Some of Britain's finest minds are drawing up a "doomsday list" of catastrophic events that could devastate the world.

The painful end of Stephen Hawking's first marriage, and the bitter acrimony of his second, have been described in detail by the Cambridge cosmologist for the first time in his autobiography.

One of the rarest dinosaur fossils could be lost to science when it is auctioned for private sale in November, scientists warned yesterday.

An 11-year-old put Fonterra's light-proof milk bottles to the test.

British business executives, sports stars, celebrities and anyone else with £38,400 ($75,300) to spare will be able to freeze a backup of their adult selves for potential use decades later.

Within moments of sitting down in his office, Prof Richard Faull whips out a human brain, places it on the desk between us and announces, "Here it is," in the manner of someone displaying their most-prized possession.

Just in case you were wondering what the universe is made of, whether ET exists and if something can be done about global warming, cancer and beating bacteria, here's what scientists know ...

The ozone hole over New Zealand is closing, but it may warm up Antarctica which could then affect the West Coast and Canterbury Plains, a university researcher says.

A deep-sea search for giant squid has captured the world's first video footage of the mysterious creature in its habitat.

Scientists are keen to discover what effect the hustle and bustle of downtown Auckland has on those who walk its streets every day.

A sequence of quakes rattling the centre of the country appears to be shifting down the South Island and away from Wellington.

It's 1998 and science is taking big strides. The first cloned mammal, Dolly the sheep, has just had her first lamb; the first robotically assisted heart surgery has been completed.

There's mounting evidence that the pesticide bombardment of our crops and farms is having a devastating effect on wildlife, writes Sue Kedgley.

Reports of a strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake on the East Cape this afternoon were incorrect, and were the result of a magnitude-6 earthquake some distance from New Zealand.

There's a saying in autism circles that a worried mother does better research than the FBI.

Oops, I seem to have accidentally joined a cult. This is disturbing. I don't go to church.

The Saturn moons Mimas and Pandora remind us of how different they are when they appear together, as in this image taken by Nasa's Cassini spacecraft.

Kiwi scientists have proven there's a reason why some people enjoy the smell of things that others might retch at.

A New Zealand-born archaeologist involved in the discovery of a new species of people, known as "hobbits'', has died.

Researchers in Utah say they have discovered a new type of big-nosed, horned-faced dinosaur that lived about 76 million years ago.

Auckland neuro-scientists have made important discoveries in how Alzheimer's and Parkinson's may affect the brain.

We are not alone. Scientists have discovered a second blue planet in the Universe, although this one is decidedly inhospitable and unlikely to support life.

A prominent agricultural scientist says New Zealand deserves only a half-mark for its biosecurity efforts - and warns that new free-trade agreements and increased tourism could pose a threat at the border.