Ellie is a virtual human created by scientists at the University of Southern California to help patients feel comfortable talking about themselves so they'll be honest with their doctors.

What have drones got to do with native plants? Quite a lot actually. And science reporter Jamie Morton will tell us why.

A 15-year-old British boy has developed a potential test for Alzheimer's disease that could allow the condition to be diagnosed 10 years before first symptoms appear.

Earth is 15 years from a "mini ice age" that will cause bitterly cold winters during which rivers freeze over, scientists have predicted.

Scientists have discovered at least two species of sharks living in an underwater volcano near the Solomon Islands.

While we share travel photos and life musings with a long list of virtual friends, the average person still only relies on a few people.

After giving scientists a heart attack at the weekend, Nasa's New Horizons spacecraft seems to be recovering.

We celebrate the winners of this year’s Sir Peter Blake Leadership Awards by profiling a Blake leader each Monday. Today's Blake leader is Dr Michelle Dickinson aka Nanogirl.

Kiwis can now use a beer byproduct to fill their cars, with a new biofuel being unveiled at an Auckland service station today.

A rogue robot has killed a technician at a car factory in an accident with chilling overtones of a science fiction movie.

Researchers from the University of Vermont are the first to make a connection between eye colour and alcohol dependence.

New research has shown that most Kiwis feel "positive" about electric vehicles and are willing to drive one in the future.

Scientists have uncovered fascinating new insights about the commuting habits of Antarctic killer whales.

Can you hold light with tweezers? Well, in a way, yes, University of Auckland scientists have found.

Scientists have found a way to read the mind, analysing brain waves and interpreting them as words and even complete sentences without having to listen.

A condom that changes colour when it comes in to contact with sexually transmitted infections (STI) like chlamydia and herpes has been invented by teenagers.

The last 50 years of gains in development and global health could be undone by the “medical emergency” that is the threat of climate change to human health, scientists said today.

When is our next big bang? That's the explosive question a team of scientists are going to try to answer.

University of Otago researchers joined almost 200 scientists from around the world to head out to take marine samples as part of the second Ocean Sampling Day yesterday.

Earth has entered its sixth mass extinction with animals dying out at 100 times the normal rate, scientists have warned.

Pig cells are behind a new treatment which could help those living with Parkinson's disease combat its dramatic and sometimes debilitating effects.

The ability to grow bones and organs in the lab for transplants has moved a step closer following a major breakthrough.

Food is an integral part of life, and New Zealand has carefully cultivated a global reputation for food quality and safety, writes Steve Maharey.

In the largest study of its kind, the researchers monitored more than 1,100 proteins in the blood of 106 pairs of twins.

A Kiwi scientist is behind technology that could help a major pharmaceutical company make a remarkable cancer breakthrough.

Scientists have captured the moment a white blood cell dies - and the results are spectacular.

Dr Geoff Chambers sees an era, maybe only a decade away, where we'll all receive personalised medicine based on our own distinct DNA make-up.