Blowing away enemy soldiers and aliens may be good for the brain, as researchers have found that fast-paced video games improve a player's learning ability.

The maxim that it's not what you eat for dinner, but who you share it with, now has scientific credence.

Imagine being able to peer deep below your own skin in 3D - and without even having to break the surface.

A husband and wife team could help change the way products as common as car tyres are made by recycling chemicals from greenhouse gases.

Milk has long been recommended for boosting calcium intake, but new research suggests that it does little to strengthen bones and can double the risk of an early death.

Two genes have been identified that may be partly responsible for extremely violent crimes.

Sir Ray Avery's revolutionary baby incubator has been designed with the best of Kiwi ingenuity, the Auckland scientist and inventor says.

Most university students want to be a parent one day, but they're over-estimating how easy it will be to have babies later in life.

A freak accident at Bondi beach more than a decade ago has led to a medical breakthrough that could allow paralysed patients to walk again.

A simple genetic test would tell Emma East if she carries the devastating disease that killed her mother. She's one of a growing number who face this dilemma, reports Kate Hilpern.

Scientists have developed technology to help patients who have congenital abnormalities or suffered a traumatic injury.

The home-baked illicit drug krokodil first emerged in provincial Russia during the early 2000s.

Research has linked a woman's hormone levels in pregnancy with her child's maths skills at age five.

The University of Canterbury says it will build the world’s first human colour x-ray scanner with the help from a $12m government grant.

The world as we know it is changing fast and the speed of that change is going to keep accelerating.

Traumatic memories could be switched into pleasant recollections with a flash of light, scientists claim.

A pill that appears to cure alopecia has fully restored the hair of three patients in a breakthrough hailed by scientists as "dramatic" and "exciting".

His daily diet included crane and egret, washed down with a bottle of wine. The reign of Richard III only lasted two years.

Archaeologists in Greece have discovered a vast tomb that they believe is connected with the reign of the warrior-king Alexander the Great.

Straddling a superbike at speeds of more than 300km/h, the track is a giddy blur beneath your wheels.

A boy who was born without ears has had a pair created from his own ribs.

I've never felt more helpless than while lying on a slab, pants around my ankles, with someone poking around in my twig and berries.

Most of us know someone who claims that they can get away with very little sleep. But that's not backed by science. We bust the sleep myths.

Not all chimpanzees are created equal. Not only are some more intelligent than others, but about half of this variation is genetically inherited.

A blood test to predict if someone will develop Alzheimer's within a year has been created, in a breakthrough that raises hopes that the disease could become preventable.

James Piercy calls it the "hidden disability". Every year in his homeland, the United Kingdom, 135,000 people are admitted to hospital as a consequence of it.

Bruises, cuts and bite marks amid a moshpit's rough and tumble aren't the worst injuries you can suffer at a heavy metal concert.

Australian scientists appear to have solved one of the great mysteries of human biology - exactly what triggers labour after about 40 weeks of pregnancy.