Stories by Alison Ballance

Matthew Savoca talks about seabirds' fatal attraction to plastic, and how their incredible sense of smell is being fooled by rubbish.

Whales, dolphins, earthquakes and boats are some of the sounds that make the underwater world of Cook Strait a noisy place.

The University of Otago team behind the long-running Dunedin Study has won the 2016 Prime Minister's Science Prize.

A science writer who says that science communication is an important way of enabling democracy, has won the 2016 Prime Minister's Science Media Communication Prize.

Smart electronic transmitters are revolutionising the way Department of Conservation rangers keep track of kākāpō.

Chemist Sally Brooker is developing a catalyst that could be used to produce biodegradable plastic from corn.

New Zealand physicists developed a theory about ultra cold gas 'droplets' that was proved in an experiment in Germany.

A visit to tropical Cousin Island in the Seychelles reveals that predator-free islands the world over are a haven for wildlife.

The Kaikōura Peninsula was uplifted 1 metre during the magnitude 7.8 earthquake - and marine life on the rocky shore was left high and dry.

The magnitude 7.8 Kaikōura earthquake triggered a massive underwater landslide that swept down the offshore canyon system and was still flowing more than 300 km away.

When the earthquake struck at two minutes after midnight, the ground ripped apart at 3km a second. Timing, writes Alison Ballance, really is everything. Video

There have been more than 1600 earthquake aftershocks since the 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of Monday morning.

Joan Watson was there when takahē were rediscoverd in 1948, and DOC ranger Glen Greaves says the population of the giant flightless bird has just reached 300.

After two years of measuring gravity from a plane, LINZ has just released a new vertical datum for New Zealand and its coastal seas. This allows the accurate measurement of sea level.

A cartwheeling spider, a "chicken from hell" and a Japanese pufferfish all make an appearance on the annual global list. Audio

A 2-metre long blue shark which has been captivating passers-by on Wellington's waterfront has been given a helping hand to freedom. Video

The world's biggest island rat eradication has been completed with a final load of bait dropped on subantarctic South Georgia Island by a NZ helicopter pilot. Audio

A citizen science project to count kereru, or New Zealand pigeons, will help identify how common they are around the country

Scientists from Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland University of Technology (AUT) had a rare opportunity today to examine an intact colossal squid. Video