Irish scientists say this gut membrane should be the newest organ.

Kiwi scientists are exploring the mysterious role the bugs inside us play in regulating our diet and metabolism.

Pavement-navigating robots are the latest idea in delivering groceries and packages.

The world could be set to end in October this year, when a giant mysterious planet collides with our own - according to a conspiracy theorist.

Dinosaurs were vulnerable after the asteroid hit Earth because they took months to hatch out of their eggs.

Kiwis' use of antibiotics has soared, indicating widespread inappropriate use for viral coughs and colds, experts say.

When it comes to trapping our bird-killing pest predators, a little bit of potent ferret stench could be the missing ingredient.

A Kiwi climate scientist says he's been alarmed at how much sea ice the planet's poles lost in 2016, in what was one of the hottest years on record.

COMMENT: If the Kardashians are more famous than scientists saving millions of lives with their research, then we're all culturally less for it.

They're called "slow waves" - and while we don't feel them, they propagate through our bodies each time we eat something. A new study aims to learn more about them.

She's not a hypnotist, but she can convince you that you're a criminal or were traumatised as a child. Elizabeth Loftus has ways of making you think.

Creating "designer" ecosystems for degraded waterways could boost river restoration efforts around the country.

A recently-discovered cannabis-like substance naturally produced by our brains could play a role in treating Parkinson's disease.

A new study calls to expand our understanding of how a woman can be aroused.

It sounds like something out of 1950s science fiction: a blob-like organism that's made up of one giant cell and which can learn despite having no brain.

COMMENT: What will you do with the extra time added to today to get clocks in sync with the Earth's rotation?

How narcissistic are Kiwis?

Urgent action is needed to stop the cheetah - the world's fastest land animal - sprinting to extinction, experts have warned.

• Philip Clarke is a Professor of Health Economics, University of Melbourne. Chris Schilling is an associate lecturer, Health

COMMENT: Tiny little specks of land hundreds of kilometres from New Zealand may hold key secrets about the future of our planet.

COMMENT: The days of your sweating over Christmas dinner preparation could soon be a thing of the past

The Star Wars series featured a man-made planet called the Death Star which destroys other worlds with a giant laser.

One of the most-read Lifestyle stories in 2016: What is it about these unlucky chosen few that makes them mosquito magnets?

Things seem to be heating up Campi Flegrei, the 12km-wide caldera west of Naples in Italy.

Mythical planets, nearby Earth-like worlds and unprecedented missions to Jupiter and Saturn. We learned a lot about our universe in 2016.

Kiwi scientists are exploring the emotions of livestock in pioneering research that could improve the way animals are farmed.

According to a study the pill won't curb your libido, but a long-term relationship might.

Retraining the brain to beat stress is the key to losing weight and keeping it off, a leading Australian neuroscientist says.

One of the most notorious forms of breast cancer is to be targeted in a new study by an Auckland University researcher and cancer survivor.

A brewery is promising the best beer of your life thanks to a personalised test using your DNA.