Police remain at the scene where a bullet shot through a house in Māngere, South Auckland overnight. Emergency services were called to Pito Place at about 12.25am this morning after the occupant reported a single bullet had…

It's known as one of the bloodiest battles in history, but surprisingly very few human remains have been unearthed from the Battle of Waterloo.

An estimated 48,000 men lost their lives as Napoleon's French army was defeated by a force of British, Dutch and German troops in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, on Sunday, June 18, 1815.

The decisive battle marked the end of the decades-long Napoleonic Wars and crushed French attempts to dominate Europe.

A new study released today, on the 207th anniversary of the battle, says it's probable the bones of fallen Waterloo militaries were sold as fertiliser.

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Lead expert Professor Tony Pollard says as the gunfire drew to a close and smoke cleared, Waterloo became a grim attraction.

And some would have profited from this – grinding down fallen soldiers' bones into bone-meal, an effective fertiliser, and selling it to the British Isles.

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"Many came to steal the belongings of the dead, some even stole teeth to make into dentures, while others came to simply observe what had happened," Pollard, from the University of Glasgow Centre for War Studies and Conflict Archaeology, explained.

"At least three newspaper articles from the 1820s onwards reference the importing of human bones from European battlefields for the purpose of producing fertiliser.

"It's likely that an agent of a purveyor of bones would arrive at the battlefield with high expectations of securing their prize.

"Primary targets would be mass graves, as they would have enough bodies in them to merit the effort of digging".

As part of the study, researchers poured over data, newly-found battlefield descriptions and drawings from people who visited the site in the days following Napoleon's defeat.

Together the visitor accounts describe the exact locations of three mass graves containing up to 13,000 bodies.

One such account included memoirs and letters from a Scottish merchant living in Brussels called James Ker. He wrote that men died in his arms.

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Pollard will help lead an "ambitious", several years-long geophysical survey of the battleground, to solve the mystery of what happened to fallen soldiers.

"The next stage is to head back out to Waterloo, to attempt to plot grave sites resulting from the analysis of early visitor accounts reported here," he said.

"If human remains have been removed on the scale proposed then there should be, at least in some cases, archaeological evidence of the pits from which they were taken".

An irate Eden Park neighbour wants school balls banned from the stadium, deeming them a “complete nightmare” for residents. The resident, who requested to remain anonymous, says loud music, congested traffic and anti-social behaviour…

When used correctly, air purifiers can help reduce airborne bacteria and viruses, like COVID-19 and influenza – but they aren't guaranteed protection.

Viruses spread when an infected person exhales small aerosol particles, coughs or sneezes into the air.

A good air purifier can assist by filtering most of the bacteria left behind in a room.

But it's worth noting that air purifiers aren't going to clean the entire home's air, they'll only filter the air in the room they're operating – all dependent on size.

Standards hygiene practice is still the best preventative measure against influenza and COVID-19.

Air purifiers for your home – how do they work and how much are they?

There's a variety of air purifiers designed specifically for homes, but they can also be quite pricey – some of the bigger brands start from around $1000 for a standard air purifier.

So how does $1000 of technology crammed into a plastic box keep your home's air fresh and "pure"?

In simple terms, air purifiers suck air into the machine's filters to remove particles, such as dust, pet hair, smoke, bad odours, bacteria, viruses and more, before releasing clean air back into the room.

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These air purifiers suck in hundreds of cubic metres (m3/h) of air each hour, filtering it through the machine and blowing "purified air" it back out into the room.

Most air filters work in the same way, but what you're really paying for is filtration quality.

There are multiple filters inside the unit to make sure nothing is getting past, most of these filters can be replaced or cleaned.

The main filtering component used to fight bacteria and viruses is known as the HEPA filter, or "high-efficiency particulate air" filter.

No home air purifiers with HEPA filters claim to be 100 per cent effective, the majority of HEPA filters are able to stop particles no smaller than 0.3μm, which equates to 300 nanometres.

For some added perspective, a nanometre is about one billionth of a metre, and your standard coronavirus particle is about 100 nanometres.

Particles can remain airborne for hours at a time, so utilising an air purifier with a HEPA filter can greatly help to capture any lingering sneezes or coughs.

Wearable air purifiers – what are they?

Wearable air purifiers are an entirely new concept, recently introduced by vacuuming leaders Dyson.

It's certainly an interesting piece of technology, and not something you'd expect from a company like Dyson, but they did it anyway.

Dyson says six years and 500 prototypes later, they're finally ready to show the world their latest technological advancement. 

READ MORE: Dyson unveils 'air-purifying headphones' after six-year development

As for the design, Dyson says they've taken inspiration from a horse's saddle. 

Despite the air-purifying attachment being a major part of the design, it is detachable and Dyson says you can just use the Dyson Zone as normal headphones. 

How does the wearable air purifier work?

Compressors in the earcups draw air through layered filters and project two streams of purified air to the wearer's nose and mouth, all of this is channelled through the non-contact visor.

The visor ensures purified airflow is kept near to the nose and mouth and Dyson says this makes sure the air is diluted as little as possible by the wind. 

The device has four air purification modes: low, medium, high, and auto, which is able to sync with the user's breathing. 

Dyson hasn't confirmed how much something like this costs just yet, but we can imagine it'll be considered a premium product.

Governor Ron DeSantis announced this week that registration for the Florida Python Challenge has opened.

A Melbourne company has come up with an innovative idea to solve Australia's housing crisis by constructing entire homes through 3D printing.

Fortex Technical Director Jake Hartman said the process is like a 3D desktop printer but on a much larger scale and can construct a home in a more efficient time period.

"We are able to produce concrete onsite, pump it onsite and deliver the wall system to a house onsite," he said.

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It is a concrete-based printer but can use locally based resources to build the homes.

CEO David Lederer said the system is best suited to a flat surface to build on but can construct up to 12-metre homes.

"It is a modular-based system from small homes to 12 metres wide and three storeys and 50 metres deep before you have to move the printer, so basically infinite in-depth," Lederer said.

Hartman added it gives more "design freedom" to architects due to the ease of building different shaped homes like curved walls.

"The design freedom it will give architects and designers will bring about a whole new way and lifestyle as a result of the different shapes and forms we will be able to see in residential construction," Hartman said.

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Fortex spruiked they could build a 210 square metre single-storey home in just 40 hours with two days of setting up the printer prior to construction.

"That compared to a conventional building eight to 12 weeks for the wall system, that is excluding the delays that all builders are having in terms of supply, now it could blow out to 14 weeks for the wall system," Lederer said.

The company said the technology would not put tradies out of business as workers are still required to operate the printing system.

It comes as the construction industry is under extensive pressure due to material and worker shortages and high demand after COVID-19 lockdowns shut down the sector.

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Russian state television has showed video of two US military veterans who went missing last week while fighting in Ukraine, confirming that the men were taken captive and raising fears about their fate.

Alex Drueke and Andy Huynh, both from Alabama, were believed to be the first Americans captured by Russian forces since the war began on February 24.

Drueke, speaking into the camera from what appeared to be an office, sent a message to his mother, concluding with a quick wink.

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“Mum, I just want to let you know that I’m alive and I hope to be back home as soon as I can be. So, love Diesel for me. Love you.”

Diesel is his dog, a mastiff.

His aunt, Dianna Shaw, said the video included both a key word and a gesture that Drueke and his mother had set up during one of his two tours in Iraq so she would know that it was indeed him and that he was OK.

Drueke, who served in the US Army, and Huynh, who served in the US Marines, went missing after their group came under heavy fire in the northeastern Kharkiv region on June 9.

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Citing Drueke, the RT television report said the Americans became separated from the others and once it was safe they set off through the woods, ending up in a village where they were approached by a Russian patrol and surrendered.

RT, which broadcasts in English, said they were being held by Russian-backed separatist forces in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Three other foreigners fighting for Ukraine, two Britons and a Moroccan man, were sentenced to death by a court run by separatists in Donetsk, which is in the Donbas.

The US has insisted that anyone captured should be considered a prisoner of war and protected by guarantees of humane treatment and fair trials. But the Russian military has said it considers foreigners fighting with Ukraine to be mercenaries and claims they are not protected as combatants under the Geneva Conventions.

A reporter for the Russian state television network VGTRK recorded short clips of the two men speaking Russian and saying, “I am against war.”

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There has been no official confirmation from the US or Russian government that the Americans were being held.

The State Department said earlier this week that it was looking into reports that Russian or Russian-backed forces had captured two American citizens.

It also reiterated its warning that Americans should not be going to Ukraine to fight, a message repeated Friday by President Joe Biden.

Asked about the missing Americans before the Russian videos appeared, Biden said he had been briefed on the situation but provided no further details.

“I don’t know where they are and I want to be clear: Americans should not be going to Ukraine,” Biden said. “I’ll say it again, Americans should not be going to Ukraine.”