Can a frog that is known to bury itself in mud for months on end hold the key to avoiding muscle wastage in people with broken bones?

Swinburne TAFE information technology students have created a range of innovative software packages. Two of the packages will influence communications within the Australian Department of Defence and assist in vital research being conducted at Monash University into the structure of proteins.

Researchers are attempting to perfect photosynthesis, a process pioneered by plants and bacteria, in an ambitious scheme to generate new foods, fabrics and even electricity, sustainably.

The genes of a bacterium that can kill or cause permanent organ damage in humans have been identified by Monash University researchers, whose efforts are now focused on finding a suitable vaccine.

Research that has led to new cotton varieties with increased yield and reduced pesticide use has won this year's CSIRO Chairman's Medal.

The big legal guns have fallen silent, and Queensland biotechnology company Benitec (ASX:BLT), CSIRO and Queensland's Department of Primary Industries have shaken hands on a landmark agreement that will allow CSIRO and Benitec to pursue their commercialisation of the revolutionary gene-silencing tool known as DNA-directed RNA interference (ddRNAi). [ + ]

Small biotech companies face investor resistance to mergers and acquisitions, a leading British biotech CEO told attendees at a briefing in Melbourne on Tuesday. [ + ]

New British biotech company Vernalis expects to complete Phase I clinical trials of a powerful new painkiller discovered by Monash University scientists by the middle of next year. [ + ]

Benitec Limited, CSIRO and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries, have announced a strategic agreement that will accelerate Australia's lead in the global commercialisation of DNA Directed RNA interference, a breakthrough gene silencing technology.

The latest company to jump on the IPO bandwagon is CogState, which filed its prospectus with the ASX mid-last week. [ + ]

Australian researchers have their first bug in the bank: a full genome map and complete DNA sequence of the 3900-odd genes that make up the spirochete bacterium Leptospira. [ + ]

A discovery made with CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope in eastern Australia may have brought forward the day when astronomers will directly detect cosmic gravity waves for the first time.

A group of leading international agricultural and food scientists says increased food production by GM herbicide-tolerant crops could actually benefit the environment and enhance biodiversity in Britain and Europe by allowing unused farmland to rededicated as conservation reserves. [ + ]

If computing power were water, Australia's drought would be rapidly coming to a close. Thanks to lowering costs and steadily improving technology, Australian life scientists and other researchers are rapidly gaining access to unprecedented amounts of computing power to support their work. [ + ]

Marshall Edwards, the US subsidiary of Novogen (ASX:NRT), has raised US$10.1 million through the exercise of expiring warrants by shareholders. [ + ]