Join us at the Keystone Symposia on Global Virome in Health and Disease: From Individuals to Ecosystems, February 2027, in Geneva, with field leaders!

The confirmation of the bird flu virus in a brown skua appears to be a single detection. Ongoing surveillance will be essential to detect any further cases.

Researchers found the endangered yellow-eyed penguin is made up of three distinct subspecies, with the mainland lineage at greatest risk.

Whole-genome data from 249 yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho) identify three lineages with high geographical and genomic divergence, and candidate gene variants associated with differential susceptibility t...

Last year, they were hit with a deadly virus. The year before that, starvation. What will this breeding season bring for the thousands of fur seals hauled up on our coasts?

Wild migratory birds play a major role in the global spread of viruses, yet the diversity, host range and transmission patterns of viruses harboured by migratory species in Aotearoa/New Zealand remain...

Yellow-eyed penguins (hoiho/takaraka, Megadyptes antipodes ) are among the world’s rarest penguins and are regarded as a taonga (treasured) species in Aotearoa New Zealand. Since 2019, chicks on the N...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) viruses threaten humans, livestock and wildlife, highlighting the urgent need for early warning surveillance. Environmental RNA (eRNA) monitoring provides a sa...

Seasonal influenza virus circulation was eliminated in Aotearoa (New Zealand) from 2020 to 2022, following the nation's stringent public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Here, we generate nea...

Tail fan necrosis (TFN) is a shell disease affecting spiny lobsters' outer integument, with significant implications for the health and commercial viability of red rock lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) in ...

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease virus 2 (RHDV2; species Lagovirus europaeus) is a highly pathogenic lagovirus (Caliciviridae) responsible for a lethal disease in rabbits and hares (1). First identified in ...

Arthropod-borne viruses have a substantial impact on global health, with climate change and urbanization exacerbating their emergence. Integrating genomic surveillance and phylogenetic models with eco...

Recombination-aware evolutionary analyses of the entire genomes of SARS-CoV-1-like and SARS-CoV-2-like viruses indicate that SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2 descend from bat coronaviruses that circulated as...

Work on managing anxiety and managing viruses has resulted in two Otago academics receiving Prime Minister’s Science Prizes.

Author summary The discovery of brine shrimp virga-like virus 1 (BSVV1) challenges the conventional view that positive- and negative-sense RNA viruses are evolutionarily independent. Through genomic a...

Abstract. Sporadic cases of dermatosis have been reported in wild Ōkārito Rowi (Apteryx rowi), a species of brown kiwi, for over a decade. The disease exhibits distinctive features, including lesions,...

Special report: The island nation is less prepared for a pandemic than it was five years ago, even as new threats emerge overseas.

In 2020 Aotearoa New Zealand, like many other countries, faced the coronavirus pandemic armed with an influenza-based pandemic plan. The country adapt…

Tail fan necrosis (TFN) is a shell disease affecting spiny lobsters' outer integument, with significant implications for the health and commercial viability of red rock lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) in N...

Find out about the latest bird flu situation in England and guidance for bird keepers and the public.

This Review explores the relationship between emerging infectious diseases and biodiversity loss, and how both are connected to global environmental changes in the Anthropocene.

America should have more aggressively intervened almost a year ago.

Since 2015, an idiopathic ill-thrift syndrome featuring diarrhoea and, in some cases, gastrointestinal ulceration has been reported in weaned New Zealand dairy calves. Similar syndromes have been desc...

Fatal Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever, Portugal

Abstract. The ability of viruses to emerge in new species is influenced by aspects of host biology and ecology, with some taxa harbouring a high diversity

Open letter on importance of research in the social sciences and humanities   Tēnā koe Prime Minister, The role of the Royal Society Te Apārangi, as set out in the Royal Society of New Zealand Act,...

The 2025 Birds New Zealand Conference and Annual General Meeting will be held in Auckland 31st May to 2nd June during King’s Birthday weekend. All events and meals will be at the Novotel & IBIS Auckla...

Dozens of Rutherford Discovery Fellows condemned "damaging changes" to the Marsden Fund's terms of reference.

Dozens of Rutherford Discovery Fellows condemned "damaging changes" to the Marsden Fund's terms of reference.

An unidentified illness has caused dozens of deaths since October in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. With no precise diagnosis, officials are scrambling to find out whether it is ...

Scientists shocked as “blue-sky” Marsden Fund has half its budget shifted to research focused on helping economy

It's one mutation away from getting more dangerous to humans.