For all their showiness, tree ferns are extraordinary survivors. They hold their secrets close—but now, scientists are ...

Una Cruickshank, Te Herenga Waka University Press, $35 ...

It was all very modern and amusing, but a lot could hinge on Terman tests. They were intended to predict whether a student, ...

These are the questions that Jessica Hutchings and Jo Smith raise and answer in Pātaka Kai (which means “pantry”). The term ...

Plantation forests take up about seven per cent of New Zealand’s land area, mostly in the North Island. Now, researchers have mapped these forests using a combination of airborne laser scanning and ...

The planting of Russell lupins as sheep feed in the Canterbury high country is triggering a clash between farming and conservation values. In early summer, photographers jostle for space on the ...

For nearly two centuries, the origins of a Spanish whaler and trader who founded a dynasty on the east coast were a mystery. Manuel Jose’s descendants are New Zealand’s largest family, and have ...

Early Development of nuclear-pow­ered thermal stations was driven by rising demand for electricity and the need for security of supply. The oil crisis of the early 1970s moved France and some other ...

In March of this year, a special courier arrived in Wellington from France carrying a rather unimpos­ing stuffed lizard for dis­play at the National Museum. This specimen ­described by one ...

As I write this, Easter beckons and the stores are awash with Easter eggs. Eggs have traditionally been as­sociated with new life and, in Chris­tendom, the resurrection of Christ. In some countries, ...

The southern right whales of the Auckland Islands were once reduced to a population that included only 25 mature females. Now numbering more than 1000, their recovery is a testament to the natural ...

If you think these colourful oddities might be more at home in a pet shop, you’d be right. People find such rarities desirable and attractive, and so we perpetuate colour abnormalities by selectively ...