The Sun has unleashed three potent solar flares in just under 24 hours, marking the most intense activity yet this year and causing limited interruptions to high-frequency radio communications.

Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

A Canterbury astrophysicist will fly to Europe next week to be presented with the Einstein Medal from the Albert Einstein Society.

Sir Ray Avery's Vigil Monitoring - which is developing a wristband that monitors a patient's vitals and uploads the information - has received funding to help get the invention to market.

Very few people will ever have the chance to see NZ 370km from space, but thanks to two astronauts returning to Earth today Kiwis won't have to make the journey.

A Soyuz space capsule carrying a three-man international crew has landed safely on the steppes of Kazakhstan.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and Nasa’s Thomas Marshburn have become well known for their amazing photos of planet earth, regularly tweeted out to their thousands of fans. Here are 10 of the best.

The Natural History Museum has about 300 experts on its staff.

Some stroke victims may eventually recover lost hand function thanks to smart new computer system designed to fool the brain.

A self-proclaimed "physics nerd" from Burnside High School is heading to Nasa after winning a scholarship to space camp.

Senior scientists have criticised the "appalling irresponsibility" of researchers in China who have deliberately created new strains of influenza virus in a veterinary laboratory.

It weighs just 80 milligrams, has a pair of wings that flap 120 times a second and has taken 10 years to develop.

NZ authorities are only just waking up to the risks tsunamis pose to our coastlines but they don't know how bad a destructive one could be here, an Australian expert says.

The culture in NZ is, no doubt, a leading element of what has been achieved by Team NZ in bringing this catamaran campaign to its impending pinnacle, Keith Turner.

For one of the boldest experiments ever to hit New Zealand laboratories, the basic theory behind the National Science Challenges is remarkably simple.

The Government asked Kiwis about our big issues in its Great New Zealand Science Project. We look at eight areas suggested as science challenge candidates.

A "troubling" new study has suggested that a third of resource consent holders are breaking environmental promises, with agriculture operations proving the worst offenders.

The temporary hearing loss from an outing at a noisy nightclub may not indicate damage to our ears as traditionally thought, new research shows.

Sweeping views of Auckland's volcanic cones risk being violated by new planning rules, critics say.

Scientists from across the world have come here to examine how to unlock secrets hidden within our offshore tectonic plate boundaries over the next decade.

To geologists perhaps, six years is nothing, writes Brian Rudman. But for those of us on human time, it seems an inordinate amount of time to need to hatch the plan.

Rangitoto may be much older - and more explosive - than previously believed.

Nine scientists are three days in to a two-week marine expedition to the Three Kings Islands and they've already discovered their first new (or previously undescribed) species - seaweeds. This video footage is from their first dive at the Cavalli Islands on the way to the Three Kings. You can follow more of the expedition through their blog http://threekings.aucklandmuseum.com/

Climate change is forecast to make huge tracts of land ripe for grape-growing in New Zealand while threatening vineyards in some of the world's most celebrated wine regions.

Scientist Sir Ray Avery says his latest invention will revolutionise medical care.