From potential taxes on sugary drinks to the ancestry of our kiwi, science has offered plenty of headlines this year.

Perth beachgoers are being urged to take extra care after a spate of shark sightings.

A British medical laboratory scientist who worked illegally in New Zealand for five years has been censured and deregistered.

A shark attack expert says Western Australia's policy is like the Hollywood blockbuster movie 'Jaws'.

A proposed mission to the moon led by British scientists could pave the way for the construction of a lunar observatory.

It took months of planning, a nine-hour surgery and a team of 35 clinicians. But by the end, they had completed a ground-breaking double arm transplant on a quadruple amputee.

Scientists studying the DNA of Richard III, whose body was found buried beneath a Leicester car park, have revealed that there was marital infidelity among his descendants.

A new way of treating incurable illnesses such as cancer and Ebola could be possible after a scientific breakthrough that also sheds light on the origin of life.

A researcher's tireless efforts to ensure every Kiwi can have a safe, warm and dry home has been rewarded with the country's largest prize for science.

A giant ancient penguin far taller than any species alive today has been described for the first time after its fossil remains sat for decades inside an Auckland storage shed.

Peter Schwerdtfeger's love of chemistry first caused the evacuation of his family's apartment block. Last night, it won him New Zealand's highest science honour.

Scientists have created a miniature model of human pain in the form of nerve cells growing in a laboratory dish.

From his office window Mick Clout can see the outline of Hauraki Gulf islands in the hazy distance.

Mankind may have already accomplished the giant leap of walking on the moon, but a group of scientists and entrepreneurs is hoping to boldly go where no one has gone before.

Next to a Ford Thunderbird convertible and among hand-built models of the solar system a Kiwi engineer is helping streamline an invention that will save thousands of babies in Third World countries.

Academics think that kissing helps partners share bacteria, shoring up their immune systems and enabling them to better fight disease.

'We're confident at some stage it'll wake up again.' The Philae lander has been quiet since sending back initial photos, but sunshine could revive it.

NZ's world ranking for R&D spending continues to drop, according to a report by Grant Thornton, which puts NZ near the bottom of the table.

A symposium being held today at Massey University will discuss the potential "de-extinction" of NZ birds, with the huia sitting at the top of the list.

The Government is pouring $139m into 48 of NZ's most promising research programmes. The projects, if successful, will benefit a range of NZ businesses.

DNA samples from an exceptionally well-preserved extinct Mammuthus found in Siberia, have raised the prospect of cloning.

Snow-capped Mt Taranaki stands out in this view from space in a new book.

It’s pitch black and Kina Scollay is in a cage at the bottom of the ocean as huge shapes emerge from the darkness.

An intelligent arm brace adding extra muscle by flexing, as we do, will be created in a landmark German-Kiwi collaboration.

European space engineers hope to carry out carefully programmed manoeuvres over the coming hours and days to rescue the Philae lander from its precarious position on the comet.