Passengers aboard the Akademik Shokalskiy are now being evacuated from the research ship that has been stuck in Antarctic sea ice for more than a week.

If there was ever a reason not to be nosey, then this video is it. And if you happen to be an arachnophobe, the scenes here are the stuff of your darkest nightmares.

Passengers on board a research ship that has been trapped in Antarctic ice for a week are expected to be rescued by helicopter, officials say.

A rescue icebreaker sent to retrieve more than 70 people on a marooned research ship in the Antarctic sea ice has been forced to turn around after coming within 19km of the vessel.

Observer writers look at hot topics for next year, from surveillance to missions to map out the galaxy.

Kiwi ornithologist Kerry-Jayne Wilson's fourth day stranded on a ship trapped by pack ice in Antarctica started with news that rescue could still be days away.

A rescue icebreaker is making steady progress zig-zagging through ice to rescue an ice-trapped ship in Antarctica with 74 people on board, including six New Zealanders.

A ship trapped by heavy sea ice in Antarctica with 74 people on board, including six Kiwis, will not be rescued until tomorrow night at the earliest.

A New Zealand scientist stranded on board a ship stuck in thick pack ice in Antarctica has reassured family back home that all is well.

Can exercise during pregnancy combat obesity in your baby? And could it help offset the so-called "fat gene"?

The lines of thousands of love poems and songs may have to be rewritten, according to Professor Alain Carpentier.

DNA taken from the 50,000-year-old toe bone of a Neanderthal woman has shown that she was highly inbred.

A student has invented the answer to your problems - a T-shirt that is impossible to stain.

Computer giant's motto is 'Don't be evil', but some worry that tech purchase brings allure of defence contracts.

Cognitive development research is, like its subjects, still in its infancy, but it seems that our tiny tots are a lot smarter than science once gave them credit for. Angela Saini reports on the latest evidence — and argument — from the baby labs.

Asteroids like the one that wiped out the dinosaurs on Earth could have shot life to Mars or the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, US scientists have said.

NZ Science Media Centre staff and their Oz counterparts put together their 10 top picks for the world's biggest science stories of 2013.

Adults' rate of smoking has declined to 15 per cent in the latest census, down from 20.7 per cent in 2006.

Plastered across posters and T-shirts, inspiring a play, and named by a popular blog site as word of the year, "munted" became the catch-cry amid Christchurch's post-quake devastation.

Auckland University team heads first research on giant mammals' ability to sense sound waves of prey.

The oldest known stone javelins have been discovered in Africa, predating humans by 80,000 years.

One of the world's leading earthquake scientists has called on New Zealand to adopt cutting-edge technology that could give people as much as 25 seconds' warning.

New Zealand's cute pukeko, known for its colour both in plumage and personality, has been shown to have a power-hungry, aggressive streak - quite literally.

Kiwis are being encouraged to become citizen scientists to check the health of their own lakes, rivers and streams.

A gene linked to obesity which makes ice cream and sugary foods tastier for girls has been discovered by scientists.