Sir Peter Gluckman has spent a lifetime in laboratories, but his biggest breakthroughs took place over a pint of cold beer at the pub.

Her alter ego's name, "Nano Girl", was coined by schoolchildren but top scientist Dr Michelle Dickinson may be more of a superhero than she gives herself credit for.

Winter is coming in an actual sense, in that winter is coming. I know this because the TV weather people are using the term "polar blast".

Killer robots being developed by the US military "will leave humans utterly defenceless", an academic has warned.

A new warning has sounded for the world’s smallest dolphin, with a New Zealand researcher now reporting there are less than 50 Maui’s dolphins left.

The United States space programme is famous for what it invented and also for how much it spent putting men on the moon.

University of Otago PhD researcher Hazem Zohny has warned about myths and "hype" involving so-called "smart" drugs.

New Zealand could today be facing even higher rates of skin cancer had the world not agreed to rein in ozone-depleting substances nearly 30 years ago.

Forget The Bachelor - it's a tiny crab that takes the cake for the ultimate act of courtship.

For most of us, it's a tough ask to draw a link between somewhere as warm as Bangladesh and as chilly as Antarctica.

Thousands of men with advanced prostate cancer have been given new hope of a cure after scientists discovered the genetic cause behind 90 per cent of tumours.

Scientists discover genetic background to disease - and treatments are already available.

The Government is fronting up $25 million to kickstart new privately led provincial research institutes.

Up to three new research institutes will be set up in regions outside Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, according to a Budget announcement.

A day after new research into major "megathrust" earthquakes was revealed, a seismologist has been appointed as the first Professor of Earthquake Science at the University of Otago.

Feminists have debated it for decades, but scientists have finally got to the bottom of why men still exist.

A new study suggests that the love hormone, oxytocin, has similar effects to being drunk, and not just the more pleasant aspects of inebriation.

Alcohol may also make us more empathic and cause us to see other people as more attractive. Why do these reactions occur?

Scientists create a yeast that can turn sugar into opiates, then call for urgent regulation of the technology.

The 7.3 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal on May 12, just weeks after the devastating 7.8 magnitude event, should be classed as an aftershock rather than a second earthquake.

A Kiwi inventor has made cars glow in the dark.

One of New Zealand's most spectacular tourist destinations could also provide a key to better understanding the large-scale changes in store for the planet.

What could Nigel Latta possibly know about science, the weighty subject that seems to be his cosy new home on telly. Quite a bit, actually.

In a paper published yesterday in Science, researchers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describe the unique mechanism that enables the opah, a deepwater predatory fish, to keep its body warm.

Spacecraft Cemetery, 3900km southeast of Wellington, is home to the scattered remains of 161 space stations and robotic freighters.

Scientists have long assumed that all fish are basically cold-blooded, but all that has just changed.

Kiwi scientists have found in pig bladders a breakthrough that could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of a disorder which frequently catches its sufferers short.

A glass of red wine and a bite of chocolate could help you stave off a cold this winter, new Kiwi research shows.