moa – a…
Source: Radio New Zealand On Sunday afternoon at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in Auckland, 49-year-old Anna Maharaj lit a candle as part of an annual remembrance service. She has done this almost every year for 24 years to honour someone she could never meet and whose name she will never know. Perhaps that person’s family…
Source: Radio New Zealand Embryo development. Supplied / Colossal Biosciences A multibillion-dollar de-extinction company believes it is one step closer to resurrecting New Zealand’s largest and long-extinct flightless bird. Colossal Biosciences – headquartered in Texas – is heralding a “major breakthrough” in its development of an artificial egg that it says is crucial to giant…
Source: Radio New Zealand By Bhanvi Satija for Reuters A placard reading “Bio hazard zone” outside the Hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius at the port of Rotterdam. AFP / NICOLAS TUCAT Favipiravir delivered from Japan to UK for experimental hantavirus treatment, UKHSA confirms Drug use is experimental, with limited evidence and no established protocol, experts…
Source: Radio New Zealand Associate Professor Sarah Kessans with protein crystallisation experiments sent to the International Space Station in 2024. Claire Concannon / RNZ Researchers from the University of Canterbury have created a shoebox-sized laboratory designed to help develop better medicines in space. The fully-automated lab means biotechnology experiments can be conducted in microgravity, between…
Source: Radio New Zealand AFP/ Thibaut Durand/ Hans Lucas The head of the dental association says some clinics are waiting as long as a year to employ a dentist, and are having to close temporarily or even permanently. NZDA chief executive Dr Mo Amso told Nine to Noon the number of dentists coming through the…
Source: Radio New Zealand RNZ The government is set to announce proposals which RNZ understands will seek to reduce the number of government agencies, with amalgamation, more work on digitisation and using AI, and setting a target to reduce the public service headcount to 1 percent of the total population by 2029. There are 42…
Source: Radio New Zealand The pension only covers the basics. (File photo) 123rf As the cost of living climbs and Trump’s war on Iran drives fuel costs sky-high, how are Kiwis coping? What are they doing without? How are they saving money? An RNZ series examines the ways it’s impacting different groups. The increasing cost…
Source: Radio New Zealand The pension only covers the basics. (File photo) 123rf The increasing cost of living is hurting most, but those on fixed incomes have even less room to move with some forced to forego coffee and meat. Petrol and oil prices have crept exponentially higher after the war in Iran, while statistics…
Source: Radio New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Education Minister Erica Stanford reveal a $131 million education package. RNZ / Samuel Rillstone School leaders say the government is better to spend up on teacher development rather than workbooks if it wants to improve kids’ reading, writing and maths. Education Minister Erica Stanford on Monday…