A "spectacular" multi-million dollar homestead on the edge of Lake Wakatipu and the foothills of the Remarkables has been donated to the University of Otago.

In the second of a five part series on Auckland's big blue backyard, science reporter Jamie Morton talks to seabird expert Dr Brendon Dunphy.

Science reporter Jamie Morton looks at some of the hardy little creatures that live in our rock pools.

A sleek, human-driven submarine and a cutting-edge underwater sensing system are among the impressive innovations of a team of Auckland Uni engineers.

In Auckland's Hauraki Gulf, you can find one quarter of the world's seabird species - and around 20 per cent of its whale and dolphin species.

It came as a great surprise to some that more was spent on vinyl in the UK last November than on digital downloads. But has it happened in NZ?

Women diagnosed with breast cancer could get a clearer prognosis with a new model built from the data of thousands of New Zealand patients.

Helping restore a piece of Kiwi history - Sir Edmund Hillary's original hut at Scott Base in Antarctica - has proven a dream job for a young Auckland architecture student.

Kiwi scientists are exploring the mysterious role the bugs inside us play in regulating our diet and metabolism.

They're called "slow waves" - and while we don't feel them, they propagate through our bodies each time we eat something. A new study aims to learn more about them.

A recently-discovered cannabis-like substance naturally produced by our brains could play a role in treating Parkinson's disease.

Many older people in leaky homes are still struggling financially and physically with the ongoing saga, a new study has found.

One of the most notorious forms of breast cancer is to be targeted in a new study by an Auckland University researcher and cancer survivor.

Worlds with the mass of Neptune are the most likely planet to form in the icy outer realms of planetary systems, scientists have found in a pioneering new study co-authored by Kiwi researchers.

Melanoma patient's life saved by trial drug

A million-dollar Kiwi study has revealed a new mechanism in the body that could offer new hope for those with a genetic susceptibility to type 2 diabetes.

Auckland University's law school is getting ready to welcome dozens more students than usual next year - a move that is unpopular with some uni staff.

A teenager faces a court hearing for allegedly saying "this teacher is mean as f***" in a public place.

Hong Kong's richest man is to donate $5 million to the University of Auckland to support entrepreneurship.

Kiwi experts are on the front lines fighting the "antibiotic apocalypse".

Efforts to tackle a major eye problem that can lead to blindness could be boosted by a world-first Kiwi study into newly discovered and potentially game-changing adult stem cells.

A New Zealand-educated Harvard professor has signed a publishing deal to write a new book on Bob Dylan. University of Auckland PhD

Horror parasites brainwash their victims, driving them to kill themselves. And they're in your backyard.

Ultra-sensitive fibre-optic sensors extending nearly a kilometre below the Southern Alps will transform what we know about one of the biggest earthquake threats facing New Zealand.

The University of Auckland's Maidment Theatre is to close for good, as the price-tag to fix it soared to more than $16 million.

A PhD student at the University of Auckland is frustrated at having to fight to find an appropriate space to breastfeed her child.

A wayward scientific instrument has completed a remarkable year-long journey across the Tasman Sea, delighting the Aussie researchers who thought it'd been lost for good.

A new trial has revealed a simple dab of "sugar gel" on the inside of a newborn's mouth can lower the risk of developmental brain damage.

Kiwi scientists have brought their pest-busting expertise to a spectacular Pacific atoll formerly owned by late legendary actor Marlon Brando.

A student says she dedicated hundreds of hours of study in an effort to get into a medical programme, only to be told hours before a test she had been rejected.