Baby penguins born, a new film brings Hollywood to Hobbiton, a slam dunk in robotics, and a Christchurch school rocks the internet once again.
Gentoo chicks
The arrival of three gentoo penguin chicks at SEA LIFE Kelly Tarlton's Aquarium in Auckland marked a win for the species.
The chicks are part of the aquarium's long-term breeding programme.
Gentoo penguins are classified as near threatened in terms of extinction. Although some colonies appear to be growing, others are declining quickly.
Senior penguin keeper Jessica Kennedy said these chicks will act as advocates for their species.
Middle-earth returns home
A new Lord of the Rings film is hitting the big screens.
The highly-anticipated anime epic would take fans back centuries, before the famous trilogy.
Cast and crew gathered at Hobbiton in Matamata on Tuesday for the New Zealand premiere.
Screenwriter Philippa Boyens said "normally, it takes about five years to make an anime film and, of this scale, probably longer – they had three".
"But I tell you what, the Kiwis came through," she said.
Basketball bot
A humanoid robot has set a Guinness World Record in a remarkable demonstration of robotics and artificial intelligence.
The robot, called CUE6, performed the farthest basketball shot by a humanoid robot — from a distance of 24.55m.
CUE project leader Tomohiro Nomi said it took six years to achieve.
His dream was to ultimately create a robot that could "dunk like Michael Jordan".
Students back in the spotlight
After wowing the internet in 2023 with their performance of Stairway to Heaven at a school prizegiving, students at St Andrew's College have done it again.
They've transformed Coldplay's Viva La Vida into an extended seven-minute rendition featuring flute, violin, guitar solos, and a choir.
St Andrew's head of music Duncan Ferguson said it was wonderful to see people connecting with the performance.
For lead singer Hugo Ranken, it was an especially memorable finale to his time at St Andrew's.
"I'm a huge Coldplay fan — so that was a really, really awesome thing to be able to do," he said.
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