A researcher's tireless efforts to ensure every Kiwi can have a safe, warm and dry home has been rewarded with the country's largest prize for science.

The death of a 22-year-old student who fell from his skateboard and suffered a fatal head injury has been referred to the coroner.

A team of scientists drilling deep into the South Island's high-risk Alpine Fault have been intrigued to encounter unusually high temperatures just several hundred metres below ground.

The Otago University student behind a "Rack Appreciation Society" Facebook page where members shared explicit pictures of young women says he's sorry.

The University of Otago's reputation has been ''sullied'' by an explicit Facebook page, vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne says.

Women are being urged to come forward to police if they think they have been exploited on a recently shut down Facebook page.

A secret Facebook page where students shared explicit pictures of young women is an example of an underlying "rape culture" at University of Otago, Rape Crisis says.

A team of 100 scientists and engineers has begun drilling a 1.3km-deep borehole into the Alpine Fault to gather information about the inner workings of the fault line.

Although IVF treatments are widely accepted in New Zealand, it is ethically inconsistent that the human embryo research the treatments depend on remains prohibited, a University of Otago professor says.

Lives were put at risk from couch fires lit too close to houses in Dunedin's student quarter, Dunedin police and the Fire Service have warned.

Left leaning political commentator and academic Bryce Edwards has pulled out of Otago University's Vote Chat online politics show over concerns the programme is now dominated by National Party supporters.

Calls are being made to remove dissections from first-year courses as the killing of animals at universities comes under fresh scrutiny.

In the parks, beaches, back gardens and forests of the country, non-scientists can help with with a raft of research projects.

The Dunedin City Council received 382 noise complaints last month - the highest since February 2010. Guess the Scarfies are back in town.

The trouble in Ukraine has left NZ in a critical position as it vies for selection to the United Nations Security Council, an expert in international relations says.

Research by an Otago University geology student has uncovered a strange pre-Ice Age world where primitive porpoises and baleen whales roamed the North Pacific alongside comparatively modern marine mammals.

Firefighters in Dunedin are worried about the tempting trail of trash left on student streets in the city as Scarfies "can't help setting things on fire".

A staff member found to have been unjustifiably dismissed by the University of Otago hopes working conditions improve at the institution as a result of her case.

Student numbers are expected to increase at the University of Otago next year, turning around three years of declining enrolments at the institution.

About 13 per cent of the country's 5-year-olds have such poor oral health it affects their eating, sleeping and school work, an oral health expert says.

The director of the University of Otago's marketing and communications division has been accused of bullying, and creating a 'toxic' environment.

The University of Otago has a responsibility to help students drink responsibly and this could include building a new pub on campus, vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne says.

Student behaviour in Dunedin appears to be improving, with a significant drop in students being dealt with by the University of Otago for serious incidents.

A nicotine inhaler which could offer new hope for smokers trying to give up the habit is already showing promising results, researchers say.