Climate change causing leaves of some Australian plants to narrow
09 July, 2012University of Adelaide researchers have discovered that recent climate change is causing the leaves of some Australian plants to narrow in size.
CERN experiments observe particle consistent with long-sought Higgs boson
05 July, 2012At a seminar held at CERN yesterday as a curtain raiser to the year’s major particle physics conference, ICHEP2012 in Melbourne, ATLAS and CMS experiments presented their latest preliminary results in the search for the long-sought Higgs particle.
Fish learn to cope in high CO2 world
03 July, 2012Some coral reef fish may be better prepared to cope with rising CO2 in the world’s oceans - thanks to their parents. Researchers at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies (CoECRS) have reported encouraging new findings that some fish may be less vulnerable to high CO2 and an acidifying ocean than previously feared.
Positive at last: a pure phosphorus cation
02 July, 2012A research team led by Prof Dr Ingo Krossing from the Faculty of Chemistry, Pharmacy, and Earth Sciences of the University of Freiburg has now succeeded in creating a positively charged pure phosphorus compound.
Automated system to detect infectious diseases for Olympics 2012
02 July, 2012The world’s first comprehensive, automated outbreak detection system will monitor over 3000 infections and is ready to run during the 2012 Olympics.
Using the cane toad’s poison against itself
14 June, 2012An effective new weapon in the fight against the spread of cane toads has been developed by the University of Sydney, in collaboration with the University of Queensland.
Non-invasive genetic test for Down syndrome and Edwards syndrome highly accurate
13 June, 2012Current screening strategies for Down syndrome, caused by foetal trisomy 21 (T21), and Edwards syndrome, caused by foetal trisomy 18 (T18), have false positive rates of 2 to 3%, and false negative rates of 5% or higher. Now an international, multicentre cohort study finds that a genetic test to screen for trisomy 21 or 18 from a maternal blood sample is almost 100% accurate.
Genetic Code is completed with the ‘Proteomic Code’ and ‘Nucleic Acid Assisted Protein Folding’
13 June, 2012A major development has begun in the molecular biology and biotechnology industry, with the discovery of the ‘Proteomic Code’ and ‘Nucleic Acid Chaperons’. A US patent has recently been granted for biotechnological application of the Proteomic Code for design and ‘to Obtain Oligo-peptides Oligo-peptides with High Affinity to Query Proteins’.
Mystery of Tasmanian devil tumour deepens
07 June, 2012The degree of genetic difference to a tumour rapidly decimating the ranks of Tasmanian devils is not a factor in their likelihood of contracting the disease, according to research led by the University of Sydney.
Gene discovery to improve drug safety
06 June, 2012Researchers from Murdoch University have assisted in a groundbreaking discovery which could lead to the dramatic improvement of drug safety.
DNA discovery key to drought-resistant crops
05 June, 2012Scientists have pinpointed the ‘stay green’ DNA in barley in new research that may help farmers to grow better crops in areas of drought, heat and salinity.
Howzat work? The science of swing debunked
01 June, 2012 by Lauren Davis“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.
The smell of age
31 May, 2012Apparently humans can identify the age of other humans based on differences in body odour. Much of this ability is based on the capacity to identify odours of elderly individuals and, contrary to popular supposition, the so-called ‘old-person smell’ is rated as less intense and less unpleasant than body odours of middle-aged and young individuals.
Dual SKA site welcomed by CSIRO
30 May, 2012The international SKA Organisation in Manchester, UK, has announced that the AU$2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array radio telescope will be deployed in Australia-New Zealand, as well as South Africa.
Moon research to shed light on Earth’s development
29 May, 2012Researchers from Curtin University have received a three-year Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project grant to further investigate the early history of the moon. The work builds on previous uranium-lead dating of moon rocks from NASA’s Apollo 14 and 17 missions, adding samples from Apollo 12, 15 and 16.
