The winners of this year's Science Journalism Awards cover the dark side of solar storms and explore the impacts of putting rivers in a straitjacket. Kate Newton of RNZ won this year's Established Professional category for her In Depth article, “Room for the river,” with designer Hingyi Khong.| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
Medsafe has expanded access to the psychedelic drug psilocybin, and the sleep hormone melatonin. The change means melatonin will be available for purchase at pharmacies with no prescription, and psilocybin can be prescribed by a highly experienced psychiatrist for patients with treatment-resistant| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
New Zealand will replace its traditional nationwide census with a new data collection approach from 2030. Statistics Minister Dr Shane Reti said the new approach will use existing administrative records alongside a smaller annual survey and targeted studies. The Science Media Centre asked exper| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
The Environmental Protection Authority is being taken to court over its decision not to re-assess the pesticide glyphosate. The Environmental Law Initiative is arguing that there is enough new evidence around the human health and environmental effects of glyphosate, or Roundup, to warrant a reasses| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
A five-year plan aiming to tackle New Zealand's "stubbornly high suicide rates" has been released today. The plan includes new strategies like peer support roles for mental health patients in emergency departments, and crisis recovery cafés so people don't have to resort to a hospital and can recei| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
A 787 Dreamliner aircraft carrying 242 people crashed last night (NZ time) shortly after taking off in the city of Ahmedabad in western India. The airline, Air India, said 229 passengers and 12 crew members were killed in the crash; it has confirmed there is one survivor. The flight was bound for L| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
New overseas research has found that gender disparities in maths performance in favour of boys show up as early as after four months of formal schooling. French and US researchers analysed data from more than 2.6 million first and second grade children (ages 5 to 7) in France. There was almost no d| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
A Cambridge University report highlights all the ways menstrual tracking data can be misused. The report warns of numerous risks from data exploitation, including targeted advertising around pregnancy, health insurance discrimination, policing of abortion access, and data misuse to undermine court| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
Are New Zealand's upcoming predator free goals on the right track? Should we stick with the current target species list as is, or include other predators like feral cats? These are just some of the questions that the public is being invited to comment on as part of a strategy review of the Predator| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
The government is asking for public feedback on proposed changes to how we can create more housing in Aotearoa, such as 'granny flats' in backyards and papakāinga on Māori ancestral land. Proposed National Environmental Standards (NES) for granny flats would require all councils to permit a granny| www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
