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.

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.

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.

Drones might be best known for their death strikes on Taleban and al-Qaeda hideouts, but their use in the non-military world is spreading rapidly.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

Parasites that live inside humans could find life a bit tougher in future, thanks to the University of Otago and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Packing winds of up to 320km, the killer tornado that laid waste to Oklahoma on Monday grasped at the deadliest end of the Enhanced Fujita scale.

Editorial: Science has been a black hole for taxpayers' money. Governments of all stripes agree that science is something they should fund without knowing very much about it.

The first time I met palaeontologist Dan Fisher was in a hotel in the Arctic frontier town of Salekhard, in Siberia.

The National Science Challenges promised to be one of the most exciting experiments ever seen in our science and innovation sector.

Copper coins and a 70-year-old map with an "x" may lead to a discovery that could rewrite Australia's history.

The Sun has unleashed three potent solar flares in just under 24 hours, marking the most intense activity yet this year and causing limited interruptions to high-frequency radio communications.

Scientists have finally recovered stem cells from cloned human embryos, a longstanding goal that could lead to new treatments for such illnesses as Parkinson's disease and diabetes.

A Canterbury astrophysicist will fly to Europe next week to be presented with the Einstein Medal from the Albert Einstein Society.

Sir Ray Avery's Vigil Monitoring - which is developing a wristband that monitors a patient's vitals and uploads the information - has received funding to help get the invention to market.

Very few people will ever have the chance to see NZ 370km from space, but thanks to two astronauts returning to Earth today Kiwis won't have to make the journey.