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.

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

Mozart may enhance a man's performance in board games - while AC/DC may hinder their chances, according to new research.

Don't fall foul of campylobacter this festive season; cook chicken all the way through and wash down surfaces exposed to raw meat.

An end to grey hair and crows-feet could be just 10 years away after scientists showed it is possible to reverse ageing in animals.

Clinics in Britain can now apply to create three parent babies after the fertility watchdog gave the final approval for the procedure.

A new discovery by Kiwi and US scientists could lead to new ways to help New Zealand's agricultural sector slash greenhouse gas emissions.

NIWA marine ecology technician Mark Fenwick has observed the dramatic changes to Kaikoura's crayfish habitats.

Humans are marring the coherence of the natural world - by building endless numbers of roads.

Worlds with the mass of Neptune are the most likely planet to form in the icy outer realms of planetary systems, scientists have found in a pioneering new study co-authored by Kiwi researchers.

So how does Father Christmas do it? One physicist believes she has an answer - and Einstein is the key.

An international team of scientists have found an odd and slightly gross explanation for sticky, glowworm-made "fishing lines" that hang in the famous Waitomo Caves - urine.

It sounds like an idea that should remain firmly in the realm of Hollywood but NASA thinks one day we might need to nuke any Earth-bound asteroids to save humanity.