For one of the harshest places on the planet, Antarctica in the winter does have its delights.

Te Tamaki Paenga Hira (Auckland War Memorial Museum) has visitors journeying into the unknown in a major new marine exhibition, Moana - My Ocean. Scientists from across New Zealand have contributed to the new, free marine exhibition which opened Friday 21 June and will run until 28th October 2013. Spanning everything from rare deep sea marine specimens to massively magnified phytoplankton to a Hauraki Gulf boil-up that brings a mid-ocean feeding frenzy to life with artificial intelligence, the exhibition has been two years in the making.

Judy-Anne Osborn asks "Could a dire new infection sweep the world in a matter of weeks? Might the disease be so strange it alters the behaviour of people beyond recognition, making them predatory and fearless?"

Scientists are trying to solve the mystery cause of persistent high levels of water pollution at some of Auckland's west coast beaches.

Japanese scientists are expecting to be granted approval to grow human organs in animals and then harvest them for transplant within the next year.

The young cyclist pumps her legs upon the pedals of the ergometer, her face turning red and wet within a few short seconds.

Scientists in Australia are using 3D printing to create monstrous bugs up to 50 times their original size. But doesn't Australia have enough creepy crawlies already?

I was born in Kent, England and self-educated by reading Encyclopedia Britannica in public libraries, while living rough on the streets of London.

The US space agency NASA has come up with a startling image of an eclipse.

A climate change campaigner says he is hopeful that the world can avert a catastrophic global warming scenario.

Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity finally caused some real curiosity last week with a photo of what appeared to be a "rat" on Mars, writes Rhys Darby.

A pathology service has become the first in New Zealand to use a a high-tech barcode tracking system to help eliminate the risk of laboratory botch-ups.

The use of twins to reveal the genetic roots of human attributes has had a mixed history, though the technique offers rich scientific pickings.

Barbara Oliver has had an intriguing relationship with her identical twin sister, Christine, over the decades. Throughout their childhoods they were treated as two versions of the one person: they were dressed the same and given the same hairstyles.

Leading scientists, farmers, politicians, foresters and business people will descend on Parliament today to take part in a climate change conference.

A group that helped sway Hamilton City Council to stop fluoridating its water is now taking aim at Auckland, Wellington and other centres.

Swept by winds reaching up to 320km/h, Antarctica's Dry Valleys rank among the most extreme and uninhabitable deserts on Earth.

The liquefaction that swamped Christchurch East streets with tonnes of silt and sludge has become one of the most enduring images of the city's earthquakes.

Well, it was only a matter of time ... but yes, I'm pleased to announce there's been another sighting of the Agogwe in Africa.

It is a scenario that could have emerged from the imagination of a science fiction writer - killing machines stalking battlefields with heat-seeking weapons so human soldiers do not have to risk their lives.

A new study suggests the number of dolphins being captured and killed in commercial trawling nets could dive if vessels changed their fishing methods.

The priorities are clearly badly wrong, writes Bryan Walker. NZ needs to turn its back on a prosperity resulting in severe threats to the human future and build an economy which flourishes on green energy sources.

Data from nuclear bomb testing helped New Zealand scientists pinpoint the age of a skeleton found in Australia, leading to a decades-old cold case being reopened.

Several aspects of Jim Salinger's op-ed "Climate hurtling towards a hothouse Earth" (Herald 24/5/13) are quite misleading.

Making plastic out of dead animals might seem slightly gruesome but it could turn out to be a real money-spinner for one Kiwi start-up.

Another giant space rock is set to sail by the Earth just a few months after our last close encounter - but an expert says asteroid armageddon isn't something we need to worry about any time soon.