Category: Evening Report

ER Report: Here is a summary of significant articles published on EveningReport.nz on March 31, 2026.

First Nations rehabilitation programs aren’t keeping people out of prison. Here’s what would help
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney There are unprecedented numbers of First Nations people in prisons. In Australia, 37% of adults and 60% of young people aged 10-17 behind bars are First Nations, despite making up 3.4% and 6.2% of the Australian population respectively.

Druski’s viral whiteface skit isn’t racism. It’s satire that punches up at power
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor of History and Associate Head (Research) of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University American comedian Druski has gone viral with a short parody video titled “How Conservative Women in America Act”. In it, Druski plays a character whose costumes, make-up

Social media giants are not complying with under-16s social media ban, new report finds
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University Nearly four months into Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, the online regulator today released its first detailed compliance update report on how the world-first policy is progressing. eSafety’s report comes

New Israeli law could mean death penalty by default for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, this week passed legislation that would vastly expand capital punishment in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories. The changes, made via an amendment to Israel’s penal law, allow for executions without proper appeal, pardons

Her song features in Ryan Gosling’s hit movie, but Erima Maewa Kaihau was once a star too
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Austin Haynes, PhD Candidate, School of Arts and Media, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Hollywood science fiction blockbuster Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, opened to generally positive reviews and strong box office receipts, but in Aotearoa New Zealand it made news for another

Exploding head syndrome: the surprisingly common condition with a terrifying name
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flavie Waters, Research Professor, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia Have you ever been drifting off to sleep when suddenly you hear what sounds like a gunshot, a door slamming, or an explosion inside your head? You jolt awake, heart pounding, sit upright in

‘We’re doing something about it’ – Fiji’s health minister defends HIV response
By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist Fiji’s Health Minister Dr Ratu Antonio Lalabalavu has defended the government’s handling of the country’s HIV crisis. HIV is surging in Fiji with at least 9000 people — or nearly one percent of the population — reported to be now infected. There are concerns that the real figure

Israel passes extreme death penalty law targeting only Palestinians
By Minnah Arshad of Zeteo Israel’s Parliament has approved a one-sided death penalty measure to execute Palestinians. It is one of the most extreme laws in the nation’s history, and will exacerbate the far-right government’s illegal system of apartheid. Some members of the Knesset, including ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, were seen wearing noose

‘My head feels clearer’: how citizen science can improve people’s health
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Fuller, Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of Queensland The two of us can often be found in a patch of scrubby bushland, phone in hand, slowly scanning for plants. Or crouched behind a tree trunk with binoculars, pausing mid-breath to find the source of

There may be 10 times as many citizen scientists in Australia as we thought – and that’s great news for science
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Smith, Adjunct Associate Professor in Marine Science, James Cook University Until recently, the number of citizen scientists in Australia was estimated at between 100,000 and 130,000 people. But this is a major underestimate. My survey of about 20 key organisations suggests there are likely more than

Apple at 50: eight technology leaps that changed our world
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Dalton, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science, Northumbria University, Newcastle In the early 1970s, the idea of an ordinary person owning a computer sounded absurd. Computers back then were more like aircraft carriers or nuclear power plants than household appliances – vast machines housed

Heat shield safety concerns raise stakes for Nasa’s Artemis II Moon mission
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ed Macaulay, Lecturer in Physics and Data Science, Queen Mary University of London The astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are preparing to launch into space on a trajectory that will make them the first humans to travel to the Moon in over

First European case of H9N2 bird flu reported in Italy – what you need to know
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ed Hutchinson, Professor, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, University of Glasgow The first human case of H9N2 influenza virus (bird flu) has been reported in Europe. A human infection was recorded by the Italian Ministry of Health on March 25, 2026. As an influenza virologist,

George Eliot is best known for Middlemarch, but she also wrote an early work of science fiction
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Murray, Lecturer, The University of Western Australia George Eliot – the pen name of Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans – is celebrated today as a writer of realist novels: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Middlemarch (1871) and Daniel Deronda (1876). We don’t

Do peptides improve workout performance? A nutrition expert explains the science
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leonidas Karagounis, Professor Research Translation & Enterprise, Australian Catholic University Peptides are widely marketed as a kind of “holy grail” for workout recovery and physical performance. You may have seen advertisements online claiming these supplements can significantly boost muscle growth, eliminate joint pain, and accelerate recovery times.

Public health providers have to obey strict cyber security rules – so should private contractors
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gehan Gunasekara, Professor of Commercial Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Following a series of significant health data breaches, the government released a cyber security strategy and action plan to establish a national framework for responding to escalating cyber threats. The strategy covers New Zealand’s critical

Focusing on how and why you eat – not just what – may be the key to healthy eating
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nina Van Dyke, Associate Professor and Associate Director, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University When most people think about “healthy eating”, they usually focus on what they eat. That might mean trying to eat more fruit and vegetables or less fast food, or counting calories. But there’s a lot

Strongest evidence yet that vaping likely causes cancer
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Stewart, Professor, Paediatrics and Child Health, UNSW Sydney As early as the 1880s, there was evidence that smoking tobacco damaged your lungs. But it took almost 100 years to definitively show that smoking causes lung cancer. So, what about vapes? Until now, most research that has

Is E10 fuel bad for my car? And could it save me money?
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zachary Aman, Professor of Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia Fuel has become a precious, and increasingly expensive, commodity. The ongoing Middle East conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off 20% of the world’s oil supplies. This, coupled with tit-for-tat attacks on key

‘Mum and Dad both finished school in Year 10’– how to help first-in-family students graduate from uni
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Patfield, Lecturer, Teachers and Teaching Research Centre, School of Education, University of Newcastle Each year, about 30% of new undergraduates in Australia are the first in their families to go to university. This means their parents do not have a university-level qualification. Often, they also don’t

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/er-report-a-roundup-of-significant-articles-on-eveningreport-nz-for-march-31-2026/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa M. Given, Professor of Information Sciences & Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, RMIT University

Nearly four months into Australia’s social media ban for under-16s, the online regulator today released its first detailed compliance update report on how the world-first policy is progressing.

eSafety’s report comes at a crucial time, with many other countries eyeing the progress of the ban. Since the ban took effect on December 10 last year, I have spoken with journalists from Canada, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Everyone asks two questions: how successful is the ban, and are children still accessing social media platforms?

The new report paints a complicated picture – and leaves other key questions about the social media ban unanswered.

A number of compliance concerns

The report acknowledges social media companies have taken “some steps” to comply with the social media legislation (which restricts account holders to those aged 16 and older). Some 4.7 million accounts were removed by mid-January and another 310,000 by early March.

However, the report also highlights “compliance concerns” in four key areas:

1. Messaging to under-16s on some platforms encouraged children to attempt age assurance even where they declared themselves to be underage

2. Some platforms enabled under-16s to repeatedly attempt the same age-assurance method to ultimately pass age checks

3. Pathways for reporting age-restricted accounts have generally not been accessible and effective, particularly for parents

4. Some platforms appear not to have done enough to prevent under-16s having accounts.

The report explains the eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, is now investigating Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube for “potential non-compliance”. None of these companies has yet been fined. A decision about any enforcement action will be made by the middle of the year.

The report comes a week after the Australian government registered a new legislative rule to ensure the definition of social media platforms includes those “that have addictive or otherwise harmful design features”. These include:

• infinite scroll, which shows new content with no end point
• feedback features, such as displaying “likes” or “upvotes”, which can pressure people to compare themselves to others, and
• time-limited features such as disappearing “stories” that create a sense of urgency and encourage constant checking.

This rule change was implemented in the same week Meta and Google (parent companies of Instagram and YouTube) were found liable by a jury in the United States for the addictive features of their social media platforms.

A ‘constantly evolving’ landscape

The removal of more than 5 million accounts in four months sounds impressive. But this does not equal the number of social media users.

Many people hold several social media accounts. So it remains unclear how many children under 16 still remain on one or more platforms. The report also doesn’t detail how many new accounts children created since the legislation was implemented.

The report also does not estimate the number of under-16s who now use alternative platforms. However, there have been reports of a significant spike in downloads of non-mainstream platforms (such as RedNote, Yope and Lemon8) since December.

The report acknowledges the social media landscape is “constantly evolving” and that it’s impossible to maintain a complete list of platforms that fall under the age restrictions. However, eSafety does maintain a list of the initial platforms included under the ban legislation, and those that have self-identified and agreed to comply. These include Bluesky, dating platforms (such as Tinder) and Lemon8, but other platforms remain accessible to under-16s.

Since December, there have also been questions about whether Australia’s ban should extend to other platforms.

Reports point to the legislation’s “loophole” for gaming apps and exclusions for messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as other platforms that include social networking features.

Roblox, which was initially considered under the ban and then exempted, has also made headlines related to child safety.

It is currently being reviewed by the government over concerns about child grooming.

Unanswered questions

As eSafety continues to investigate issues related to compliance with the legislation, several key questions remain unanswered.

One is to do with the “reasonable steps” social media companies must take to comply with social media age restrictions. The report says this is “ultimately a question for the courts to determine”. It also explains that defining what steps are reasonable must be considered “in the context of the platform’s service, technological feasibility, and the regulatory landscape”.

But if a company uses age-assurance technologies, whose inbuilt error rates allow some children to slip through the checks, will that company be considered to have taken reasonable steps to control account access?

A second question is whether eSafety will extend its compliance checks beyond the five mainstream platforms currently being investigated.

As new platforms are launched, and as children continue to seek new ways to connect with peers online, the potential spaces where they can encounter harm continues to grow. Is self-assessment by technology companies sufficient to enforce legislation intended to apply to all platforms that meet the definition of an age-restricted platform?

Finally, will the government continue to add new rules to keep kids safe?

One key limitation experts like me have highlighted since 2024 is that restricting access to accounts does not address the actual harms posed by content, algorithms and other platform features.

The government has completed consultation on its digital duty of care legislation. But it is still unclear when this legislation will be introduced.

The new report on social media restrictions shows there is a long road ahead for compliance. And if we want to fully address the harms posed by these platforms, new legislation that actually targets the root problems is needed.

– ref. Social media giants are not complying with under-16s social media ban, new report finds – https://theconversation.com/social-media-giants-are-not-complying-with-under-16s-social-media-ban-new-report-finds-279555

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/social-media-giants-are-not-complying-with-under-16s-social-media-ban-new-report-finds-279555/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor of History and Associate Head (Research) of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Deakin University

American comedian Druski has gone viral with a short parody video titled “How Conservative Women in America Act”.

In it, Druski plays a character whose costumes, make-up and activities all resemble those of right-wing activist Erika Kirk, widow of former Turning Point CEO Charlie Kirk – whose role she has taken up.

Conservatives are up in arms, predictably. Many are calling it racism or reverse racism. Imagine, they declare, how fast a white man would be cancelled if he were to don blackface to send up the activities of an African American widow.

But this backlash misses the point. Blackface and whiteface are not opposite and equal.

Blackface punches down. Whiteface can’t

Whiteface draws attention to the privileges and protections that whiteness allows.

It uses exaggeration – in this case the ordering of not just coffee, but a “sweet cream foam chai ice matcha” with an “organic pup cup” for the fluffy pet – to draw attention to how gaudy and obviously performative the elite white class can be.

The joke in whiteface comedy is not “this person is white”, but “this person is protected, entitled and used to being in control”.

That privilege can even extend to white people who aren’t especially wealthy, as Druski has explored in other whiteface videos. In “Guy who is just proud to be an American”, the comedian portrays a stereotypical, ultra-patriotic NASCAR fan, whose racist and misogynistic remarks are egged on by his white peers.

Druski shows how his character’s feelings of superiority come from a very deliberate set of conditions and environments that produce his whiteness.

Key to the distinction between whiteface and blackface is simply the relative power of the groups being parodied.

Blackface minstrelsy emerged in the United States in the 1830s – just as slavery began to disappear – as a mass entertainment form that degraded Black people. White performers used burnt cork on their faces, and painted on enlarged red lips and white eyes, to create offensive caricatures.

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Most white people embraced the new stereotypes, wanting to maintain a cheap labour force and cling to the feeling of superiority they gave them.

Blackface soon became the most popular form of entertainment all over the English-speaking world, including in Australia, New Zealand and Britain. It remained a mainstay of popular culture in movies, on television and even on radio, as late as the 1970s.

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Whiteface, by contrast, is a prime example of what anthropologist James Scott called “weapons of the weak” – an idea taken up by historians of African American labour and social life, such as Robin D. G. Kelley in his work Race Rebels.

Rather than just reversing blackface, whiteface aims to expose whiteness as a social and historical performance with material consequences. In doing so, it calls into question any sense that racial inequality is natural.

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Whiteface emerged before blackface

This method of undermining white people’s authority goes all the way back to slavery in colonial North America. For example, in 1772, in the city of Charleston, South Carolina, a group of about 60 enslaved Black people gathered for a party.

Thinking themselves in private, they mocked their white owners in an elongated performance including dress, speech and dance.

Annual one-day festivals or parades, which took place from the 1740s up until the Civil War provided similar opportunities for enslaved people in North America to come together for rare celebrations. Participants performed rituals – such as electing a Black person to be king or governor for a day – that demonstrated a deep understanding of white society.

Some white onlookers regarded these performances as merely poor imitations. Many, however, were unsettled when they saw that the people they had enslaved understood white society all too well.

Discomfort is the point

White onlookers of African American comedy have likewise been made uncomfortable, since at least Richard Pryor’s stand-up shows of the 1970s. Nobody who ever saw Pryor send up white people’s walking, eating, cussing, or indeed their ideas about race and safety, can ever forget them.

Pryor’s collaborator Paul Mooney, also a Black comedian, once said:

My job is to make white people mad. They have to learn how to laugh at themselves.

A more recent example comes from actor Maya Rudolph, who impersonated Donatella Versace in a series of early 2000s TV skits. Whiteface enabled her to exaggerate the signs of elite whiteness by portraying a camp, hyper-mediated version of European white femininity. In this context, whiteness becomes costume drama.

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Exposing white fragility and grievance

This is the tradition Druski belongs in. His over-the-top portrayal of affluent and conservative white women compels viewers to notice the artifice of the performance.

His target is not women in general, but a rich, entitled figure who turns privilege into threatened innocence and then demands protection from racialised “dangers” she and other people like her have largely invented.

The complaint about “racism” draws a false equivalence between Druski’s satire and centuries of anti-Black racism. It also aims to distract from white women’s electoral power, including their majority allegiance to the Republican Party.

What the complaint really shows, as Paul Mooney might have said, is that too many white people are still refusing to laugh at themselves.

– ref. Druski’s viral whiteface skit isn’t racism. It’s satire that punches up at power – https://theconversation.com/druskis-viral-whiteface-skit-isnt-racism-its-satire-that-punches-up-at-power-279460

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/druskis-viral-whiteface-skit-isnt-racism-its-satire-that-punches-up-at-power-279460/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shannon Bosch, Associate Professor (Law), Edith Cowan University

Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, this week passed legislation that would vastly expand capital punishment in Israel and in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The changes, made via an amendment to Israel’s penal law, allow for executions without proper appeal, pardons or meaningful judicial discretion.

According to media reports, 62 of 120 Knesset members voted in favour of the bill on Monday, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and 48 voted against. The remainder absented themselves from the vote or abstained.

UN experts and Amnesty International have warned these new death sentencing rules would apply almost exclusively to Palestinians.

It would, they argue, entrench discrimination already identified by the International Court of Justice as amounting to apartheid. UN experts said of the bill:

Since Israeli military trials of civilians typically do not meet fair trial standards under international human rights law and humanitarian law, any resulting death sentence would further violate the right to life […] Denial of a fair trial is also a war crime.

This development is a significant change for Israel, which has not executed anyone for more than 60 years. It reverses decades of global movement towards abolition, while normalising executions in an occupied territory.

Death penalty as the default

These changes were made via legislation brought by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and his far-right Otzma Yehudit party.

The Penal Bill (Amendment ― Death Penalty for Terrorists) amends both Israeli civil law (applicable to Israeli settlers) and Israeli military law (applicable to Palestinians) in the occupied West Bank.

The law states, according to a Deutsche Welle media report:

Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted of terrorism in military courts will face a mandatory death sentence or, in the wording of the bill “his sentence shall be death, and this penalty only.” Only if the court determines that there are “special reasons” can it then commute the death sentence to life in prison.

Under this change:

• prosecutors do not need to request the death penalty
• the defence minister may submit an opinion to the judicial panel of three military officials who only need a simple majority to impose the death penalty
• judges need to record exceptional reasons for imposing a life sentence over the death penalty
• avenues for appeal would be tightly restricted
• there would be no possibility of a pardon
• people sentenced to death would be detained in isolated facilities that would have restricted visitor access, with legal counsel only by video link
• executions (by hanging) would take place within 90 days of the final judgement.

Another yet-to-be-passed bill that may still be brought before the Knesset – the Prosecution of Participants in the October 7 Massacre Events Bill – would also see more death sentences handed down.

It establishes ad hoc military tribunals with retrospective jurisdiction to prosecute those accused of participating in the October 7 2023 Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel.

These tribunals would:

• consist of a retired district court judge and two officers qualified to serve as judges
• be authorised to depart from ordinary rules around evidence and procedure
• be able to impose the death penalty via a simple majority, without prosecutors requesting it.

Appeals and clemency mechanisms would again be extremely limited.

Taken together, the two amendments significantly expand the scope of capital punishment in Israel. They also remove many procedural safeguards.

Supporters argue capital punishment could deter future attacks and preclude hostage-taking for prisoner exchanges.

Yet, historically, Israel’s intelligence services have opposed death sentences. They have argued it may encourage armed groups to kidnap Israelis as bargaining chips to prevent executions.

International humanitarian law

Critics have argued the new changes place Israel in breach of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.

As critics point out, Israel’s new death penalty rules limit access to legal counsel. They also:

• restrict appeals
• allows trials before ad hoc military tribunals for new capital offences
• mandate executions be carried out within 90 days.

This all runs counter to international humanitarian law.

Significant legal concerns are raised by Israel enforcing new capital offences in the occupied territory after the International Court of Justice concluded Israel’s occupation violates international law and must cease.

These concerns are compounded by longstanding criticisms of Israeli military courts in the occupied West Bank, where conviction rates for Palestinian defendants reportedly exceed 99%.

International human rights law

Under international human rights law people should be guaranteed equality before the law and protected from discrimination.

But the changes passed by the Knesset this week subject Palestinians to death sentences as the default, while Israeli citizens accused of killing Palestinians would appear before civil courts. Here, capital punishment would be discretionary and far more limited. This entrenches a discriminatory system.

Critics argue this amounts to collective punishment against Palestinians, which is prohibited under the Geneva Convention.

The European Union has warned that executions through hanging would also violate the absolute prohibition on cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

Taken together, the two new amendments normalise state-sanctioned executions and violate Israel’s obligations under international law.

– ref. New Israeli law could mean death penalty by default for Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks – https://theconversation.com/new-israeli-law-could-mean-death-penalty-by-default-for-palestinians-convicted-of-deadly-attacks-279458

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/new-israeli-law-could-mean-death-penalty-by-default-for-palestinians-convicted-of-deadly-attacks-279458/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Austin Haynes, PhD Candidate, School of Arts and Media, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington

Hollywood science fiction blockbuster Project Hail Mary, starring Ryan Gosling, opened to generally positive reviews and strong box office receipts, but in Aotearoa New Zealand it made news for another reason.

Local audiences were surprised, and seemingly delighted, by the movie’s soundtrack featuring a song in te reo Māori, alongside tracks by the Beatles and Harry Styles.

The waiata (song) in question is a version of Pō Atarau, sung by the Turakina Māori Girls Choir, a bittersweet song of farewell. In a film about a human and an alien learning each other’s language and coming to care for each other, it is also remarkably fitting.

Known and loved by many, Pō Atarau first appeared in the mid-1910s when Māori words were added to the tune of a popular piano piece known as the Swiss Cradle Song composed by Australian Clement Scott.

The waiata circulated within Aotearoa as Pō Atarau or Haere Rā and was often included in cultural performances for tourists. Visiting Rotorua in the 1940s, British actress and singer Gracie Fields heard the song sung at the home of tourist guide Rangitīaria Dennan.

It soon shot to worldwide fame, performed in English as The Māori Farewell or Now is the Hour, recorded by various artists including Fields, Bing Crosby and Vera Lynn. But despite the song’s extraordinary popularity, most people know little about the woman credited with its lyrics and adapted tune, Erima Maewa Kaihau (1879–1941).

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In her day, Kaihau was a well-known composer and singer. She was one of the first Māori composers to have her songs published and to gain wide recognition in the Pākehā (European) world.

But she was also a woman with considerable political mana (authority). A kind of cultural “broker”, she used her music and voice to foster understanding between Māori and Pākehā.

My research involves reconstructing Kaihau’s story and music. As an opera singer, I have sung her songs many times. And as a poet and translator working in te reo Māori, I return often to her hauntingly evocative words.

Being a Pākehā New Zealander, Kaihau also offers me an example of how song and literature can be used to foster connections between the Māori and Pākehā worlds in general.

But she has been strangely overlooked despite her talent and significance. I have discovered forgotten manuscripts and unpublished songs by Kaihau that have lain unnoticed or miscatalogued in archives across the country.

By piecing her story back together, I want to show what her music and life can tell us about how wāhine Māori used waiata as tools of diplomacy – to express their own mana, and to build relationships between peoples.

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Between worlds

For those who take the time to listen to her, Kaihau offers a vision of what it means to live with and to love one another on these islands we call home.

Born in 1879 with the name Louisa Flavell, she grew up in Whangaroa in Northland. Part of a prominent Pākehā-Māori family, she belonged to the Ngāpuhi iwi (tribe) in the north and to the Ngāti Te Ata iwi around Waiuku near Auckland.

She traced her descent from prominent ancestors from both tribes, including her great-grandfather Ururoa, a rangatira who signed the 1835 Māori Declaration of Independence.

As a teenager, Maewa (the name she most often chose to be known by) and her family moved from Northland to live with relatives in Waiuku, where they discovered most of their ancestral land had been confiscated. Like neighbouring Waikato, this was a Māori community still reeling from the Crown’s invasion and land confiscations in the 1860s.

She later married Hēnare Kaihau, a politician and rangatira of Ngāti Te Ata who was chief advisor to the Māori King Mahuta. She attended political hui (meetings) alongside her husband and occasionally on her own – always impeccably dressed, and often one of the only wāhine (women) present.

We don’t know when Kaihau started composing, but her earliest published songs were printed in 1918. Many of her songs focused on unhappy lovers, but she also composed and published a number of songs of welcome and farewell used when foreign dignitaries visited Aotearoa.

In 1926, she even performed her songs for famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who was performing in New Zealand at the time. In 1927 she welcomed the Duke and Duchess of York with her song The Huia. In 1930, she farewelled and welcomed the wives of successive governors-general with her own compositions.

Kaihau’s work as a cultural guide flowed in both directions. In 1900, for example, she took King Mahuta (who spoke almost no English) to watch a performance of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operetta The Gondoliers – one can only imagine what he made of it.

Waiata diplomacy

Kaihau’s songs work as a kind of musical diplomacy. As a wahine Māori, to perform them allowed her to assert her right as tangata whenua to undertake the work of welcoming and farewelling.

Several of her published songs feature cover illustrations of Māori women waving off European-style ships.

Kaihau’s waiata also offer a vision of bicultural cooperation. Her lyrics draw freely from the poetic conventions of both Māori and European literatures. Her songs about unhappy lovers evoke the pre-European genre of waiata aroha as much as they echo English parlour songs of the day.

It is this quality of Kaihau’s music that Ngāi Tahu author Becky Manawatu noted when she referenced Akoako o te Rangi in her 2019 novel Auē. Manawatu has described the song as “strange and beautiful” and admitted she originally assumed it was composed by a Pākehā due to its peculiar style.

I think Kaihau’s rich and unique songs, which paint with both Pākehā and Māori palettes, are a key to her role as a diplomat for Māoridom.

They speak of the ties that bind, and the affection expressed at parting, in ways that weave together Pākehā and Māori emotional vocabularies, creating something new.

What might Erima Maewa Kaihau have made of her famous waiata featuring in a sci-fi epic about alien contact? Given her efforts to create a musical language that speaks across worlds and languages, I imagine she would be pleased.

– ref. Her song features in Ryan Gosling’s hit movie, but Erima Maewa Kaihau was once a star too – https://theconversation.com/her-song-features-in-ryan-goslings-hit-movie-but-erima-maewa-kaihau-was-once-a-star-too-279326

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/her-song-features-in-ryan-goslings-hit-movie-but-erima-maewa-kaihau-was-once-a-star-too-279326/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flavie Waters, Research Professor, School of Psychological Science, The University of Western Australia

Have you ever been drifting off to sleep when suddenly you hear what sounds like a gunshot, a door slamming, or an explosion inside your head? You jolt awake, heart pounding, sit upright in bed, but the room is silent.

Nothing has happened – but it felt very real.

This experience has a dramatic name: exploding head syndrome.

Despite the alarming name, it’s not dangerous, not painful, and not a sign something is wrong with the brain.

What is it?

Exploding head syndrome is a type of sleep disorder known as a parasomnia.

Parasomnias are unusual experiences that occur while sleeping or during transitions between sleep and wakefulness.

In exploding head syndrome, a person “hears” a sudden noise that seem to originate from deep inside the head. It’s a sensory perception generated by the brain rather than an external sound.

It typically occurs when drifting in or out of sleep, most commonly when a person is drowsy and about to fall asleep.

People commonly describe a sudden bang or loud metallic noise, gunshots, an explosion, crashing waves, buzzing electricity, a door slamming, or fireworks.

Exploding head syndrome can be intensely frightening. The loud noise may be accompanied by other sensations, including a brief stab of pain in the head (though it’s normally painless), flashes of light, out-of-body sensations, or the sensation of electricity coursing through the body.

The episode only lasts for a split second or a few seconds, and typically disappears completely once the person wakes up. Some people experience only a single episode, while others may have occasional episodes or brief clusters before the condition settles.

Because the experience is so sudden and unusual, many fear they’ve had a stroke or seizure, or that something catastrophic has happened. Others interpret it as a supernatural or ominous event.

The distress is caused not by pain, but by confusion and the body’s alarm response. The brain is partially awake, disoriented, and briefly activates the fight-or-flight system.

What causes it?

We don’t know the exact cause, but researchers have proposed several theories.

Because episodes occur during the transition into and out of sleep, they may be related to the same processes that produce what are known as hypnagogic hallucinations (vivid sensory experiences you can get while falling asleep).

As we fall asleep, different parts of the brain gradually switch off in a coordinated sequence.

In exploding head syndrome, that process may be linked to the shutting down of neural systems that inhibit auditory sensory processing. Your brain may end up interpreting this as a loud sound.

A related theory proposes a brief reduction in activity of the brainstem, particularly the reticular activating system (which is involved in regulating transitions between wakefulness and sleep).

Exploding head syndrome typically does not involve pain, and is therefore different from headaches and migraines.

The syndrome’s distinct features also makes epilepsy an unlikely explanation for most people.

How common is it?

Exploding head syndrome is more common than you may think.

It occurs in at least 10% of the population, and around 30% of people will experience it at least once in their lifetime.

It can occur at any age, often after the age of 50. It may be slightly more common in women, but we don’t know why.

Exploding head syndrome is more likely in people who have other sleep disturbances, such as insomnia or sleep paralysis.

It is also associated with:

How is it treated?

Exploding head syndrome is harmless and not a sign of a serious brain problem. Episodes are usually brief, and may occur sporadically or in brief clusters before resolving on their own.

Once people are reassured the condition is not harmful and not a sign of brain damage or serious disease, episodes may become less frightening and frequent.

Medications are considered if episodes are frequent and very distressing but there haven’t been any large clinical trials that can guide treatment. Some sufferers have benefited from medications such as such as clomipramine but the evidence is limited, and more research is needed.

More commonly, treatment consists of reassurance and improving sleep habits. Some people report that addressing sleep problems such as insomnia, reducing tiredness and practising mindfulness and breathing techniques can help.

Generally harmless

In 1619 French philosopher René Descartes described having three dreams he regarded as a sign of divine revelation. In one, he heard a loud sound and saw a bright flash of light when he woke up. Some researchers have suggested what he was really experiencing was exploding head syndrome.

Despite its dramatic name, exploding head syndrome is harmless. For many people, the most effective intervention is understanding what it is – and knowing that it is not dangerous.

Although it is generally harmless, you should seek medical advice if episodes occur frequently, impact on your quality of life or are causing distress. Consult a doctor if they are painful, or associated with seizures, prolonged confusion, loss of consciousness or severe headache.

– ref. Exploding head syndrome: the surprisingly common condition with a terrifying name – https://theconversation.com/exploding-head-syndrome-the-surprisingly-common-condition-with-a-terrifying-name-276273

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/exploding-head-syndrome-the-surprisingly-common-condition-with-a-terrifying-name-276273/

By Margot Staunton, RNZ Pacific senior journalist

Fiji’s Health Minister Dr Ratu Antonio Lalabalavu has defended the government’s handling of the country’s HIV crisis.

HIV is surging in Fiji with at least 9000 people — or nearly one percent of the population — reported to be now infected.

There are concerns that the real figure could be significantly higher, with global health experts saying HIV is historically under-reported.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) believes the country has been gripped by an “escalating HIV outbreak”.

The island nation declared an HIV outbreak in January last year, with the government calling it “a national crisis” and regional health experts warning that it could spread across the region.

Dr Lalabalavu told Pacific Waves that despite the rising tide of infection the government’s response to the crisis had been “responsible”.

“Look at the [HIV] trend and how it started, it goes way back to 2017, 2018. We are the government that recognised it and now we are doing something about it.”

Budget allocation
The government allocated FJ$10 million (US$4.4 million) in last year’s Budget towards initiatives designed to tackle the problem, he said.

“From last year there have been government initiatives put in place to ensure that we do try and get this under control.”

“In 2025, Fiji recorded 2003 new diagnoses, up from 1583 in 2024, with the national rate diagnosis rising to 226 per 100,000, up from 13 per 100,000 in 2019 — a 17-fold increase,” he said.

“Men remain more affected, but the gap is narrowing, showing that infection is increasingly affecting women and families.”

On top of that, a new trend has emerged showing that the number of HIV-positive newborns is on the rise, according to the head of Fiji’s National HIV Outbreak and Cluster Response team, Dr Jason Mitchell.

Sixty babies were born with HIV last year, up from 31 cases in 2024 and more than 3 percent of women attending antenatal care in Fiji were testing positive for HIV, with the number slightly higher in the capital, Suva, Dr Mitchell said.

One baby is being diagnosed with HIV every week due to mother-to-child transmission, and one child is dying every month from advanced HIV disease.

Mother-to-child transmission
Mother-to-baby transmission is a growing concern, according to treatment support worker Dashika Balak.

“They (the mothers) test negatively initially but over the course of the pregnancy they acquire HIV,” Balak said.

“This is a new trend that we are seeing, because these women may not have risky behaviours but most of the partners are injecting drug users and in pregnancy people do have sex.”

Testing during pregnancy is now underway to reduce the risk of transmission to babies, she said.

Dr Lalabalavu has admitted that sexual promiscuity and drug use among youth in particular are huge contributing factors in the HIV epidemic.

Asked exactly how the government planned to address this, he said “a behavioural change programme” was needed to ensure that happens.

“It is part of the plan, you need good planning and a programme to ensure that is implemented across the board,” he said.

“It is not just something for the Ministry of Health, it’s for the various ministries, important stakeholders, the vanua, the church and the family in general.”

“We will have to tread carefully in terms of how it is accepted within the community, and also we need to look into the legal aspect of it. So we are in the final stages of ensuring that the programme is endorsed.”

Cultural and religious beliefs played a part in the sensitivity around the issue in Fiji, he said.

“First of all, you need to create awareness that by doing this we are not advocating for drug use. That is the challenge and the narrative that we need the general public are aware of,” he said.

“Right now we are looking at avenues to ensure that we get the message to important stakeholders such as the community, the vanua, and religious-based organisations that are here.”

“We want to tap into their capabilities so they can, together with the ministry, pass this message along to their congregations and to the public at large,” he said.

Echoing this, Mitchell told Fiji’s state broadcaster that introducing the programme would not be easy, given the negative reactions in the past when condom use and family planning were phased in.

He said health officials were accused of promoting promiscuity among youth, when they were responding to public health needs.

However, he stressed that the needle and syringe programme was crucial to reducing HIV and Hepatitis C infections in the country.

Needle sharing is described as widespread in group settings, leading to infection clusters within families and communities.

The Health Minister said he expected that by the time the programme went public, it would be well accepted by the people.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/were-doing-something-about-it-fijis-health-minister-defends-hiv-response/

By Minnah Arshad of Zeteo

Israel’s Parliament has approved a one-sided death penalty measure to execute Palestinians.

It is one of the most extreme laws in the nation’s history, and will exacerbate the far-right government’s illegal system of apartheid.

Some members of the Knesset, including ultranationalist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, were seen wearing noose pins in the Knesset yesterday, and celebrating with champagne on live TV after the bill passed.

Ben-Gvir said hanging is “one of the options,” as is execution by the electric chair or euthanasia.

The law was passed with 62 votes to 48 in its final reading.

The bill drew international condemnation ahead of its passage, including from the European Union, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese, and Amnesty International. Human rights groups have vowed to challenge the bill in Israel’s Supreme Court.

The legislation, which has garnered broad public support in Israel, authorises executions for “terrorists” who kill “with the intent to deny the existence of the State of Israel,” according to Haaretz — effectively ensuring it won’t apply to any of the settlers who routinely murder Palestinians.

‘Confessions’ by torture
In military courts in the occupied West Bank, execution by hanging will now be the default punishment for terrorism. Only Palestinians are tried in these courts, and 96 percent of people are convicted, though cases are largely built on “confessions” extracted through torture.

The International Centre of Justice for Palestinians condemned the bill yesterday ahead of the vote as an “extreme escalation in Israel’s genocidal policies against Palestinians”.

“The progression of the legislation marks not just a profoundly unjust and illegal act of discrimination under international law, but a far more sinister escalation of Israel’s apartheid legal systems,” the center wrote.

[embedded content]
Israeli Knesset death penalty for Palestinians.       Video: Al Jazeera

Israel is currently imprisoning about 9500 Palestinians, according to the human rights group B’Tselem, and about half of them are held under administrative detention.

According to the group, the Israel Prison Service has already started to prepare designated execution facilities.

B’Tselem on Sunday called the bill “another official killing mechanism” that will further normalise the slaughter of Palestinians, as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza and intensifies attacks in the occupied West Bank.

Human rights violation
“The death penalty is a total violation of the most basic human rights, primarily, the right to life,” B’Tselem wrote.

“Israel enforces a comprehensive policy of killing and oppression against the Palestinian people in all the territories it controls. The Death Penalty Law gives Israel’s apartheid regime yet another tool for advancing that policy.”

On top of Monday’s bill, the Knesset is also considering another death penalty measure to impose on alleged October 7, 2023, attackers.

According to Amnesty International, that bill would effectively expand the unilateral powers of military judges and eliminate judicial safeguards.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/israel-passes-extreme-death-penalty-law-targeting-only-palestinians/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Fuller, Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of Queensland

The two of us can often be found in a patch of scrubby bushland, phone in hand, slowly scanning for plants. Or crouched behind a tree trunk with binoculars, pausing mid-breath to find the source of a bird call. It often feels like a treasure hunt. What will turn up today? And how can we share those observations with the world?

Activities such as these are part of citizen science, where volunteers record observations of the natural world and share them with others.

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Science lives far beyond the lab, and it’s not just done by scientists.

In this series, we spotlight the world of citizen science – its benefits, discoveries and how you can participate.

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We are both professional ecologists, but our most joyful moments with nature often begin with a simple act: stepping outside and paying attention to it. And our research suggests these experiences may do more than support science. They may also benefit our mental health.

Some days it’s a common species we’ve seen a hundred times before. Other days it’s something unexpected that brings a surge of excitement.

Being outside like this can feel freeing. You focus on the present, move your body and think about where to place your feet, without worrying about your email inbox or endless other demands on your attention. You begin noticing small details you might usually rush past.

That sense of curiosity, connection and shared purpose is something many people recognise when they take part in citizen science.

Supporting mental wellbeing

Citizen science projects invite people to collect data about the natural world.

Platforms such as eBird, iNaturalist, FrogID and Redmap allow anyone armed with curiosity and a smartphone to record wildlife observations and contribute to scientific research. Millions of people around the world now take part in these kinds of projects.

In a recent study of citizen science participants, we examined how taking part in wildlife monitoring projects affects people’s mental wellbeing.

Participants consistently described feeling better after taking part. One volunteer told us:

I come home tired, but it’s a good tired. My head feels clearer, like I’ve pressed reset.

Another explained that learning to identify species changed how they experienced everyday walks:

I don’t just see “green” anymore. Now I notice the differences between plants, their ecological value and the pressures they face.

Part of the explanation is simple: spending time in nature is already known to reduce stress, improve mood and support mental wellbeing.

But citizen science goes a step further.

Rather than simply visiting a park, people actively engage with the environment. They observe closely, record what they see and contribute to something larger than themselves. This sense of purpose can deepen the benefits of being outside.

Citizen science is also inherently social. Many projects bring people together to collect data, share observations or learn from others. These interactions can help reduce social isolation, which is a major risk factor for poor mental health.

For some participants, particularly older adults, citizen science can also be empowering. It provides opportunities to use existing skills, learn new ones and feel that their contributions matter.

Taken together, elements of nature exposure, physical activity, learning and social connection create a powerful mix that supports wellbeing.

How you participate matters

Not all citizen science experiences are the same, and this may influence their health benefits.

In a 2025 study we explored this using a concept borrowed from public health called dose-response – how much participation is needed to produce benefits?

Three ingredients appear particularly important: frequency (how often someone takes part), duration (how long activities last) and intensity, which can include the richness of the environment, the diversity of species encountered or the depth of interaction between participants.

Short, one-off activities can still boost mood and encourage movement. But regular participation is more likely to produce longer-lasting benefits. Like exercise, small amounts done often may be better than one big effort followed by long gaps.

Citizen science can also bring physical health benefits. Many projects involve walking, bending, standing or light hiking. These activities support mobility and cardiovascular health.

For communities at risk of social isolation or physical inactivity, these benefits may be profoundly valuable.

How can citizen science do even more?

Despite this potential, most citizen science projects are not designed with health outcomes in mind. That means opportunities are being missed.

A 2025 study suggests even short nature-based citizen science activities can quickly improve mood and reduce stress.

Longer-term mental health conditions are influenced by many factors and usually require sustained support. Citizen science will not replace medical care. But it can help strengthen the foundations of wellbeing: positive emotions, physical activity, social connection and a sense of purpose.

At a population level, these building blocks matter. They build our ability to cope with challenges and recover from stress.

To maximise these benefits, citizen science projects must be inclusive. People who already feel connected to nature are more likely to take part.

But this is also the group that tends to report better mental and physical health, meaning participation can unintentionally reinforce existing health inequalities.

Field-based projects may unintentionally exclude people with mobility challenges, limited time or poor access to green space. Yet many of these individuals could contribute meaningfully if projects were designed with accessibility in mind.

Recognising citizen science not only as a research tool, but also as a way to support public health opens new opportunities.

When designed thoughtfully, citizen science can benefit both biodiversity and people. And for participants, it offers something simple but powerful: a reason to step outside, pay attention, and reconnect with the living world around them.

– ref. ‘My head feels clearer’: how citizen science can improve people’s health – https://theconversation.com/my-head-feels-clearer-how-citizen-science-can-improve-peoples-health-275426

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/my-head-feels-clearer-how-citizen-science-can-improve-peoples-health-275426/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adam Smith, Adjunct Associate Professor in Marine Science, James Cook University

Until recently, the number of citizen scientists in Australia was estimated at between 100,000 and 130,000 people.

But this is a major underestimate. My survey of about 20 key organisations suggests there are likely more than a million in Australia.

There are only a limited number of professional (paid) scientists. But anyone with a smartphone can log observations, and professional scientists increasingly work alongside citizen scientists to collect and analyse valuable conservation data.

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Science lives far beyond the lab, and it’s not just done by scientists.

In this series, we spotlight the world of citizen science – its benefits, discoveries and how you can participate.

---

Citizen science isn’t new. Perhaps the best-known citizen scientist was Charles Darwin, who neglected to finish his medical degree in favour of studying corals. Later, the prolific letter writer built a network of passionate naturalists and collected their observations to gather evidence for his theory of evolution.

But what is new is how easy it is to get involved – and how many people are now lending their time and skills to the cause. It opens up the possibility of science by the people, for the people.

How are citizen scientists contributing?

Melburnians may know the name Ferdinand von Mueller as the first director of the city’s Botanic Gardens. But Mueller started as a passionate botanist who migrated from Germany in 1847, determined to catalogue every plant species in Australia.

After years collecting samples, Mueller realised the task was too big. So he, like Darwin, set about building a network of passionate collectors. Over the next 40 years, more than 1,500 amateur botanists sent him samples. This helped Mueller catalogue hundreds of species new to Western science and produce the first comprehensive surveys of the continent’s vascular plants. Former Chief Scientist Alan Finkel believes Mueller effectively planted citizen science in this country.

Since then, citizen scientists have contributed significantly to science. In 1870, Victorian farmers identified the giant Gippsland earthworm and sent it to professional scientists for confirmation. In 1973, a central Queensland fencing contractor rediscovered the bridled nailtail wallaby (presumed extinct), while a Daintree grazier rediscovered the unique idiot fruit tree – which had not been formally recognised – after its fruit poisoned his cows.

In 1994, bushwalker and amateur botanist David Noble was exploring a remote canyon in the Wollemi National Park west of Sydney when he found the last remaining stand of a tree long thought extinct. The Wollemi pine (Wollemia nobilis) dates back to when dinosaurs roamed Earth.

Even now, passionate citizen scientists are still making new discoveries. In his free time, Jürgen Otto hunts for peacock spiders around Australia. He and his collaborators have named 64 species of the tiny, colourful spiders famed for their courtship displays. This year, Jan Pope and her daughter Sophie Kalkowski-Pope found a huge and unusual coral meadow in the Great Barrier Reef.

So what, exactly, is citizen science?

A good definition is “public participation and collaboration in scientific research with the aim to increase scientific knowledge”.

Key to this are core principles, such as active involvement of citizens in scientific endeavours that generate new knowledge and genuine scientific outcomes.

Earlier generations might have called citizen scientists “amateur naturalists”. The term citizen science became popular for its less binary framing. Some people prefer “community science”.

Another phrase is also gaining momentum. “Indigenous science” has clear overlap with Traditional Ecological Knowledge.

As Jingili man and zoologist Joe Sambono has observed, Indigenous science shouldn’t be set in opposition to Western science, given science is Latin for “to know”:

all groups of humans […] have recognised patterns, verified through repetition, made inferences and predictions and developed branches of knowledge that helped them to make sense of the world around them and their place within it.

Indigenous science is grounded in continuous, trans-generational, place-based observation built over tens of thousands of years. Cultural burning uses weather, fuel and ecological indicators to gently burn Country while supporting biodiversity, while seasonal calendars tied to flowering plants and wildlife movements shaped practical decisions about when to collect bush tucker, travel and care for Country.

In our experience, enduring insights emerge from the overlapping space between Indigenous, citizen and mainstream science.

Getting involved

Citizen science can be as simple as a keen birder posting sightings of a rare orange bellied parrot to eBird or a fisher posting a sighting of a bull shark to iNaturalist where citizen and professional scientists can see it.

But it can also be volunteering to help in large-scale practical projects organised by professional scientists. These include tracking bushfire recovery, reporting weed infestations, monitoring koalas or fishes, assessing microplastic hotspots and tracking water quality.

It took six years (2008–14) for Australian citizen scientists to collectively contribute 10,000 species observations on iNaturalist. Now, more than 10,000 are posted every day.

From a movement of volunteers to a trusted resource

When this flood of data began, some scientists were sceptical. Could it be trusted?

As time has passed, standardised data collection and guidance from professional scientists have built trust in the data.

Citizen science is now recognised for its contributions to health, astronomy, agriculture and – especially – nature conservation. Australia’s Strategy for Nature, Threatened Species Strategy and State of the Environment reports recognise the worth of citizen scientist data.

In an era of misinformation and declining trust in institutions, citizen science offers people a chance to engage directly with evidence and the natural world.

To date, little funding goes towards making the most of what citizen scientists can offer. Nationally, the government will spend A$15 billion on science this fiscal year. Of this, we estimate less than $10 million will go to citizen science.

What could citizen scientists do next?

Much more is possible. The million Australians involved in these projects are active in the world and interested in helping protect nature. These attributes mean they could take a large role in tackling climate change – especially at local and regional scales – by observing changes, working on projects to reduce emissions, and helping communities adapt to climate change.

To paraphrase the famous anthropologist and citizen scientist Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of citizen (scientists) can change the world – in fact it is the only thing that ever has.”

Stephanie von Gavel and Dr Annie Lane contributed to this article. They are the chair and immediate past chair of the Australian Citizen Science Association.

– ref. There may be 10 times as many citizen scientists in Australia as we thought – and that’s great news for science – https://theconversation.com/there-may-be-10-times-as-many-citizen-scientists-in-australia-as-we-thought-and-thats-great-news-for-science-267870

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/there-may-be-10-times-as-many-citizen-scientists-in-australia-as-we-thought-and-thats-great-news-for-science-267870/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Murray, Lecturer, The University of Western Australia

George Eliot – the pen name of Victorian novelist Mary Ann Evans – is celebrated today as a writer of realist novels: Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Middlemarch (1871) and Daniel Deronda (1876).

We don’t tend to associate her with science fiction. But in 1859, as she was embarking on her career as a novelist, Eliot published a short science-fiction novel titled The Lifted Veil.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) is often credited as the first “science fiction” novel, but in the mid-1800s the term was rare. It was used to describe literature depicting aspects of current scientific thought. It became popular as a genre term in the late 19th century, when it was applied to the work of speculative writers, such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.

The Lifted Veil is science fiction in both senses. It complicates our view of Eliot as a realist writer and provides an insight into the scientific aspects of her later realist work.

The Lifted Veil is a first-person account of the life of a man named Latimer who is writing his story because he knows he is soon to die. Following a severe illness as a young man, his sensitivity has heightened into an ability to access the minds of others and see into the future.

Latimer’s extrasensory abilities are not imagined as scientific advances. Instead, he is forced into a scientific education to remedy his deficiencies (he describes himself as “sensitive and unpractical”), while secretly reading poetry and literature.

Possessing a keenly poetic sensibility without the talent to vent it, Latimer develops what feels to him “like a preternaturally heightened sense of hearing, making audible a roar of sound where others find perfect stillness”.

Sympathy and literature

Essential to Eliot’s realism was the idea of sympathy. As a teenager, she was intensely evangelical. She criticised her older brother for attending the theatre, refused to read novels (except for those of Sir Walter Scott), and once devolved into hysterics at a party after hearing secular music.

In her twenties, however, her relationship with Christianity grew complicated. Eliot ceased believing in the miraculous elements of the Bible. Influenced by new works of German philosophy, which she translated into English, she began to see relationships between human beings as the cornerstone of morality.

To grow morally and intellectually, for Eliot, meant widening our experience beyond our narrow individual lives, entering into the experiences of others very different from us.

She saw literature – particularly the realist novel – as uniquely capable of extending our sympathies, because literature can make us feel as well as think. An important aspect of her realism is her subtle depiction of the inner lives of her characters. She criticised Charles Dickens for what she saw as his “frequently false psychology”.

In Eliot’s masterpiece, Middlemarch, the drama arises from the characters misreading one another. They cannot unveil the mystery of each other’s minds. The narrator famously observes that if we possessed a “keen vision and feeling of all ordinary human life […] we should die of that roar which lies on the other side of silence”.

In one of Middlemarch’s most sophisticated plotlines, a young doctor, Lydgate, falls in love with a beautiful young woman named Rosamond. Lydgate is idealistic and ambitious, but his capacity for sympathy is curtailed because his perception of women has been shaped, in part, by popular literature and poetry. He conflates Rosamond’s exterior beauty with her inner life and so overlooks her egoism and superficiality.

When Lydgate thinks about Rosamond, there is a light touch of satire in the way his thoughts take on the flowery qualities of a romance. The marriage, unsurprisingly, is a disaster. Between Lydgate and Rosamond there is “a total missing of each other’s mental track”.

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Read more: George Eliot’s Middlemarch: egoism, moral stupidity, and the complex web of life

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Science and evolution

A list of Eliot’s reading over her life shows astonishing breadth. She read – in multiple languages – history, theology, classics, poetry, novels and philosophy. A significant portion of her reading comprised works of geology, physiology, physics and evolutionary theory.

Eliot’s partner George Henry Lewes (to whom she was, scandalously, not married) was part of a new school of physiological psychology, influenced by the evolutionary theory of Charles Darwin. Lewes theorised groupings of different neural processes, involving the relations of senses, feelings, mental images and language.

Variations of the phrase “stream of consciousness” are first used in Lewes’ writing, although it is often attributed to later writers. Eliot and Lewes influenced each other in their conceptions of psychology.

Eliot’s realist novels were closely engaged with different strands of 19th-century science. Contemporary readers sometimes criticised her use of language and metaphors drawn from science. A review in the Spectator from 1872 begins:

We all grumble at Middlemarch; we all say that the action is slow, that there is too much parade of scientific and especially physiological knowledge in it.

Such criticism did not deter Eliot. Her writing offers insight into the blended familiarity and strangeness of 19th-century science, as well as its uncanny proximity to fiction. In her final novel, Daniel Deronda, she draws an explicit connection between the speculative work of literature and scientific hypothesising:

Men can do nothing without the make-believe of a beginning. Even science, the strict measurer, is obliged to start with a make-believe unit.

This opening foreshadows the novel’s experimental form, which begins in the middle of the narrative.

Psychology and literature shaped each other

The word “psychology” at this time could suggest different mixtures of philosophical and physiological approaches to the mind and brain. As literary scholar Sally Shuttleworth has shown, literature and psychology shaped one another in the 19th century. Examples from Eliot’s novels were used as case studies in psychological texts.

Articles and lectures in the fields of medicine and physiological psychology addressed problems such as where to locate the soul in the body and whether conscience had its own “special ganglionic centre in the brain”.

Psychiatrists (then called “mental scientists”) were aware of the limits of their physiological knowledge. Addressing the many gaps in empirical enquiry involved speculative work, often influenced by philosophy and theology.

The Lifted Veil envisions the possibility of hearing “that roar on the other side of silence” – that is, fully accessing the minds of others.

Latimer’s foresight initially arises from language: the word “Prague” precipitates a stream of mental images and associations which create his first vision of the future. He experiences the mental process of others as fragmentary “obtrusions” on his mind: “a stream of thought rushed upon me like a ringing in the ears not to be got rid of”.

Rather than spurring human connection, Latimer’s abilities become a source of Gothic melodrama, as there is no longer anything hidden or uncertain in his life. His “superadded consciousness” seems to open “the souls of those who were in a close relation to me”, but this causes him “intense pain and grief”:

the rational talk, the graceful attentions, the wittily-turned phrases, and the kindly deeds, which used to make the web of their characters, were seen as if thrust asunder by a microscopic vision, that showed all the intermediate frivolities, all the suppressed egoism, all the struggling chaos of puerilities, meanness, vague capricious memories, and indolent make-shift thoughts, from which human words and deeds emerge like leaflets covering a fermenting heap.

Latimer becomes obsessed with a woman named Bertha, because she is the only exception. The combined uncertainty and physical attraction that Latimer experiences leads to a deep infatuation:

I could watch the expression of her face, and speculate on its meaning; I could ask for her opinion with the real interest of ignorance; I could listen for her words and watch for her smile with hope and fear.

Yet there is no real affinity between them. She is “keen, sarcastic, unimaginative, prematurely cynical”. She is contemptuous of the literature Latimer loves.

This sole element of mystery dissolves. Latimer eventually sees into Bertha’s inner self, which appears to him as “a blank prosaic wall”. It was perhaps the “negation of her soul” that had arrested his insight for so long. Bertha’s growing suspicion that Latimer has some way of knowing her inner thoughts only intensifies her hatred.

Eliot was writing at a time when “science fiction” was beginning to evolve into a genre exploring possible future advances in science. The Lifted Veil has some qualities of science fiction in this sense. During his time at school, Latimer becomes friends with a youth he calls Charles Meunier, whose intellectual passion is science.

Meunier returns at the end of the novel as a brilliant scientist, specialising in the “psychological relations of disease”. Meunier is present when Bertha’s maid, Mrs Archer, becomes fatally unwell. He asks Latimer’s permission to perform an experiment. Human blood transfusions were a new form of medical treatment in the 1800s. But Meunier wants to wait until after Mrs Archer is dead before he transfuses his own blood into her arteries.

The transfusion momentarily restores Mrs Archer to life – “the eyelids quivered, and the soul seemed to have returned beneath them” – in time to expose Bertha’s concealed intention to poison Latimer. The experience awakens Meunier to the experience of life as more than “a scientific problem”.

Latimer’s motivation for writing his story, we realise, is to win the sympathy of readers after his death, which he failed to obtain from those close to him in life.

– ref. George Eliot is best known for Middlemarch, but she also wrote an early work of science fiction – https://theconversation.com/george-eliot-is-best-known-for-middlemarch-but-she-also-wrote-an-early-work-of-science-fiction-269379

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/george-eliot-is-best-known-for-middlemarch-but-she-also-wrote-an-early-work-of-science-fiction-269379/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ed Hutchinson, Professor, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, University of Glasgow

The first human case of H9N2 influenza virus (bird flu) has been reported in Europe. A human infection was recorded by the Italian Ministry of Health on March 25, 2026.

As an influenza virologist, I can explain what this means and why I am not particularly worried by it – yet.

What do we know about this case?

The patient was infected outside of Europe before travelling to the Lombardy region of northern Italy. Lombardy’s welfare councillor Guido Bertolaso has reported that the patient is a boy with underlying health conditions who was diagnosed after returning from a visit to Africa.

Fortunately, his infection hasn’t made him seriously unwell, but he has been placed in hospital isolation in the San Gerardo hospital in Monza. Italian public health authorities diagnosed H9N2 influenza virus infection using laboratory tests that detect the virus’s genetic material.

What is H9N2 influenza virus?

H9N2 influenza viruses are influenza A viruses. This large group of viruses includes two of the viruses causing human seasonal influenza (H1N1 and H3N2) as well as many other viruses that infect birds.

H9N2 influenza viruses are classified as “low pathogenicity avian influenza viruses”. “Low pathogenicity” refers to their ability to cause disease in poultry (avian influenza is a major threat to poultry farming), but it is unusual for H9N2 to cause anything other than mild illness in humans.

H9N2 is not well suited to infecting humans, and when it does manage to do so it tends to be through direct contact with poultry in heavily contaminated environments. Although this was the first human case in Europe, hundreds of human H9N2 cases have been recorded previously, mainly in China, but also in other countries across Asia and Africa.

What is the level of risk to humans?

Hopefully, the infected patient will make a good recovery. At the moment, the wider risk to humans is very low.

Why is this? Virologists look for multiple factors when assessing if an isolated human infection with an animal virus is likely to cause wider problems – in the worst case a pandemic, which avian influenza viruses have caused repeatedly in the past. This case of H9N2 currently shows no signs of this.

We know that this particular strain of influenza virus would need to acquire mutations in order to become well adapted to growing in humans. As a precaution, Italian public health authorities have traced contacts of the patient to confirm there was no onwards transmission. At the moment, it seems very unlikely that this will go any further.

However, there is a wider picture. There are many influenza viruses out there that are much more unpleasant than H9N2. Most troubling is the ongoing worldwide outbreak of H5N1 avian influenza viruses, which are much more pathogenic and are showing a troubling tendency to infect mammals.

An isolated case of H9N2 influenza in Europe may not be a major problem itself, but it is a reminder that we need to remain vigilant in monitoring the unpredictable behaviour of avian influenza viruses.

– ref. First European case of H9N2 bird flu reported in Italy – what you need to know – https://theconversation.com/first-european-case-of-h9n2-bird-flu-reported-in-italy-what-you-need-to-know-279574

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/first-european-case-of-h9n2-bird-flu-reported-in-italy-what-you-need-to-know-279574/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ed Macaulay, Lecturer in Physics and Data Science, Queen Mary University of London

The astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen are preparing to launch into space on a trajectory that will make them the first humans to travel to the Moon in over half a century.

Their 10-day mission, known as Artemis II, loops around the Moon but will not land. It will see them travel 4,700 miles (7,600 kilometres) beyond the lunar far side in Nasa’s Orion spacecraft. As such, the four astronauts will travel further from Earth than any humans before them.

The quarter-of-a-million mile Artemis II expedition is audacious, but it’s the last five minutes of the mission that might be the most cause for concern for the safety of the astronauts.

An uncrewed test of the Orion spacecraft in 2022 first highlighted problems with the heat shield. This is the part of Orion that bears the brunt of the searing heat the capsule experiences during re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.

When engineers examined the Orion heat shield from 2022’s Artemis I mission, they found large chunks of material had been lost. The worry was that, should this happen again on the crewed Artemis II mission, it could expose the interior of the capsule to dangerously high temperatures.

Since the earliest days of human spaceflight, engineers have protected capsules from the extreme heat of re-entry with so-called “ablative” heat shields, made from material that’s designed to burn away evenly as the capsule scorches its way through the atmosphere.

To meet the demands of the reusable space shuttle, Nasa developed an incredible heat shield system made from ultra-light tiles of glass-coated silica fibres. While this heat shield had extraordinary thermal properties, it was also exceptionally fragile, and required exhaustive maintenance after every shuttle mission.

It was damage to this fragile and exposed protection system that caused the tragic loss of space shuttle Columbia in 2003. For the Artemis programme, Nasa has returned to the concept of an ablative heat shield.

The heat shield for the Orion capsule is composed of a material called Avcoat, based on the material originally developed for the Apollo programme. Although Nasa considered other, newer materials for the Orion heat shield, they ultimately decided on the material that had been proven in flight by the Apollo missions.

However, the structure of Orion’s heat shield differs from those used during Apollo. The Apollo heat shield comprised a singular honeycomb matrix of about 320,000 individually filled hexagonal segments. To make the heat shield for Orion more efficient and reproducible to manufacture, Nasa has opted for a configuration of around 180 individual blocks.

This heat shield was first tested in 2014 when an uncrewed Orion capsule was launched to an apogee of 3,600 miles by a Delta IV rocket. The capsule blazed through the atmosphere on its return at a temperature of about 2,200°C (4,000°F), but the heat shield proved itself capable of withstanding such an inferno.

The next test of the Orion capsule was the Artemis I mission in 2022. This was the first flight of the powerful Space Launch System rocket, and an uncrewed demonstration of the mission planned for Artemis II. Hurtling through Earth’s atmosphere from a far greater distance than the first test, the spacecraft reached temperatures of around 2,800°C (5,000°F). It’s here that the first concerns about the Avcoat heat shield were raised.

Instead of burning away evenly over the whole surface, parts of the Artemis I heat shield were lost unexpectedly in uneven chunks. This uneven ablation makes modelling the thermal loads of re-entry more unpredictable, and raises the possibility that the Orion capsule could be exposed to dangerous levels of heating.

On investigation, the cause of this uneven ablation was found to be irregular releases of gases trapped within the heat shield material, compounded by the “skip re-entry” profile adopted by the mission.

In the skip profile, Orion first grazes the edge of the atmosphere to slow down. It then uses the aerodynamic lift of the capsule to skip back out of the atmosphere, before re-entering for its final descent to Earth. The skip profile is so named because it somewhat resembles a stone skipping across a pond.

Nasa investigators found that, when heating rates decreased during the period between dips into the atmosphere, thermal energy accumulated inside the Avcoat material. This led to the build up of gases and, in turn, the internal pressure – causing cracks and the uneven shedding of material.

Based on the lessons from Artemis I, Nasa has adopted a number of measures to protect the crew of Artemis II. For the first crewed mission of the programme, Nasa has kept the Avcoat heat shield material, but updated the design of the blocks to help the gases to escape during re-entry.

Furthermore, instead of the skip profile, Nasa has now opted for a more direct re-entry mode for the Orion capsule. This reduces the uncertainty in the heating profile and means less time at peak temperatures for trapped gases to damage the heat shield, but also means that the crew will be subjected to increased deceleration on re-entry.

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Safety first

At the height of the drama in the film Apollo 13, flight director Gene Kranz famously declares to the team at mission control that “failure is not an option”.

Although the line was in fact the product of the film’s screenwriters, it’s become not just the second-most quotable line from the film, but also somewhat of a mantra at Nasa itself.

Nowhere is this more true than with the heat shield of Artemis II. During the final phase of the Artemis II mission, there’s no backup, no contingency, and no chance of escape. The four astronauts on board will be depending on a few inches of resin-coated silica to shield themselves from temperatures approaching half that of the surface of the Sun.

Human spaceflight has always brought with it calculated risks, but it has also provided a uniquely human perspective on our place in the cosmos. The Artemis II mission will make its crew the first humans in over half a century to observe the blue marble of planet Earth in its entirety with their own eyes.

The crew will carry with them the hopes and aspirations of a whole new generation of explorers. They will be depending on the meticulous work of thousands of scientists and engineers for their safe return, bringing with them a renewed human perspective on not just the Moon, but the planet we all call home.

– ref. Heat shield safety concerns raise stakes for Nasa’s Artemis II Moon mission – https://theconversation.com/heat-shield-safety-concerns-raise-stakes-for-nasas-artemis-ii-moon-mission-275853

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/heat-shield-safety-concerns-raise-stakes-for-nasas-artemis-ii-moon-mission-275853/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nick Dalton, Associate Professor in the School of Computer Science, Northumbria University, Newcastle

In the early 1970s, the idea of an ordinary person owning a computer sounded absurd. Computers back then were more like aircraft carriers or nuclear power plants than household appliances – vast machines housed in data centres operated by teams of specialists, serving governments, universities and large corporations.

Then came Apple.

Founded on April 1 1976 by “college dropouts” Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the Silicon Valley startup did not invent computing. What it did was arguably more important: it helped turn computing into a personal technology.

Before Apple, computers were largely sold in kit form. Jobs saw that people wanted them pre-assembled and ready to run. The earliest Apple I units, featuring handmade koa wooden cases, now sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

As an early Apple adopter and app developer, here’s my selection of the company’s (and Jobs’s) most significant technological achievements over the last 50 years.

Apple II – beige yet distinctive

Early personal computers were more curiosities than practical tools. The Apple II, launched in June 1977, introduced something new: style. Even its colour – beige! – was distinctive, contrasting with the black metal boxes common at that time.

The use of colour graphics was both new and exciting, and the keyboard felt satisfying to use. A simple speaker, with only a single-bit output, was ingeniously coaxed into producing tones and even speech-like sounds. The design revolution stretched as far as the packaging: Jerry Manock, Apple’s first in-house designer, placed the machine in a moulded plastic case which looked sleek and professional.

The mouse – a whole new way of interacting

By 1979, the 24-year-old Jobs – sensing that tech giant IBM was catching up with Apple – went looking for the next big thing. The photocopier company Xerox, wanting pre-IPO shares in Apple, offered a visit to its nearby research labs as an inducement. Jobs realised that researchers such as Alan Kay at Xerox’s Palo Alto research centre were creating the next generation of computing interfaces.

Central to this was a device invented by Kay’s mentor, Douglas Engelbart, at Stanford University in the mid-1960s and nicknamed “the mouse”. Engelbart’s vision of computers as machines to augment the human mind inspired Kay and colleagues to create graphical displays in which users interacted with scrollbars, buttons, menus and windows.

Macintosh – dawn of the modern product launch

Jobs thought anyone should be able to use a computer. In January 1984, the first Apple Mac pushed this idea to new extremes. The traditional need for obscure computer commands (and manuals) vanished. Early adopters such as myself felt we just knew how to do everything.

But the Mac’s launch was not just another technological leap for Apple. It also inspired the now-familiar cultural moment of the modern product launch. Following a teasing Super Bowl advert directed by Ridley Scott, Jobs used a 1,500-seat theatre on January 24 to create a stage performance centred on a single charismatic presenter. Jobs let a small, square and still-beige computer (then known as Macintosh) out of its bag – and it began speaking for itself, to rapturous applause.

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Pixar – Jobs’s side hustle

In its first decade, Apple grew at an exceptional rate – but it also came close to financial collapse on several occasions. This led to one of the most dramatic moments in Apple’s history when, in May 1985, the company forced Jobs out.

A year later and now in charge of the startup NeXT Inc, Jobs bought a division of George Lucas’s film company which was soon rebranded as Pixar. Its RenderMan software generated images by distributing processing across multiple machines simultaneously.

Pixar, jokingly referred to as Jobs’s “side hustle”, would become one of the world’s most influential (and valuable) animation production companies, having released the first fully computer-animated feature film in Toy Story (1995).

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iMac – a meeting of minds

After a failed attempt to develop a new operating system with IBM, Apple eventually bought Jobs’s company NeXT. In September 1997, he returned to Apple as interim CEO with the company “two months from bankruptcy”. The move, though welcomed by many Apple users, terrified some of its employees. Jobs quickly began firing staff and shutting down failed products.

During this restructuring, he visited Apple’s design studio and immediately hit it off with young British designer Jony Ive. Their meeting of minds led to the 1998 candy-coloured translucent iMac. Essentially smaller, cheaper NeXT machines, iMac (the i stood for internet) also kicked off another Apple habit: abandoning ageing technology. The floppy disk drive was ditched in favour of a CD drive – a move heavily criticised at the time, but later widely copied.

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iPod – 1,000 songs in your pocket

For Apple, computing was always about more than, well, computing. In 2001, the company began focusing on processing sound and video, not just text and pictures. By November that year, it had released the iPod – a personal music player capable of storing “1,000 songs in your pocket”, compared with a maximum of 20-30 on each cassette tape in a Sony Walkman.

The iPod used an elegant “click wheel” to operate the screen. Music was synced through a new application called iTunes. By 2005, people were using iTunes to manage audio downloaded automatically from the internet using a process called RSS. This in turn put the pod in podcasting.

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iPhone – a computer in everyone’s hands

By 2007, many mobile phone companies had approached Apple about merging the iPod with their phones. Instead, on January 9, Jobs unveiled Apple’s most ambitious product yet: a combined phone, music player and Mac computer – all at the size of a handset with no physical keyboard and huge screen.

Most media “experts”, from TechCrunch to the Guardian, predicted the iPhone would bomb. Steve Ballmer, then CEO of Microsoft, mocked the US$500 price tag, saying nobody would buy it. In fact, 1.4 million iPhones were sold by the end of the year – and over 3 billion more since then. This truly put a computer into everyone’s hands – and opened the door to social media as we know it today.

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App Store’s software revolution

By mid-2008, the iPhone enabled third-party developers the chance to to create a dizzying range of new applications. At the same time, the App Store – launched on July 10 2008 – addressed one of the most complex problems: how to distribute and commercialise these “apps”. Historically, they were often copied and distributed freely. The App Store changed this, using strong encryption to ensure the copy sold could only be used by that specific user, thus eliminating software piracy.

By establishing the first (eponymous) App Store, Apple changed the way people discover and purchase software. This led to an explosion of apps and a simple but powerful idea: whatever you wanted to do, someone, somewhere, had already built it. Apple captured this shift in a slogan that became part of everyday language: “There’s an app for that”.

Time and again, this extraordinary company has anticipated the value of opening up computing to everyone. Happy birthday, Apple.

– ref. Apple at 50: eight technology leaps that changed our world – https://theconversation.com/apple-at-50-eight-technology-leaps-that-changed-our-world-279541

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/apple-at-50-eight-technology-leaps-that-changed-our-world-279541/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gehan Gunasekara, Professor of Commercial Law, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

Following a series of significant health data breaches, the government released a cyber security strategy and action plan to establish a national framework for responding to escalating cyber threats.

The strategy covers New Zealand’s critical infrastructure, from the electricity grid to transport, financial payment systems and the health sector. The government held consultations with each sector this week.

We argue better regulatory oversight is particularly urgent for the health sector.

Late last year, more than 120,000 New Zealanders had their medical records compromised when the patient data portal Manage My Health was hacked.

Then in February, the prescription app MediMap was taken offline after patient information was found to have been altered in a cyber attack.

These security breaches have damaged trust in New Zealand’s entire health system. They are being investigated as part of a government review and an inquiry by the privacy commissioner.

To stop this from happening again, the government must require all parties holding, transferring or sharing health data to be subject to regulatory oversight and mandatory audits, regardless of whether they are in the private or public sector.

Lack of a single cyber security law

From a public standpoint, the distinction between public healthcare providers and their private IT service providers is immaterial.

This is reinforced by section 11 of the Privacy Act, which says healthcare providers remain responsible for information handled on their behalf, even when using IT service providers.

However, a clause in the Health Information Privacy Code also lists IT providers as “health agencies” which may result in confusion as to which agency is ultimately responsible.

Currently, New Zealand has no single piece of legislation that mandates enforceable minimum cyber security requirements. There are no explicit, binding due-diligence requirements in primary legislation for choosing IT services, beyond general privacy and security obligations.

We argue this needs to change.

Current issues with health data

When patients change doctors, their old records don’t disappear. They can remain on whichever system their previous practice used for many years.

One patient reported their medical files were still uploading to Manage My Health two years after their doctor’s practice stopped using the platform.

While providers are legally required to protect and manage this information, there is limited proactive auditing. Patients may not be notified unless or until a serious incident occurs.

Section 11 of the Privacy Act should be strengthened to require clear auditable contractual commitments between providers and those acting on their behalf to store or process information.

Government agencies face strict rules because New Zealand’s protective security requirements mandate how government departments must handle sensitive information. If data needs protection when held by the government, it needs equal protection when held by contractors.

In the UK, any public or private organisation accessing patient data held by the public health system must complete a mandatory data security and protection toolkit annually. In the US, federal audits of healthcare providers are conducted under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Another example is Finland, which responded swiftly to a 2020 data breach at the private psychotherapy centre Vastaamo, mandating security audits for all healthcare providers, with no exceptions.

Vastaamo’s system, holding records of 33,000 psychotherapy patients, had stored sensitive data without encryption. Investigations found Vastaamo’s patient database was exposed through very weak administrator access controls and inadequate network restrictions, and that the system had not been subject to effective external security audits.

Since Finland strengthened and broadened mandatory external security audits for those handling patient information, no breach on the same scale has been reported. New Zealand should follow a similar approach.

As we await the findings from the inquiry and review on how the breaches occurred, the government should consider the following points:

Data storage and sovereignty

If data is stored on foreign-owned servers, foreign laws may apply regardless of the physical location. This is particularly relevant when we consider the implications for Māori data.

Due diligence and mandatory oversight

Government agencies must follow clear and auditable processes before trusting private vendors with patient data.

All private companies handling sensitive health data are already categorised as health agencies and must comply with the conditions of the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. Clear guidance should be given to doctors and health providers to help them determine whether they should entrust patient data to private companies.

Historic data

At present, rules regarding the retention and deletion of health data are found across multiple legislative codes. The ability to delete data is limited. We need better transparency and supervision across the system.

We argue New Zealand needs mandatory security audits for all healthcare data systems. We hope the government will enforce this.

– ref. Public health providers have to obey strict cyber security rules – so should private contractors – https://theconversation.com/public-health-providers-have-to-obey-strict-cyber-security-rules-so-should-private-contractors-279300

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/public-health-providers-have-to-obey-strict-cyber-security-rules-so-should-private-contractors-279300/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Leonidas Karagounis, Professor Research Translation & Enterprise, Australian Catholic University

Peptides are widely marketed as a kind of “holy grail” for workout recovery and physical performance.

You may have seen advertisements online claiming these supplements can significantly boost muscle growth, eliminate joint pain, and accelerate recovery times.

As the prevalence of joint-related issues such as osteoarthritis rises, many people are also turning to these “nutraceuticals” in hope of finding a more natural alternative to traditional medications.

But what does the science say about peptides – specifically collagen peptides and whey-derived peptides? Do they really offer a performance edge, or is the polished marketing little more than high-protein hype?

Wait, what are peptides?

Peptides are short chains of amino acids, the fundamental building blocks of protein in our bodies. They are essentially “pre-digested” protein fragments.

Unlike whey protein, which is readily digested and absorbed by the body, collagen protein can’t be easily digested due to its very large and complex structure (much larger than whey protein).

However, as peptides are much smaller molecules and are more easily absorbed, you should only look for collagen supplements that are sold in peptide form.

The production of peptide supplements typically involves a process called enzymatic hydrolysis. During this process, collagen protein obtained from cow hide or fish scales, for example, is treated with specific enzymes called proteases.

These proteases act like biological scissors. They essentially snip the long protein chains into tiny fragments, which are the peptides.

Because of this processing, peptides have a much lower molecular weight (smaller size) than their parent proteins. This allows them to be more easily absorbed in the small intestine, transported through the bloodstream and used wherever there is a need, such as in muscles, tendons and joints.

So, do they work?

Research into peptides for workouts provides a mixed but interesting picture.

When it comes to pure muscle growth (known as hypertrophy), peptides derived from whey protein are generally considered superior to those derived from collagen.

However, in a study published in 2022, the authors concluded that after a ten-week resistance training program in young adults who ingested either whey protein or collagen peptides enriched with an amino acid known as leucine, whey was better in terms of increasing muscle size. But both proteins resulted in similar gains in strength and power.

Collagen peptides also show significant promise in athletic performance improvement when combined with vitamin C. This is because collagen peptides require vitamin C to help them better incorporate into their necessary structure, resulting in stronger collagen formation in tissues.

A 2021 trial involving male athletes found that vitamin C-enriched collagen peptides improved explosive power during squats and jumps, likely by increasing the stiffness and efficiency of the “springs” in our tendons.

Unlike whey peptides, collagen peptides are rich in glycine and proline. These amino acids specifically support tendons, ligaments and cartilage.

Research suggests taking 15 grams of collagen peptides in combination with vitamin C roughly 60 minutes before a workout may stimulate the production of new collagen in these tissues. This potentially protects against injury.

Studies have also demonstrated that ingesting 20g of collagen peptides daily can help reduce muscle soreness. It can also accelerate the recovery of muscle function after strenuous exercise.

Many of these studies, however, are small in scale. Small-scale clinical trials are limiting because the relatively low number of participants reduces the ability to apply the results to the broader population.

These studies also vary in the type of peptide provided, resulting in mixed findings.

This is important because the actual peptide sequences (the order of the specific amino acids found in the peptides) and size of the peptides can vary significantly between brands.

This means the benefits of one product may not apply to another.

It’s also worth remembering that once the peptides are absorbed into our blood stream, our body uses them wherever they are most needed – not necessarily in the skin, joints or other specific areas people may be hoping to target.

What are the risks?

For most of the general population, peptides are considered safe and well-tolerated.

Because they are often derived from food sources, the body processes them much like any other dietary protein.

The primary concern relates to contamination from the source.

For example, in the case of marine-sourced collagen peptides, there might be potentially harmful chemicals present in the fish species from which the collagen has been extracted.

This is not exclusive to collagen. It also applies to other marine-sourced supplements, such as omega 3 fish oils.

Research has also found some marine-sourced collagen products may contain low levels of mercury and arsenic. However, these were within the European Union’s regulatory limits, and average daily doses were consistently below what is defined as tolerable daily intakes.

– ref. Do peptides improve workout performance? A nutrition expert explains the science – https://theconversation.com/do-peptides-improve-workout-performance-a-nutrition-expert-explains-the-science-276965

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/do-peptides-improve-workout-performance-a-nutrition-expert-explains-the-science-276965/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Vinh Thai, Professor of Logistics and Supply Chain Management, School of Accounting, Information Systems and Supply Chain, RMIT University

An Easter bunny for $10. A box of 20 hollow Easter eggs for $18. A 100g block of plain dark chocolate for $8.50.

Even last year, such high prices wouldn’t have been surprising. Cocoa prices spiked to all-time highs above US$12,000 per ton in 2024.

But the price of cocoa then fell through most of 2025. It was trading at around US$3,165 per ton on March 28, back to where it was around three years ago.

Why doesn’t that lower cocoa price mean cheaper chocolates on our shelves this Easter?

What’s the price of cocoa now?

Cocoa prices began rising in 2023, but really took off in early 2024, surging to an all-time high. That rate of growth was even faster than the US stock market and cryptocurrency bitcoin.

There were multiple factors behind that sharp rise. These included intense rains and heat hitting harvests in West Africa – which grows around two-thirds of the world’s cocoa – as well as disease, fertiliser issues, and other supply disruptions. The United Nations Trade and Development agency said climate change contributed to those smaller harvests and rising costs.

Since then, cocoa’s price has come down significantly – though after a price bounce only last month, industry website Confectionery News warned:

For manufacturers, the latest price swing is yet another reminder that volatility is the new normal in cocoa markets.

Cocoa-free chocolate

Confectionery makers have responded to the last few years of higher prices by reformulating more of their products to use less cocoa.

Many of the world’s biggest chocolate makers are working on lab-grown, fermented and upcycled “cocoa” – or even cocoa-free chocolate.

But that work to research and develop cocoa alternatives also comes with a cost. We’re yet to see how commercially viable those alternatives will be.

What about the price of chocolate?

It’s understandable why consumers get frustrated with higher chocolate prices – especially at Easter, the biggest chocolate sales period of year.

And, as consumer advocates have long pointed out, Easter chocolates often come with a higher price tag. Consumer group Choice’s latest annual assessment of Easter egg prices found some chocolate eggs on sale this Easter are smaller but more expensive for the second year in a row.

But this Easter, shoppers may be asking another question – given cocoa costs have plunged, why hasn’t the shelf price of all chocolates on our supermarket shelves also fallen?

The short answer is time.

While the current price of cocoa is down from its highs, even as recently as December last year, the price was about double what it is now.

Especially for the biggest producers, at least some of the cocoa or cocoa products used to make chocolate being sold now would have been bought when prices were still at much higher levels.

Some key cocoa products used in chocolate making, such as cacao nibs, can last for many years if stored in the right cool, dry conditions.

When large commercial chocolate makers are calculating their profits and losses, and setting their chocolate prices, they have to factor in what they’ve already paid for ingredients – not the current prices.

In other words, it’s still too soon to expect the full savings from the recent cocoa price drop to be passed on.

Cocoa is also not the only cost to consider in chocolate prices. While some other key ingredients such as sugar have come down in price in recent years, others such as vegetable oil (often used as a cheaper alternative to cocoa butter) have risen. Then there’s everything from labour and energy costs, to packaging and transport.

Think about packaging alone. If you buy chocolates with any kind of plastic packaging, that plastic was made from petrochemicals. Those petrochemicals are derived from oil and natural gas, and are crucial in making up more than 6,000 everyday products.

As a result of the Middle East war, packaging makers have already warned consumers to expect price hikes on future food, groceries and medications because of “unprecedented disruptions” to resin supplies, used to make plastic.

The outlook for chocolate prices

There is some good news. The International Cocoa Organization has reported global cocoa supplies are back in surplus again, thanks to better weather. An even bigger surplus is forecast for the 2025-26 growing season.

There’s also been slower demand for cocoa, which could keep the price at lower levels.

Looking ahead, it is possible we could see some slight reduction in chocolate prices towards the end of 2026 and moving into 2027.

But chocolate is also a perfect example of just how our global food systems are closely intertwined with much bigger geopolitical and logistical factors. Like so much else, what we pay for chocolate next year will depend at least partly on how long the current Middle East war and global oil crisis drags on.

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Read more: What’s the difference between Easter egg chocolate and regular chocolate?

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– ref. Why does chocolate cost so much this Easter, when cocoa’s price is at a 3-year low? – https://theconversation.com/why-does-chocolate-cost-so-much-this-easter-when-cocoas-price-is-at-a-3-year-low-279209

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/why-does-chocolate-cost-so-much-this-easter-when-cocoas-price-is-at-a-3-year-low-279209/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sally Patfield, Lecturer, Teachers and Teaching Research Centre, School of Education, University of Newcastle

Each year, about 30% of new undergraduates in Australia are the first in their families to go to university.

This means their parents do not have a university-level qualification. Often, they also don’t have any siblings or relatives who have gone to uni as well.

So these students must navigate a new and unfamiliar pathway. National data shows they are not only less likely to go to uni, but they are also less likely to graduate than those with university-educated parents.

Our new research provides insights into how we can support first-in-family students to complete their university studies.

A new focus on completion

Until very recently, federal government university funding has tended to focus more on getting students to enrol.

This year, a new “needs-based” funding model encourages universities to better support students from underrepresented backgrounds to graduate.

First-in-family students can be considered an “umbrella” equity category, as students often fall into multiple equity groups. For example, they may be Indigenous, come from a regional area and a low socioeconomic background.

On top of this, they face educational disadvantage by being newcomers to higher education. In many cases, these students are the first in their families to finish school.

On the one hand, this means first-in-family students are educational trailblazers. On the other, they can’t rely on family members to guide them on this journey.

Our new research

Since 2017, we have been conducting research with first-in-family students across Australia, Austria, Ireland and the United Kingdom, looking at what actually helps these students to persist in their studies.

Our latest paper, published this month, includes interviews with 174 first-in-family students from across diverse age ranges, locations, study disciplines and life circumstances.

Despite varied contexts, these students consistently described three powerful internal drivers drawn from their backgrounds that helped them to succeed: a strong work ethic, defying the expectations of others, and wanting a better life.

This shows us first-in-family students often have significant personal strengths as they begin their studies.

A strong work ethic

Many of the first-in-family students in our research drew on a deeply ingrained sense of effort and perseverance, often learned from their family.

While students expected things could be difficult at university, they saw their progress as dependent on their own hard work rather than talent or entitlement. This resulted in them approaching university as something that had to be earned, rather than a given. As one interviewee told us:

[It’s] something that we were taught when we were younger that if you really want something, nothing in life is ever going to be handed to you on a silver platter […] that’s probably because of that working class ethic in our family, just to never give up – where there’s a will, there’s a way.

Defying the expectations of others

For these students, their persistence at university was also driven by a strong internal motivation to challenge the way they were perceived by others.

University represented an important space to demonstrate their capability, intelligence, and worth, particularly when they had faced discouragement or negativity from family members and partners. Staying at university therefore came to represent more than just getting a degree:

There was a stage where I just went, ‘I actually think I can do this and I want to prove to everyone – especially my husband – that I’m not this silly, dumb person that can’t put one foot in front of the other’.

Wanting a better life

The third internal driver was students’ desire for change. University was not simply about finding a job, but about securing stability, reducing risk and changing life trajectories – both for themselves and often for their families.

For these students, any short-term hardship during university was justified by the longer-term outcomes believed to come from a degree:

Mum and Dad both finished [school] in Year 10. We come from a low socioeconomic background so I always just wanted to be better. Not better, but I don’t know, have more opportunity I guess.

What’s needed now

Our research shows how first-in-family students have the determination and aspiration to succeed.

However, as we argue in our paper, universities often rely on students’ own efforts to persist in their studies, hoping they will compensate for systems not designed with them in mind.

For many of the first-in-family students in our research, struggle was seen as a normal part of life. This means universities shouldn’t put the onus on students to reach out for help – as they are not likely to do so.

What can universities do

Our research suggests there are several proactive changes universities can make to help first-in-family students stay and complete their studies. These include:

• routine check-ins from course coordinators and key professional staff.

• making academic and social support part of the first-year curriculum.

• opt-out, rather than opt-in, academic skills development, so students can learn the ropes of university study and life.

Academic staff also need time and support to monitor students’ progress and intervene early if there is an issue.

More flexibility will also help

A shift towards flexible student pathways is also required. Not everyone can afford to study full-time and finish a degree in the set timeframe. Many students need to work to support themselves, particularly those who are first-in-family.

Universities could look at simplifying transitions between full-time and part-time study and making part-time enrolment a more visible and legitimate option. Having full-time study as the “default” can create pressure to remain enrolled full-time, even when it might be unsustainable.

They can also ensure that if a student repeats a course, it triggers personalised academic support and enrolment advice, rather than this being framed as a failure.

Now is the time to redesign systems so persistence becomes a shared responsibility, rather than relying on students’ capacity to quietly carry the load.

– ref. ‘Mum and Dad both finished school in Year 10’– how to help first-in-family students graduate from uni – https://theconversation.com/mum-and-dad-both-finished-school-in-year-10-how-to-help-first-in-family-students-graduate-from-uni-279323

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/mum-and-dad-both-finished-school-in-year-10-how-to-help-first-in-family-students-graduate-from-uni-279323/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zachary Aman, Professor of Chemical Engineering, The University of Western Australia

Fuel has become a precious, and increasingly expensive, commodity.

The ongoing Middle East conflict has effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, cutting off 20% of the world’s oil supplies. This, coupled with tit-for-tat attacks on key energy infrastructure across the region, has sent fuel prices soaring.

In Australia, petrol and diesel bowsers have already started running dry. And the country’s leading motoring organisation is now urging drivers to fill up with E10 fuel, in an effort to conserve our national fuel supplies.

So what exactly is E10? And could it help ease the current fuel crisis?

Remind me, what’s E10?

E10 is a type of fuel made from a mixture of regular unleaded petrol and ethanol. Ethanol is a highly flammable liquid produced when sugars from plants, such as corn or sugarcane, are fermented into ethyl alcohol or ethanol.

To make a batch of E10, you combine nine parts petrol with one part ethanol. So the “E” stands for ethanol and the “10” indicates how much of it is in the blend. Given ethanol costs less than regular petrol, E10 is generally cheaper than other fuel types.

E10 fuel contains 3% less energy than other low-grade petrols. This means if you swap regular unleaded for E10, you’d need about 3% more E10 to travel the same distance. So while E10 is often cheaper at the bowser, it’s likely any savings will be balanced out by the need to fill up more often.

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Read more: Oil, petrol, gasoline: a chemical engineer explains how crude turns into fuel

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Could it damage my car?

Both ethanol and regular unleaded petrol can be ignited. So blending these two liquids to make E10 produces a fuel that is compatible with modern combustion engines.

However, the inclusion of ethanol increases the octane rating of the fuel. The octane rating is based on how quickly a fuel ignites in a standard combustion engine. So the higher the octane rating, the more stable the fuel and the less likely it is to damage engine cylinders and rods.

But if you have an older car, it may be best to avoid using E10. This is because engines built before 2000 are generally incompatible with this type of fuel. Ethanol can degrade older seals and fuel lines, which are often made of plastic and rubber not designed for exposure to ethanol. Importantly, E10 is not suitable for use in petrol carburettors. These devices, which pump a mixture of fuel and air into combustion engines, are only found in older cars.

So the idea that E10 damages cars likely comes from its effect on older vehicles. But for cars with engines made after 2000, E10 is generally safe to use.

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Read more: The rise of diesel: but how cheap and clean is it?

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Is E10 better for the environment?

Research suggests the combustion of E10 could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 5%, depending on how the ethanol is produced.

Crops such as sugarcane, commonly used in Brazilian and some Australian ethanol, absorb significant amounts of carbon dioxide as they grow. This can help offset the emissions produced from the combustion of E10. In contrast, corn-based ethanol, which is mostly found in the US, has a negligible impact on carbon dioxide emissions. Sitting in the middle is ethanol made from wheat. Research suggests this kind of ethanol may slightly reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

But this variability means some people broadly view E10, and its apparent environmental benefits, with scepticism.

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Read more: It’s not hoarding: farmers need to buy huge amounts of diesel to keep our food secure

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What about the global fuel crisis?

Over the past 14 years, demand for E10 fuel has declined by about 44%. But this trend could turn around, as the prolonged closure of the Strait of Hormuz forces governments around the world to consider alternatives to diesel and regular petrol.

For countries which import most of their crude oil and refined petroleum products, encouraging the production and use of E10 may slightly reduce the strain on domestic fuel supplies. This is because adding up to 10% ethanol increases how much regular petrol is available. However, this assumes residents have engines that are compatible with lower-grade fuels. And it would only be useful if countries can produce their own ethanol, instead of relying on imported ethanol.

In Australia, we import the vast majority of our diesel. This makes us extremely vulnerable to fuel shocks, including the crisis we’re currently experiencing. We meet about 20% of our national fuel demand with domestic supplies. However, only a portion of that fuel is produced in the form of unleaded petrol which is suitable for E10 blending.

Australia produces nearly all of the ethanol we consume domestically, in any given year. This includes ethanol used in E10 fuel. Increasing our domestic ethanol production, involving both our agricultural and manufacturing sectors, could help conserve a small percentage of our national petrol supplies. This is because the E10 blending process must happen at the point of refining, so we can only add ethanol to the petrol we produce in Australia.

If every Australian switched to using E10, this would save roughly 2% of the 20% of petrol we produce domestically. Every saving matters in a global fuel crisis. However, our current reliance on fossil fuels such as coal and gas limits the potential benefits of switching to E10.

So if you do switch from diesel or petrol to E10, you may see a slight reduction in your fuel costs and emissions. However, this decision is unlikely to take much pressure off our limited fuel supplies. For that we need effective policy and, ultimately, a swift end to the current Middle East conflict.

– ref. Is E10 fuel bad for my car? And could it save me money? – https://theconversation.com/is-e10-fuel-bad-for-my-car-and-could-it-save-me-money-279081

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/is-e10-fuel-bad-for-my-car-and-could-it-save-me-money-279081/

Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bernard Stewart, Professor, Paediatrics and Child Health, UNSW Sydney

As early as the 1880s, there was evidence that smoking tobacco damaged your lungs. But it took almost 100 years to definitively show that smoking causes lung cancer.

So, what about vapes?

Until now, most research that has looked at the cancer risk for people using vapes, also known as electronic or e-cigarettes, has mainly focused on their role as a gateway to smoking tobacco. This is because we know people who vape are more likely than non-smokers to take up smoking.

But whether they cause cancer by themselves has been unclear. There are still no long-term studies. But now a comprehensive review of the evidence I conducted with colleagues, published today, has found vaping likely causes oral and lung cancers.

What we looked at and what we found

Given there is no long-term research on whether vaping directly causes cancer, we had to look for effects on the body that we know are linked to cancer.

We identified all peer-reviewed research published between 2017 and mid-2025 that looked at health impacts of vapes considered indicative of potential cancer causation.

The aerosol that vapers inhale contains a complex range of chemicals, including nicotine and its byproducts, and vapourised metals. This aerosol demonstrates almost all of the ten “key characteristics of carcinogens” identified by the World Health Organization.

Blood and urine analyses from vapers confirmed they had absorbed chemicals from e-cigarette chemicals that we know are linked to cancer. These studies revealed nicotine and its breakdown products present in their bodies, including carcinogenic (cancer-causing) metals from the heating element and organic compounds from vapourising e-liquids.

There is no doubt vaping alters tissues in the mouth and lungs. We found evidence of mutations in DNA from the mouth and lungs in those who vaped, which is further evidence of carcinogen exposure.

There was also evidence of changes to cancer biomarkers in the lung and mouth tissue of vapers. Cancer biomarkers are changes in cell or molecular structure that precede a tumour developing. Some of these can be observed under a microscope, such as inflammation, while others such as oxidative stress are detected by molecular analysis.

We also examined experiments on mice which found the aerosols in vapes caused lung cancer, as well as cases reported by dentists who thought that oral cancers in certain individual patients (who didn’t smoke) were caused by them vaping.

Our review did also examine studies that had addressed the possibility vaping may cause cancer. However none of these covered the wide range of evidence we had assessed.

What this means

The evidence shows nicotine-based vapes are likely to cause oral and lung cancer. We just don’t yet know how many cases it will cause.

But in the evidence we looked at, there was rising concern, and a significant shift in the conclusions that had been drawn.

Between 2017 and 2019, researchers tended to say there wasn’t enough evidence to conclude that vapes cause cancer. This included papers that typically looked at cancer biomarkers and carcinogenic mechanisms.

By 2024 and 2025, almost without exception, authors were expressing concern. They noted that the idea vaping has a lower cancer risk than smoking could no longer be supported, given the evidence we now have.

Our study, which looks at cancer caused by vapes in their own right, marks a new approach to what we know about the link between cancer and vaping.

What we still don’t know

We still don’t have direct evidence that there are more cancer cases than expected among people who vape.

The fact it took 100 years to demonstrate that smoking causes cancer indicates it will take decades to make a similar case for vaping. And it will be challenging, because definitive proof will depend on a population of people who only vape, not people who smoke and vape.

So we need large and carefully planned studies, which will then allow us to monitor and detect cancer early, and precisely determine if it is caused by – or worsened by – vaping. Lives can be saved by these means, but only if this research is funded and started now.

– ref. Strongest evidence yet that vaping likely causes cancer – https://theconversation.com/strongest-evidence-yet-that-vaping-likely-causes-cancer-279550

Evening Report: https://eveningreport.nz/2026/03/31/strongest-evidence-yet-that-vaping-likely-causes-cancer-279550/