Every year a variety of bioscience societies combine to hold a joint megaconference - ComBio. [ + ]

Crypsis, the act of disguising oneself as one’s background or another unimportant object, is used in the insect world largely for survival - usually in order to avoid being eaten. PhD student James O’Hanlon of Macquarie University is researching how crypsis and mimicry are used as a signalling strategy, one by which an individual attracts the attention of other animals. [ + ]

Rams testicles gave athletes in ancient Greece a testosterone boost, 1896 Paris-to-Bordeaux cyclists combined heroin and cocaine in a speedball, sprinters at the Berlin Olympics experimented with nitroglycerine in an effort to dilate their coronary arteries … athletes have been experimenting with performance-enhancing drugs and techniques for a long time. [ + ]

With the growing need for microbiological clean environments, room disinfection is becoming ever more critical. [ + ]

Analytical instruments capable of measuring chemical and physical adsorption and desorption isotherms and those capable of analysing temperature-programmed reactions can be powerful tools in the study of catalysis. [ + ]

A specially modified Falcon remote-operated vehicle has been supplied by ATSA Defence Services to the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Centre (ACE CRC) for research into sea ice algae. The vehicle will be jointly operated by researchers from ACE CRC and the Australian Antarctic Division (AAD). [ + ]

Two live attenuated vaccines in poultry have recombined to produce a new virulent herpesvirus, although the probability of a similar event in human viruses is vanishingly remote, say scientists. [ + ]

It’s not just world-class athletes who will be representing Australia at the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London. A team of world-class scientists from the National Measurement Institute will be part of the competition to outwit any drug cheats at the Games. [ + ]

Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Chemical Technology ICT in Pfinztal have developed a method for safer production of nitroglycerine: a microreactor process, tailored to this specific reaction. [ + ]

Do you remember the Australian mockumentary The Games that satirised the bureaucracy behind the Sydney Olympics? One episode revolved around the 100-metre athletics track, which it turned out was only 94 metres long. Even a decade later, the YouTube clip ‘The Games : The 100 Metres track’ is very funny. However, such things should not happen at the London Olympics as the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is providing distance calibration. [ + ]

A quantum mechanics study has discovered a new bound state in atoms that may help scientists better understand matter and its composition. [ + ]

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute have developed a powerful new technique for manipulating the building-block molecules of organic chemistry. The technique enables chemists to add functional molecules to previously hard-to-reach positions on existing compounds, making it easier for them to generate new drugs and other organic chemicals. [ + ]

A prototype infrared spectrometer that can be mass produced and is about the size of a sugar cube could soon be an option in your smartphone. Users will be able to ascertain food quality, forgeries and more as they shop. [ + ]

On 30 April 2012, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service opened the Melbourne Processing Centre - the largest blood processing facility in the Southern Hemisphere. Redesigned from a one-time car factory, the centre now processes all of Victoria’s and Tasmania’s blood; about 1500 blood donations, or 30% of the nation’s blood supply, per day. [ + ]

“The atmosphere feels very heavy, so you will have to wonder if the new ball will swing.” These are the words of former English cricket captain Michael Atherton, stating the commonly-held belief that high humidity equals high swing. But as researchers from the UK and NZ recently discovered, this is not the case - in fact it’s rather the opposite. [ + ]