More than 40 people have overdosed in a Connecticut park on a drug suspected of being laced with Opiates, Police say.

Police arrested a man on Wednesday who is suspected of being connected to some of the drugs that caused the overdoses, NBC News Connecticut reported.

Officials believe the individuals may have taken doses of K2, a synthetic drug marketed as being similar to marijuana.

There have been no fatalities reported over the incident, but some of the individuals are in critical condition, officials say.

Parents are running out of time to vaccinate their children if they want to avoid having their family support payments cut under the Turnbull Government’s No Jab, No Pay rules.

The Department of Human Services has written to about 130,000 families whose immunisation records were not up to date.

Those who fail to respond by the deadline will have their Family Tax Benefit payments reduced each fortnight for every child not vaccinated, providing a constant reminder for parents to keep their children’s immunisation up to date.

A new “just add water” testing kit could help remote communities test for waterborne diseases.

Developed by scientists at the Australian National University, this testing kit could easily and cheaply save millions from diseases like Malaria and other water contaminates.

It allows for fast-tracked testing in remote areas that don’t have access to fully equipped scientific labs, as all the user needs is a kit, some water and a smartphone.

Three female University of Queensland science researchers will head to Antarctica as part of a year-long leadership scheme, joining 97 other female scientists.

A three-week trip to Antarctica is the summit of a year-long journey, where the participants explore leadership, strategy and how to extend the reach of their science message through virtual meetings and online curriculum.

The rising out-of-pocket costs have stopped more than 1 million Australians from seeing a doctor in the last year.

Despite bulk-billing rates hitting a record high, Australians are still being hit with over $3 billion dollars in out of pocket expenses each year.

Australian Medical Association president Tony Bartone explains that the costs of healthcare are rising, and medicare rebates just can’t keep up.

Russian Cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev released four research satellites into orbit and set up an antenna for tracking birds on Earth.

The space station is an ideal perch for the antenna, compared with a typical satellite, said project director Martin Wikelski of the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology in Germany.

The project will start out tracking blackbirds and turtle doves already outfitted with small GPS tags, then move on to other songbirds, fruit bats and bigger wildlife.

Rapidly escalating avocado prices have driven a New Zealand black market for the smash hit breakfast ingredient.

Due to import laws, Kiwi’s only have access to locally grown avocados, and in May, prices were as high as $4.50 per fruit.

After two years of low-yielding harvests, and a massive boost in popularity for the fruit, there has been a rash of thefts from avocado orchards, with two thieves being caught carrying over $6000 dollars worth of fruit inside duvet covers.

A mental health inpatient at Coffs Harbour Hospital took his own life, and wasn’t found until the next morning.

Jaimie Byrne was supposed to be checked on by staff every 15 minutes throughout the night, but his death went undiscovered for hours.

A whilstleblower has leaked documents to multiple news organisations, which have uncovered multiple failings on the part of Coffs Harbour’s Mid North Coast Local Health District.

This comes after another man died under similar circumstances five years ago.