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.

It is one of the most unusual evolutionary ideas yet proposed: humans are amphibious apes who lost their fur.

Today, we know that lifestyle and environment interact with diet to affect our health, writes Charlotte Martin.

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.

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.

Palaeontologists are “p****d off” that the dinosaurs in the upcoming Jurassic Park film will not have feathers.

Tsunami warning sirens that sounded across Auckland in a test-run at the weekend are not favoured by our national emergency agency.

Every time Steve Morris takes his two young daughters to the local beach, signs of tsunami danger surround him.

Scientists at the University of Auckland believe they are one step closer to finding life in outer space.

Auckland's universities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new buildings, transforming not only their campuses but the shape of the city they serve.

US President Barack Obama has proposed an effort to map the brain's activity in unprecedented detail, as a step toward finding better ways to treat such conditions as Alzheimer's, autism, stroke and traumatic brain injuries.

Some might say Bertrand Piccard has adventurer in his genes. His father, Jacques, was one of the first people to explore the Challenger Deep, the deepest part of the world's oceans.

NZ's top climate change scientists have rallied together to slam a visiting sceptic who is touring the country to proclaim global warming as a myth that should be ignored.

The more we learn about the formation and evolution of our solar system, the more we realise it was far from a sedate, gentle process.

New Zealand is moving by 4cm a year, new satellite surveys have revealed, as tectonic forces deform the land surface by stretching, slimming and sliding it southward.

The Universe is 13.82 billion years old, give or take 20 million years. This was established from precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background.

The moon. Our nearest neighbour. The main source of the ocean's tides, and a beacon that drives the lives of animals across the globe.

As they did on the afternoon of March 17, tens of thousands of Aucklanders take to Facebook and Twitter to express their amazement that their seemingly quake-free city has had a rumble.