The protection afforded to blue whales in New Zealand waters may need to be increased, now a study has found they may be more regular visitors to the South Taranaki Bight than previously thought.

Otago commercial fishermen have reacted with anger to a proposal to extend a ban on set-net fishing around the Otago Peninsula to help preserve yellow-eyed penguin colonies.

(Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution) How will rainfall patterns across the tropical Indian and Pacific regions change in a future warming world? Climate models generally suggest that the tropics as a whole will get wetter, but the models don't always agree on where rainfall patterns will shift in particular regions within the tropics.

The Indo-Pacific warm pool was much dryer during the last ice age than today, because lower sea level exposed the Sunda Shelf. The large landmass, in place of the warm ocean, altered the atmospheric circulation, shifting convection further west into the Indian Ocean.

Extending a ban on set net fishing around the Otago Peninsula will stem the deaths of one of the rarest penguin species in the world, the native yellow-eyed penguin, Forest and Bird says.

IBM's Dave Bartlett dishes on his efforts with the company's Smarter Planet campaign and why he is so optimistic about his work.

The prospect of a deep sea "gold rush" opening a controversial new frontier for mining on the ocean floor has moved a step closer.

GPS data could provide faster and more accurate early warning systems for tsunamis, a German team of scientists suggest.

A puffin census is under way on the Farne Islands to determine how many breeding pairs of the birds live at the main breeding site. Rangers are also installing cameras in the birds burrows to study the birds.    

Patrick Barkham heads to the north-east of England to visit the Farne Islands, where the National Trust is embarking on an epic census of the puffin population.