Kiwi kids are suffering from preventable dental issues

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1 February 2026

Kiwi kids are suffering from preventable dental issues

Kids in New Zealand are experiencing issues with preventable tooth decay according to a nation-wide study which found that kids that didn’t have access to a fluoridated water supply were much more likely to experience severe tooth decay. The study analysed data from more than 275,000 children between 2011 and 2016 found that almost one in seven four year old children were suffering from preventable dental issues. Most were not receiving the dental care they needed and their baby teeth were decaying as a result, which affected adult teeth. The purpose of the study was to show the importance of fluoridation in community water supplies as it is the easiest and most cost effective way to protect the teeth of kids in New Zealand.

The rates of decay were highest for children in lower socio-economic areas or Maori and Pacific children although there were still high rates for children living in high income areas. Young children suffering from severe tooth decay and other dental issues often required general anaesthetic and experience chronic tooth pain and abscesses. Despite the country having national policy in place that says everyone should receive water fluoridation in New Zealand, only about half of the country receives it – children living in lower socio-economic areas are disproportionately disadvantaged when it comes to dental health as a result because they do not receive fluoridation.

The research on children dental health issues was undertaken with the aim of encouraging the New Zealand government to take action on the issue to try and address the widespread and sever issues with dental health that many young children are experiencing – it will also hopefully help to push policies and bills on dental health in the country forward, some have been stalled in New Zealand since 2016.

Scientists find genetic record of earthquakes in organism’s DNA

By

Monica Striegel

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31 January 2026

Scientists find genetic record of earthquakes in organism’s DNA

In a paper that was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, scientists have stated that the DNA of bull kelp that grows along the shore of the South Island of New Zealand, house a genetic record of earthquakes that occurred over 800 years ago. During this earthquake, the ocean floor rose which wiped out numerous inhabitants to make way for new genetic species.

The findings of the report suggest that comparing the genes of some organisms can reveal the damage that occurred to the environment all those years ago. New Zealand is one of the best places to gather this data as it lies atop a large nest of fault lines.

Researchers started pondering what happens to the kelp in the ocean when a massive earthquake his four years ago. It caused a fault near the town of Kaikoura to extend nearly 2 metres out of the water. Jon Waters, who is a professor of Zoology at the University of Otago, along with his colleagues were some of those researchers who first began to ask the question.

Kelp that was pushed above the surface of the water died pretty quickly, but with real estate in the ecosystem below, new organisms were able to flourish. Due to the nature of how kelp grows, it lines the ocean floor and gives very little room for newcomers to move into the neighbourhood.

According to the data gathered from the organisms there was an earthquake similar to the one 6 years ago, 800 years ago. It happened off the coastline near Dunedin where researchers took samples from the kelp that spanned over 60 miles. While the kelp looked identical to the others, the DNA gathered indicates that they are entirely different from each other due to the destruction that happened all those years ago.

NZ business confidence overtakes Australia

By

Sophie Henley

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31 January 2026

NZ business confidence overtakes Australia

Researchers have found that Kiwi’s have more confidence in the future of their companies than Australian’s do in their own which has prompted experts to warn Australian businesses that an exodus of important talent could be on the horizon as Australian workers and out talent pool from other countries look to opportunities in New Zealand instead.

The studies showed that confidence in Australian businesses has stagnated amongst business leaders whilst the confidence of New Zealand business leaders has grown considerably. A survey found that confidence amongst Kiwi business leaders jumped by 69% over just ten months with many of them feeling that their businesses were growing and had positive futures ahead. The Australian respondents to the survey however felt that their businesses were shrinking and had decreased confidence in the future of their businesses. Many of them had negative projections of the future of their businesses compared to the much more positive projections of their New Zealand counterparts. It was said that New Zealanders had much more confidence in the futures of their businesses and this optimism was likely to be a self-fulfilling prophecy with New Zealand businesses likely to perform better simply because they were more likely to take steps to improve their businesses with a more positive outlook in place.

The higher level of confidence and optimism in New Zealand businesses is very likely to attract Australians overseas as they seek to get away from shrinking businesses and less positive work environments. Experts have said that Australian business leaders will need to be careful to send the right messages and signals to employees to ensure that confidence rises and to ensure that they avoid losing talent to New Zealand companies. Australian businesses will need to ensure that they make employees feel good about the future of their businesses.

New Zealand’s way of working

By

Cornelia Smith

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31 January 2026

Planning to work in New Zealand? It’s important to understand the work style of the country and how the workplace operates. Every country is different when it comes to how they like to work, so how do you fit in successfully in the workplace in New Zealand.

One of the first things to know is that employers in New Zealand value a positive attitude in the workplace, they’ll be looking for employees who are excited to contribute their own ideas and feedback in the workplace. New Zealand is known for being a country of pioneers and problem solvers. For a small country, New Zealand is often well ahead and always looking for new ideas and ways to do things.

One thing to expect from working in New Zealand is that you will likely work in much small organisations, many of New Zealand’s business have less than fourteen employees and are much smaller than businesses in countries like the United States.

In New Zealand companies with less than 20 employees are responsible for around 40% of the economic output of the country. The much smaller businesses means that New Zealand has a very unique working life compared to other countries. Employees often have more direct access to the leaders of their business which means they can have more of an ability to influence things in the organisation. There are also often less organisation layers to worry about, which means that employees have a larger and more important role to play in the business. Workers in smaller business often find that they are asked to specialise less in one small area and take on a greater variety of tasks. New Zealand is an excellent place for people to start out as it offers hands on opportunities to workers.

Things your mortgage broker wishes you knew in New Zealand

By

Sophie Henley

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31 January 2026

With many people eager to take advantage of low interest rates, first-home buyers are flooding to mortgage brokers. However even with banks giving more leeway to buyers, not all applications are created equally. Below are some key points that your broker wishes you knew before buying your first home in New Zealand.

Avoiding short term debt

Being in the industry for many years, a lot of mortgage brokers have identified short term debt being a big factor that affects people buying their first home. Many people take out short term debt without any idea what it means for them in the future until it becomes a problem when they try to buy a house.

Newer generations have short term debt more accessible to them and even with a good income; it can become a problem when you are trying to apply.

Expect your spending habits to be scrutinised

A lot of the time people have no idea what they are spending on a weekly or monthly basis. Mortgage brokers will ask you what your budget is and not knowing can make the whole process a lot harder. People who do not have a budget set up will typically try to borrow more than they can manage.

If you have a solid idea of your income plus your budget, you and your broker will then have reasonable expectations of what you will be able to borrow.

Understand what you earn

It may sound silly, but it is important that you understand how much you earn each pay period. This point kind of ties in with the last as if you have a budget in place you and your broker will understand how much money you are putting towards your housing costs each period and work out a home loan that will best suit you.

Tuatara: an insight into New Zealand’s living fossil

By

Jamie Stein

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31 January 2026

The tuatara has roamed the Earth for around 250 million years but scientists have just now unlocked the secrets of their genetics. A recent study that was published recently has revealed that the reptiles genetic makeup is 66 percent larger than humans. This discovery could possibly confirm the evolutionary span of the creature and its very unique history.

They were once widespread across New Zealand but after years of battling humans and pests, their total population has dropped between 60,000 and 100,000. Scientists have recorded that the species has been off on its own branch of the evolutionary tree for quite some time. With estimations dating the reptile back more than 150 million years ago.

A very unique trait of the tuatara is that since it is so removed from the evolutionary tree, it has no close relatives at all in terms of other species. With so much left unknown about the species, many people argue about any relation at all. The main contenders for debate have been turtles, crocodiles and birds with others in favour of snakes and lizards.

Thanks to the new study that was recently published, scientists have been able to give it a home to the latter batch of the argument. The main twist though is that while they are related more to snakes and lizards, they branched off around 250 million years ago to become their own unique species. To put this into retrospect, scientists consider that primates came into existence around 65 million years ago and hominids (which we as humans descended from) originated around 6 million years ago.

Tuatara’s have so many mysteries left to be unsolved. A particular interest around the species is how they can live past 100 years of age as well.

How did Polynesian people get to the Pacific islands?

By

Monica Striegel

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30 January 2026

How did Polynesian people get to the Pacific islands

The question of how Polynesian people came to live in the Pacific has remained unanswered for many centuries. For a long time the belief that Polynesian people may have originated from the Americas have lingered although research now shows that the origins of Polynesia people actually lie in Southeast Asia.

Recent published studies have shown that there is evidence of Native American ancestry in a number of Polynesian populations, suggesting that people did travel from the Americas to the Pacific at one time or another and that they might have mixed with Polynesian people.

Other research has found that there was Native American DNA in the genomes of modern Rapa Nui people but it has been argued that this likely happened in recent history when colonists from Chile reached the island. There have however been signs that contact occurred before then, possibly contact occurred once around 1200 AD or 1082 AD which predates the agreed dates of the settlement of Rap Nui. Researchers have suggested that it’s possible that when Polynesian people settled on the islands they might have come across a small group of already settled Native American people. This theory is further solidified by the presence of the sweet potato kumara which is found in the Americas and Eastern Polynesia. Remains of the sweet potato have been found to be up to 1,000 years old and suggest a link between Polynesians and the Americas.

Whilst there is some evidence to suggest that contact between Polynesians and the Americas might have taken place it is difficult to say for sure. It’s also difficult to assess how contact might have taken place based on the information available, did people from the Americas explore the open ocean or did contact occur in some other form?

Research helps to identify kids on the autism spectrum

By

Robert Barlow

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30 January 2026

Research helps to identify kids on the autism spectrum

Health data is being used to better identify kids and young people on the autism spectrum and could help to improve lives and educational outcomes. Researchers have developed a new method which allows them to understand children better and to get better insights into what life is like for people on the spectrum. The research methods is expected to help with comparing different services over time and how they impact on the lives of people and their families when it comes to managing autism.

Autism is more and more often being associated with skills in visual thinking, logic and memory but can make it difficult for people to adapt or function on a day-to-day basis. Past research has shown that autism often presents as an intellectual disability (for around 31 percent of individuals) and is often co-morbid with mental health issues, epilepsy, and constipation and sleep disorders. Global estimates also show that the condition is likely on the rise around the world which has contributed to the growth in interest in the field of autism research, with scientists in New Zealand trying to bridge some of the gaps in understanding about the condition.

New Zealand researchers are using data points to identify autism in people aged 0 to 24. The method has limitation, with the identification rate of 1 in 102 children aged eight indicating that it is likely under-identifying the issue but is a step in the right direction and seems to be consistent with identification rates globally for different gender and ethnic groups. The method can also be applied to better understand autism and how it interacts and co-occurs alongside other conditions such as behavioural issues and anxiety or intellectual disability. Research and data such as this will help New Zealand to better implement services related to autism.

Home and Away’s powerful Haka scene

By

Amber Mobsby

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30 January 2026

Kiwi fans of Australia’s soap opera ‘Home and Away’ have taken to social media to praise a very powerful and emotional Haka scene which recently aired. Recently the show has been exploring a storyline which revolves around the Paratas, a Maori family who have come to live in Summer Bay. The family lose a family member back in New Zealand, but unable to return home they choose to Py their respects in Australia by performing a Haka on the beach.

The Haka performed by the fictional Parata family was extremely moving for fans of the show. The Haka is ceremonial dance that is integral to Maori culture and is often performed by sports teams like New Zealand’s All Blacks ahead of their games. The dance has been performed for hundreds of years and is often performed to show respect at a funeral or during other significant occasions.

During the ‘Home and Away’ scene the male members of the Parata family gathered on the beach to perform an emotional haka near the ocean. The scene ended the episode and finished with silence which left many viewers emotional and pushed many to take to social media to discuss how extraordinary it was. Fans of the show praised its cultural awareness and talked about how touching and beautiful the scene was. Actors also talked about how touched they were by the scene, with Rob Kip-Williams experiencing the situation in real life, saying the episode was a tribute to his aunty whom passed away in New Zealand. The actor said that although he could not attend the funeral in person he still played an important role in the funeral and was glad to be able to a tribute for her on the show and that the scene was close to his heart.

New Zealand company helps young people start investing

By

Cornelia Smith

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30 January 2026

New Zealand company helps young people start investing

A new Wellington-based company called Sharesies is helping young Kiwi’s to begin their investment journey. The company is also known for its excellent workplace culture and environment. The company offers its 28 staff flexible and remote working opportunities and uses a number of modern tools to help them stay connected, even when they aren’t all in the office together.

The company has shown how small organisations in New Zealand can get the best from their employees by making flexibility an integral part of their culture. The flexible and remote work culture is part of every employees contract from the time of their initial induction – the specific flexible working arrangements are determined by the needs of the individual employee. Remote work opportunities give employees a chance to focus on the things that are important to them outside of the workplace. The company also invests into team building exercises and a social clubs as well as monthly lunches to ensure that team members feel connected and build strong relationships with each other.

Another important feature of Sharesies’ work culture is the focus on mental health. The company offers and employee assistance programme and has a number of mental health professional on site to ensure the mental health of employees is well looked after. Every employee also gets two days of ‘wellness leave’ to help them look after their mental health needs. The company’s wellness initiatives are having a measurable and positive impact on the work environment with the company noticing reduced absenteeism and improved staff satisfaction. Employees have spoken positively about the company, acknowledging that it is a fun and social environment and saying that they feel safe and comfortable to discuss mental health in the workplace or comfortable and supported even in times of stress.

Avoiding short term debt

Expect your spending habits to be scrutinised

Understand what you earn

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