The study of blood-splatter patterns, made famous by popular TV crime shows CSI and Dexter, is being looked at by NZ researchers.

The Curse of Mars also applies to Asian countries, writes Gwynne Dyer. About two-thirds of the attempted missions to Mars have failed, many of them even before leaving Earth's orbit.

The Milky Way galaxy is teeming with Earth-like planets that are not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist at their surface - and so be capable of supporting life.

Forget all that creaking and groaning of stressed metal as the pressure of millions of tonnes of water comes to bear. That's pure Hollywood. It's actually dead quiet.

A joint Japanese/New Zealand survey of the Kermadec Trench has returned with shots of the weird and wonderful life deep beneath the sea off New Zealand. Photos / Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology

They are novel DNA-changing techniques that blur the lines around what is and what isn't genetic engineering.

In the last of a three-part series, Young New Zealander of the Year and CEO of the Sustainable Coastlines Charitable Trust ,Sam Judd, discusses the United Nations Environment Programs’ Global Partnership on Marine Litter.

Solving problems isn't exclusively human but working out how animals do it is tricky, writes Clint J. Perry.

A Kiwi invention is helping the blind to see - virtually.

A good night's sleep may be the key to preventing brain diseases such as Alzheimer's, a study has found.

We are usually told that daydreaming is a waste of time and mental power, but the ability to daydream offers us tremendous flexibility in our daily lives.

Every day, millions of tons of inadequately treated sewage, industrial and agricultural waste enters the world's waterways, writes Sam Judd.

New Zealand scientists have unearthed what may be a main reason nicotine replacement therapy is not a failsafe cure for tobacco addiction.

A British scientist says he may have solved the mystery of the Abominable Snowman - the elusive ape-like creature of the Himalayas. He thinks it's a bear.

The discovery of a 1.8-million-year-old skull of a human ancestor buried under a medieval Georgian village provides a vivid picture of early evolution and indicates our family tree may have fewer branches than some believe, scientists say.

Sam Judd writes that perhaps the biggest environmental problem we currently face is the contamination of our waterways by nutrients.

Brain expert Jenni Ogden was one of handful of specialists granted access to the most studied patient in medical history.

The brain is the most complicated object in the known universe, writes Fred Mendelsohn. Its 100 billion nerve cells (nearly 20 times the number of people on earth) are each connected to thousands of other nerve cells in a bewilderingly complex network.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has released the most comprehensive ever study on global warming, prepared by more than 200 scientists over two years.

New report which rewrites danger level across the country requires big changes to civil defence readiness.

A damning international report on mankind's role in climate change should be a wake-up call for urgent action, New Zealand environmentalists say.

Two of Britain's leading scientists have urged the setting up of a world programme to generate solar electricity that is cheaper than fossil fuel power by 2025.

Consumers are not being properly informed when the product they are buying has been processed with genetically modified organisms, the Green Party says.

As key indicators of climate change, penguins serve a crucial role for scientists examining what fluctuations in the white continent mean for the rest of the world.