University of Auckland senior lecturer Dr Michelle Dickinson, reveals five ways that science is bringing comic-book superpowers closer to reality.

In the mid-1990s, Gus, a polar bear in the Central Park Zoo, alarmed visitors by compulsively swimming figure eights in his pool, sometimes for 12 hours a day.

Environment category: Colin Ogle is Wanganui's go-to man on all things botanical and has dedicated years to the area's parks and bush.

It's The Hangover-meets-Jurassic Park. While most stag parties involve paintballing, the pub or a strip club, one group of friends spent did some impromptu palaeontology.

An eerie photo of millions of spiders fleeing flooded farmland in Hikurangi last week has gone viral, after it was posted by a popular science Facebook page.

Fillings and the dentist's drill could soon become just an unpleasant memory thanks to a new technique aimed at rebuilding damaged teeth.

The regime governing genetic modification in New Zealand is one of the strictest in the world, writes Bob Forlong.

Albert Einstein may be most famous for his mass-energy equivalence formula E = mc2, but his work also laid down the foundation for modern quantum mechanics.

A ground-breaking development by a Kiwi is expected to reduce death and injury from dangerous button batteries worldwide.

Research spanning the effects of hormones on a pregnant mother's brain to the potentially negative health effects that pets may have on families can begin.

Bare-knuckle fighting has left its mark on the human face, according to scientists who believe it helped to shape how we look today.

Scientists are being told to use art and poetry to win public support in the battle to curb climate change.

The fossil of a squid-like creature wiped out with the dinosaurs has been discovered in a Hawkes Bay streambed. What makes it such a 'significant' find for NZ?

"Sea," said King Canute, the 11th-century Danish King of England, "I command you to come no further!"

A pesticide made from spider venom has been found to kill insects without harming honeybees.

The creator of 'Big Brother' is to turn the "world's toughest job interview" - for a one-way ticket to Mars - into the ultimate reality show.

Six University of Canterbury students are taking part in what has been called a once-in-a-lifetime research opportunity.

Australian and Kiwi researchers have edged closer to the "holy grail" of plant science with a groundbreaking study that could change the way farmers irrigate and fertilise their land as the world warms.

Debate over New Zealand's stance on genetic engineering is set to reignite with a review of the rules defining what is - and what isn't - GM research.

Sea ice, winds and invertebrates will go under the microscope in the next stage of a major science programme turning to Antarctica to answer crucial questions about how the Earth will respond to climate change.

An animal believed to have been extinct for four million years has been found near Picton.

Large waves are apparently to blame for breaking up sea ice on a larger scale than thought, explaining a rapid decrease in Arctic ice.

A sleek Gulfstream V worth nearly $100 million is set to soar into the South Island next month, but it won't be carrying magnates or celebrities.

American scientists are attempting to breed chickens that can cope with scorching heat as part of a series of government-funded programmes.

Hospital wards need to be redesigned to provide urgently needed defences against the spread of deadly, antibiotic-resistant superbugs.

A "ghost snail", a tiny fringed fairyfly named Tinkerbell and a pale yellow sea anemone that is at home under a glacier are on an international list of the 10 top species discovered last year.

When scientist Dr Kimberlee Jordan returned to New Zealand after 10 years of study abroad, she couldn't face another research paper.