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Substance use among workers is holding steady, but their drug selection continues to shift in a dangerous direction, according to the second quarter 2025 workplace report from The Drug Detection Agency (TDDA) New Zealand’s largest workplace drug testing provider.

Download Austroads’ updated version of the Australasian Pedestrian Selection Facility. The tool is used by around 1000 practitioners annually across Australasia to support the selection of pedestrian crossing facilities based on walkability, safety and economic outcomes. Austroads regularly updates the tool to ensure it reflects current best practice and guidance

The Urban Developer reports that expressions of interest have been called from master planning contractors and their subcontractor teams for the 2032 Brisbane Olympic Games Victoria Park precinct which includes a 63,000 seat stadium, national aquatic centre and athletes village.

Waste from electrical and electronic equipment poses a challenge to recyclers and a threat to the environment. The UK Royal Mint with the help of industry has developed a process using a low-energy chemical solution that works at room temperature to quickly and efficiently selectively leach out more than 99% of the gold from shredded material. Non-metallic components are further processed into building materials and base metals are extracted and sold to refiners.

The latest edition of the government guide to doing business remains targeted on helping SME during difficult times. This issue includes a tool to assist in cash flow forecasting and sound advice in how to handle your business if it is running at a loss at the moment. There are other pointers including the advantages in hiring a veteran and on using AI responsibly.

The immune system differentiates so accurately between proteins that come from harmful pathogens and those from harmless things like food. Sometimes it gets it wrong; a peanut or a shrimp is treated like a deadly invader. Scientists discover a new type of immune cell Thetis cells, so-called because of their ‘shapeshifting’ attributes.

Extensive research has been conducted on the net-zero transition, although the socioeconomic impacts have not been considered at sufficient scale and complexity. McKinsey is developing the Climate Transition Impact Framework (C-TIF) to address this gap.

Trying to figure out what’s happening in Trump’s tariff land of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) and how it might effect our country and your business. Read this report from Simply Wall Street out Monday 14 July and see how much it holds true a month down the track. It starts with an update on tariffs, as they could compound – or offset – the impact of Trump’s OBBB.

With term deposits maturing, investors are returning to commercial property as an attractive asset class that can provide long-term returns. Despite a volatile international backdrop New Zealand’s economy has shown encouraging signs of recovery in the first half of 2025, says the latest Colliers report, officially emerging from recession with stronger-than-expected GDP growth of 0.8 percent in Q1. Inflation has eased into the Reserve Bank’s target band, enabling the RBNZ to lower interest rates. However, domestic demand remains patchy, and business confidence, though improving, is still cautious.

More than one billion people worldwide live with obesity, a global epidemic that health authorities have blamed on widespread increased consumption of calories and decreased physical activity. But which factor contributes more? After measuring how people from around the world burn calories, a team of researchers concluded that diet plays the bigger role—though not everyone agrees with that interpretation.

Electric vehicle drivers greatest concern is running out of battery — range anxiety. The there is a lack of convenient charging stations and the need to recharge frequently. Check out the five options available in an electric world and welcome the extended range EV vehicle (EREV)

Conventional wisdom tells us that the way to beat the odds in business is to have the right strategy. Yet even the best strategy does not magically yield a strong performance, says a recent McKinsey report. For that, companies need an effective operating model that is intentionally designed to deliver four outcomes: clarity, speed, skills, and commitment. Leaders understand this, which is why they frequently try to adapt their operating models to cope with a volatile market

New Zealand is sure to quickly follow new Australian workplace exposure limits for airborne contaminants following a review in support of PCBU. An airborne contaminant is a fume, mist, gas, vapour, or dust that can be harmful to health when breathed in. They may not be visible to the naked eye nor detected by odour and may arise from chemicals or materials used in the workplace or be generated by work processes.

Managers and owners are increasingly using Generative AI. If it is still a mystery for you The Havard Business Review Guide to Generative AI for Managers could be the best US$80 you will ever spend. Aside from the Ebook, inside the toolkit there are exercises, strategies, tips and frameworks to accelerate aspects of your work, including 11 worksheets to help develop the right mindset for AI, determining whether a gen AI task is best suited as a co-pilot or co-thinker

One of the major challenges in designing the Dinslaken Wood Energy Centre in Germany was handling the highly inhomogeneous waste-wood fuel mix, characterised by varying particle sizes, foreign materials and a high proportion of fine particles.The challenges were exceptional but, yes, it can be done ecologically. Building a waste wood incineration plant is a highly individualised process that responds to complex and specific project requirements.

Property values overall increased by 0.2 percent in June, reversing two minor monthly falls in April and May, according to Cotality NZ. Property values remain 16.1 percent down from the January 2022 peak. Auckland and Wellington were stable, but there was a 0.2 percent rise in Dunedin, 0.3 percent in Hamilton and 0.6 percent each in Tauranga and Christchurch. An abundance of listings on the market means most buyers aren’t in a rush and can be quite tough when it comes to price negotiations.

In the eight months to January 2025, 62 percent of commercial honeybee colonies in the US died. In June, scientists announced that they had identified the culprit, viruses spread by parasitic mites. Every single one of the mites was resistant to amitraz, the only viable mite-specific pesticide. Researchers are trying to develop ways of attacking honeybee viruses directly, rather than focusing on controlling varroa mites. But promising experimental treatments are still years away from leaving the lab.

The need for another expensive enquiry into glyphosate, the active compound in Roundup, still draws different opinions from equally qualified experts. Whether or not another enquiry gets the green light will depend on the decision of the judge following a recent hearing where the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) was taken to court by the Environmental Law Initiative .
