Deborah Devis

New software attacks cast a light on cybersecurity.

A major investigation conducted by news organisations has found that governments around the world may have been spied...

New bacteria engineered to produce fibre as tough as steel.

If you’re scared of spiders but also need really strong silk, have no fear, because engineers at Washington Universit...

Museum DNA confirms the extinction of the Xerces blue butterfly.

Near-century-old butterfly DNA  has confirmed that the Xerces blue butterfly, famously wiped out by humans in the 194...

What you need to know about gain of function research

Gain-of-function research is a technique used in virology and genetics to alter the function of a virus, in order to ...

We’ve looked at the trends that have emerged in the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

As the COVID-19 vaccine rollout in Australia continues to dominate headlines, and experts tout vaccinations as the ke...

Wild pigs release as much carbon as one million cars.

Credit: Scimex.Wild pigs are releasing nearly five million tonnes of trapped soil carbon dioxide annually – abou...

Jet activity in radio galaxy mirrors that of the far larger Messier 87 galaxy.

Just like younger siblings, ‘little’ black holes do their best to act the same as big ones, according to a study publ...

Ugly bugs, farmbots, and friends to lovers – here’s what happened in science last week.

Big cockroach evolutionAccording to the evolutionary tree of Australian burrowing cockroaches, published in Syste...

Protein from Funnel web spider venom shows promise for heart attack treatment in lab tests.

In a preclinical trial on a beating human heart, researchers have found that a drug candidate developed from the veno...

Ova created from mice stem cells, that become fully formed creatures – all in the lab.

Scientists have successfully coaxed mouse stem cells to develop into functional eggs in a dish - that then grew into ...

The three billion-year-old fossils offer hints about life on Mars.

Optical microscope image of the filamentous microfossils. Credit: B. CavalazziImage of the locality of the study ...

Giving dogs food doesn’t mean they will help you get some yourself

If you give a dog food, it isn’t necessarily going to return the favour, according to a new study, published in PLOS ...

Two new reports on recommended guidelines follow a global consultation.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released two new companion reports that provide the first global recommendati...

Australia now permits people under 40 to request an AstraZeneca COVID jab from a GP. Should they ...

This article was originally posted on the 30th June and updated on the 13th July.Prime Minister Scott Morrison h...

Picture this: magnetised plasma’s shapes now classified

Physicists Hong Qin, left, and Yichen Fu with rendering of 10 phases of plasma from their Nature Communications paper...

In a rare occurrence, a white dwarf pulls a subdwarf towards its demise.

Astronomers have spotted a teardrop star that suggests two dwarfs are spiralling towards supernova doom.The team,...

A new technique to treat a rare disorder could potentially target neurodegenerative diseases like...

Promising results have emerged from a gene therapy to “reprogram” cells to reverse the effects of a genetic disorder ...

Richard Branson has become the first billionaire to fly to space in his own plane.

The passengers aboard the space flight. Credit: Virgin GalacticThe billionaires’ race to space has been won by Vi...

New statistical analysis points to health inequity.

Māori and Pacific Islanders in Aotearoa New Zealand may be at a higher risk of hospitalisation due to COVID-19, accor...

A step closer to pre-vaccine allergy testing without using vaccine.

A team of South Australian researchers has been studying ways to improve tests for allergies to vaccine ingredients. ...

Speculation about viral leaks in Wuhan brings research techniques into the spotlight.

It’s the rumour that won’t go away – that SARS-CoV-2 was accidentally leaked from a high biosecurity lab in Wuhan, Ch...

Predation and deforestation are impacting deep endemic species more than newer avian arrivals.

Older native Aotearoa New Zealand birds may be more threatened with decline than younger species, a new report publis...

Curfews and restrictions introduced to fight the spread of the virus.

The surge in COVID-19 cases in Indonesia, due to the Delta strain of coronavirus, has been exacerbated by insufficien...

UK study could have benefits for crop improvement.

An anther. The sperm grows in the black area. CLSY3 (fused with a yellow fluorescent protein) is specifically express...

We put the billionaire businessman’s vaccine warning pamphlet claims to the test.

Businessman and former parliamentarian Clive Palmer has put his name to material discouraging people from getting a C...

A newly identified genetic mechanism helps barley grow more grains.

Aussies love barley – after all, it makes beer – and an international team of researchers has good news for its produ...

Nanowire network mirrors the human brain in performing best with certain levels of stimulation.

Australian and Japanese scientists have discovered that an artificial network of nanowires may physically function at...

Audio of the rover’s descent to Mars captured by its attached climate station.

The Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) has released the first sounds and new video recorded by its Mars rov...

Male seed beetles help keep populations genetically healthy.

Turns out, males do have a purpose – and yes, it is about sex.According to a new study, published in Evolution Le...

No – but sometimes misinformation is born from truth.

Concerns about shedding coronavirus when out and about have been prevalent over the last year, but what about after r...

Five things we learned about COVID-19 this week.

The only birthday present I got this year was COVID-19Social gatherings have been linked to increased rates of CO...

A 150,000-year-old skull provides a link to a new human species.

Research into an impeccably preserved skull, known as the Harbin cranium, has suggested it might belong to a new huma...

Coronaviruses have been hijacking human genes for millennia.

Coronaviruses have contributed to three major disease outbreaks in the last two decades, but humans have been exposed...

And hopefully not breaking them down.

When we consider glass, we often think of its fragility – so the idea of walking across glass bridges is, for many of...

Cheerful crayfish, child-free by choice and Coelacanth centurions, this is what went on last week.

Crayfish on antidepressants act weirdlyWhen crayfish are on antidepressants they become bolder and more outgoing ...

Hospital admissions due to heart attack spiked during the 2014 FIFA World Cup.

If you are getting stressed or angry when watching a tense football match, watch out – it could lead to heart attack....

26 million-year-old fossil reveals new species from northern China

The giant rhino was one of the largest land animals to exist, but its evolutionary history in Asia has been a mystery...

They often get confused, but they are medically and legally different.

A trial study involving contraceptive advice in pharmacies has been making the news in Australia recently. In the uni...

Genomic sequencing has changed how we understand ancient cultures.

Just over a decade ago, a ball of 4000-year-old human hair tangled up in a whalebone comb ignited the first ever reco...

Viruses are nasty, but they still need to be studied. What biosecurity safety precautions are in ...

Researching viruses can sometimes be dangerous, so there are many safety measures put in place to protect laboratory ...

The previously undiscovered cantil was named after the cantilever.

We already know quite a bit about plant architecture, so it's somewhat surprising that a new natural organ was discov...

Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.

The domestic history of goatsHow and where were goats domesticated? 10,000-year-old DNA might be able to tell us....

A touching review of how sea snakes mate.

In honour of World Ocean Day, here’s a nice little story about…sea snakes, sex and sensitive males.Male and fema...

In cryptobiosis for millenia, this microscopic beast is ready to reproduce.

Resurrected and hardier than a tardigrade, rotifers are the new bad boy from the (ice) block.A new paper, publish...

What would a cryptocurrency as a legal tender look like?

The president of Central American nation El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, today announced a proposal to make the cryptocurr...

The NSW Government has funded a genetic biocontrol solution to the current mouse plague. What doe...

As part of its $50 million mouse control package, announced in May, the NSW Government yesterday committed $1.8 milli...

A new device is making the task of finding flaws in a thing – like every thing – a whole lot easier.

Nothing counts except for your thirst, and you’re cracking open a cold can of cola to deal with the problem when… arr...

Watch this water droplet navigate a maze!

With a tiny magnet, researchers have designed a simple system to make a little drop of water move around.To creat...

The silk-derived glue was inspired by barnacles and mussels.

Inspired by barnacles and mussels, researchers have designed an ultra-strong glue that works underwater.If you’ve...

Cybercrime has  affected hospitals, universities and even meatworks – and could affect you too.

What is ransomware?Ransomware is a type of malicious software – AKA malware – that infects and takes control of a...

Fast-growing eco-engineers can regenerate reefs two decades faster than other corals.

Table corals are big, flat reef engineers that can regenerate coral reefs on the Great Barrier Reef faster than any o...

Variants of note will now be designated a Greek letter.

The WHO announced has announced they will be using new variant names for the SARS-CoV-2 strains that are particularly...

Sound cues cause brain inhibition when it isn’t their turn to sing.

The great duetters in history may have had more than just musical chemistry: for songbirds, there could even be a lin...

Clouds, wobbles and first drives!

In March, Curiosity sent back 21 individual images that show some very high-altitude clouds.The NASA team has sti...

Organic beer-manure product boosts yield and protects from parasites.

Some pesticides can be harmful to humans, but beer may be an organic solution to that problem, suggests a study publi...

Virology labs help us learn all about viruses – but what goes on behind the pressurised doors?

What is a virology lab?Virology is the study of viruses. Specific areas of study include looking at the genetics ...

Embryo development is altered by noises before hatching.

Watch out what you say around eggs – they might be listening. A team of researchers, led by Mylene Mariette of Deakin...

What does this mean and what should I do?

Evidence of a SARS-CoV-2 strain was recently detected in Melbourne wastewater, leading to the detection of 26 locally...

Study shows a significant reduction after vaccination of young men.

A significant reduction in four vaccine-preventable human papillomavirus (HPV) strains was seen after a vaccine progr...

Motile cilia help transport unfertilised eggs from the ovary.

An old question about how the egg gets from the ovary to the uterus has been solved – it is all to do with little hai...

White patterns develop thanks to hormones and anemone friends.

How quickly clownfish get their white stripes depends on which anemones they live with, according to a new study publ...

Women expect higher rates of inflation than men.

Socialised gender norms may influence the economic expectations men and women have.A recent study published in PN...

The symbiotic relationship allows them to share fats.

Plants may have colonised land because of an alliance with fungi, according to a study published in Science.Plant...

It depends – men and women want different things.

Hey Australians, what do you find sexy? That is a question researchers asked in a study on sexual attraction preferen...

The ancient technique boosted recall three-fold.

An ancient memory technique developed by Aboriginal Australians significantly helps medical students retain informati...

Some genetic locations associated with bipolar disorder could be therapeutic targets.

A study of bipolar disorder (BD) shows a genetic link to schizophrenia and major depression but also identifies some ...

Scientists identify stars leftover from cosmic collision.

Researchers have successfully dated some of our galaxy’s oldest stars back to a cosmic collision, using data on their...

Despite the five-day rule, players returned to the field too early in 2020.

The AFL’s five-day rule designed to promote player recovery following a concussion may not have been effective in 202...

The xynisteri variety is drought resistant and enjoyed by consumers.

You might soon be taking a new wine to your next Aussie barbecue: xynisteri.Researchers led by Alexander Copper h...

Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.

Immaculate conception…in sharks?A baby bamboo shark born via artificial insemination. Credit: Jay Harvey, Aquariu...

Mammalian bum-breathers survive with posterior ventilation.

Rarely is COVID-19 the butt of jokes, but new research on bum-breathing could point to a new avenue for oxygen ventil...

One third of water catchments are struggling.

One-third of Victorian water catchments have not recovered eight years after severe drought, according to a new paper...

The UniSA-Sementis vaccine aims to target mutant variants.

A South Australian immunologist has been awarded $3 million from the Federal Government to accelerate the development...

Machine learning algorithm translated neural signals to write letters.

For the first time, a man paralysed from the neck down has been able to ‘handwrite’ by using a special AI brain chip....

Tiny, wireless brain implant programs mice socialise when light shines on it.

For the first time ever, scientists have used a wireless brain implant to make mice socialise with each other, accord...

Pontic-Caspian Steppe culture and genes found in Italian burial sites.

Ancient DNA has told the story of how Bronze Age Italians interacted with people from Eastern Europe.Many ancient...

How can football players with near-perfect ball control miss a goal?

The moments before a penalty kick are incredibly tense, and new research shows that brain activity might be the reaso...

The odd little dinosaur dubbed Shuvuuia had incredible hearing and vision.

A little dinosaur called Shuvuuia may have hunted in the dark using night vision and super hearing.This chicken-s...

About a quarter of teens report at least one concussion.

Approximately a quarter of adolescents in the US have experienced concussions, according to a new report.A team f...

Our favourite ‘ologies’ for World Maths day.

Mathematics is massive area of study – from statistics, to probability, to chaos. It’s a wide world, which means ther...

New universal vaccine will be delivered to Wookiees over 470 of age from May the 4th.

The new Ergapa vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 has been approved for immediate emergency delivery on Kashyyyk. The rollout...

2000-year-old seeds of extinct Judean date palm shows Roman influence in Middle East.

For the first time ever, scientists have sequenced the genome of a resurrected plant that went extinct 2000 years ago...

Genetically modified grass removes toxic military waste, RDX.

A genetically modified common grass can remove toxic military waste from soil, according to a paper published in Natu...

Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.

It’s a boy!In new research from the Australian National University, swift parrot mothers are choosing to hatch th...

Test pilot Aaron How troubleshoots and simplifies planes, making them safer for all.

Any time a plane flies, silently assisting with the craft’s lift and trim is the huge group of people that made sure ...

Brain proportions were driven by body size and cataclysmic events.

Scientists have now pieced together a 150-million-year timeline to determine how mammals evolved big brains.An in...

Genetic sequencing shows how variants arise.

Detecting COVID-19 in a population is usually done in two ways: by testing antibodies or running a PCR test. But neit...

NANOS2 gene promotes sex determination but could lead to tumours if absent.

Testicular cancer could be linked to faulty sperm development leftover from defective cells as an embryo, according t...

A gentle meander can keep water in Australian rivers.

A lot of water sounds like a good thing, but for Australian rivers, it really depends on where it is and how fast it ...

Statistically, how likely are you to get blood clots from AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine?

Reports that the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine causes blood clots has been dominating the news.In mid-March, sever...

A neutron skin behaviour that affects atoms and stars.

Physicists have just collected the most accurate measurement of the thickness of the neutron ‘skin’ of a lead (Pb) nu...

The standard technique for detecting SARS-CoV-2 is incredibly useful in other places too.

PCR was an acronym that dominated the news in 2020. What is the technique, how useful is it, and what does it tell us...

3D modelling suggests it chomped like an alligator by anchoring its jaw in place.

The Tyrannosaurus rex might be known for its ferocity and its mouth full of serrated teeth, but how did it actually b...

Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.

What does a robot think?Talking to yourself isn’t just for humans – it’s for robots, too.Alexa, Google and Si...

New shoe technology can drop marathon times by 2 minutes.

The right shoes could help athletes reduces their race times.A team, led by Stéphane Bermon of World Athletics, M...

Vaccination surges ahead, but the country faces shortages of doses, hospital beds and ventilators.

Despite the vaccine rollout, India is grappling with a devastating second wave of COVID-19 cases. Recently, one-third...

The king of dinosaurs may have walked as slow as a human.

Walking speed of a T-rex. Credit: Rick Stikkelorum, Arthur Ulmann & Pasha van BijlertThe Tyrannosaurus rex may ha...

Shape and orientation are key.

If you put your hand into a bag of mixed nuts or cereal, you might notice that the big bits are at the top. Why does ...

Not very, according to a new evaluation.

The International Olympic Committee’s Sustainability Strategy claims to support the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Su...

Stray science stories from last week to cheer up your Monday.

Ocean ghost currents undo gravityFlinders University researcher Jochen Kaempf has discovered how ghost currents a...

Emily Bryson is a “fecal decompologist” with a horticultural spin.

If anybody knows how to get their hands dirty, it is Emily Bryson, PhD student at Central Queensland University.“...

Research suggests it’s parents, not kids, who don’t want to talk about it.

A study by Monash University suggests kids want to talk about issues of race and racism in the classroom, but parents...

Clubs that use the wearable technology aid sport science data collection.

New wearable technology, such as electronic mouth guards, being trialled in AFL (Australian Football League) and othe...

Nuclear DNA extracted from cave sediments for the first time.

Scientists have extracted Neanderthal nuclear DNA from cave sediments for the first time, greatly improving the scope...

An upcoming Cosmos Briefing will examine one of the world’s pressing needs: securing future fresh...

Water is our most precious resource; it underpins all aspects of life. Yet, still we hear that there’s not enough wat...

Student researchers use satellite imaging to track cattle movements.

When looking down upon the Earth through the eyes of a satellite, what would you choose to look at? For students at t...

What causes concussion, and are we learning more about how to treat it?

Concussion is sometimes still treated as a mystery in sport, but the field of concussion research began in 1928 – onl...

Fossil poo filled with pollen shows beetles visited flowers.

Identifying who pollinated flowers in prehistoric times might be as simple as looking at fossilised beetle poo.A ...

Climate change and food scarcity force butterflies to take risks.

Even butterflies need to make decisions about adapting to a changing and unpredictable future, research shows.A t...

Men and women have a different set of chronic pain genes.

Women tend to be more greatly affected by chronic pain, which may be due to differences in the group of genes that in...

The skull of Zlatý kůň might be the oldest to date and had large stretches of Neanderthal DNA.

Scientists have identified potentially the oldest human genome from a 45,000-year-old skull.When humans and Neand...

Cheap, multi-well device for brain development research.

A group of researchers has grown small, self-organising blobs of brain tissue in multi-welled dishes to observe in re...

Genomics shows some breeds are more susceptible.

Specific genes put some dog breeds at greater risk of cancer.According to a new study published in PLOS Genetics,...

The habitat still exists, so why has their range shrunk?

What habitat does an elephant choose? Not as much as it could.The amount of land African elephants could inhabit...

The economic drawbacks equate to seven lost years.

The economic effects of climate change are already evident in farming.Climate change has reduced global agricultu...

Anti-matter particles can be cooled to near absolute zero.

Researchers from the CERN-based Antihydrogen Laser Physics Apparatus (ALPHA) collaboration have announced that a war ...

Computers compare minute style details.

What can machine learning tell us about the rock art in Arnhem Land?South Australian researchers, led by Daryl We...

Australia at high risk of pesticide pollution.

Pollutants from agrochemicals and pesticides can disrupt the ecosystem and risk harming human health, despite greatly...

Yes for socioeconomic status, maybe not for mental health.

It is often said that one of the detriments to using cannabis as a teen is long-lasting mental health problems, such ...

Octopus’ technicoloured dream coat reflects sleep stages.

When sleeping, octopuses change colour, and now a study, published in iScience, shows that the colours represent octo...

Whiteflies took the gene from plants 35 million years ago.

Usually, new genes arise in animals because of mutations, but occasionally they are ‘stolen’ from another organism....

Australian study finds low support for gender equality is linked to high support for opinions tha...

Violence against women (VAW) is a common problem in Australia, with serious health, social and economic consequences....

A non-invasive method uses RNA biomarkers to spot concussions.

Concussion is a major injury incurred in sport, but diagnosis is tricky for amateur sports clubs that don’t have quic...

Cannibalism, according to close-up videos that show bee behaviour.

What goes on in the beehive? These videos, published in the journal PLOS ONE by Paul Siefert from Goethe-Universität,...

A new wave of COVID-19 cases in PNG requires an immediate response.

Papua New Guinea has been somewhat sheltered from the COVID-19 pandemic, with relatively low numbers throughout 2020....

Some fungi species squeeze between cells

As icky as it sounds, some species of fungus can literally squeeze themselves between plant or animal cells and nestl...

Misplaced core sample shows plant bounty, but it’s not good news.

In a bizarre story of lost and found, scientists have unraveled Greenland's secret – It really might have been forest...

Melting glaciers contribute to a carbon feedback loop.

In the face of rising temperatures, water from glaciers may be both a bane and a boon for rivers, as the melting cont...

Genomically, a placenta is like a weirdly helpful mosaic tumour.

The traditional view of the placenta is a miraculous, protective, life-giving growth sac. Surprisingly, in a paper pu...

Waterbirds thrive off donated water and traditional water management.

It’s a Murray-Darling bird-breeding party in the Gayini (Nimmie-Caira) wetlands in south west New South Wales, as bir...

Fossils indicate lamprey larvae have evolved – probably not ancient.

For a long time, it was thought that the lamprey – jawless fish of the superclass Cyclostomata – were remnants of a p...

Most life-like bone organoid to date.

Put away your Skele-gro, because growing new bones might be the realm of science, not magic.Researchers at Eindho...

Prestigious Brain Prize awarded to neuroscientists for identifying and blocking migraine peptide.

Australian-born Peter Goadsby is one of four neuroscientists who have won this year’s prestigious international Brain...

In a world where many people go hungry, throwing away food isn’t so cool.

We’ve known for a while that not all of the world’s food is eaten – but how much of it is wasted wasn’t entirely clea...

The major consequences of genetic mutation.

The recent petition calling for Kathleen Folbigg’s release hinges on cutting edge science that has identified a small...

Research has found that disease-resistant mosquitoes could lower disease transmission.

What is the risk of getting a disease from a genetically modified mozzie?Mosquitoes are responsible for spreading...

Biggest luminescent vertebrate found near NZ.

What’s cooler than a shark? A glowing shark!Kiwi and Belgian researchers studying sharks off the coast of New Zea...

It’ll probably be personalised – with a lot of computing involved.

Dr Deborah Devis discusses precision health care with Dr Mileidy Giraldo.According to Mileidy Giraldo, Lenovo’s G...

Newly discovered bone cell named after Power Ranger

A new bone cell discovery suggests that even cells make an effort to recycle.A team of researchers, led by Michel...

Is morality just for believers? Probably not.

A team of researchers led by Tomas Ståhl of the University of Illinois, USA, found that both atheist and theist moral...

Mangrove forests get top sequestering marks.

Mangrove forests could be the key to reducing carbon, according to a new study.Researchers studying mangrove for...

Traces of designer drugs found in Australia wastewater.

Australians may be partying harder than previously thought, according to our water.Researchers from the Universit...

Tidal disruption event gives birth to travelling neutrino.

A little bit more is now known about the cosmos, thanks to research involving a neutrino space odyssey, a black hole ...

Plants growing in tough soil respond to hormones, not barriers.

When soil is tough and compact enough to make using a shovel difficult, roots are going to have trouble too, but not ...

A UV fish TV reveals how fish see.

If you are a fish and want to watch TV, this might be the invention for you.Researchers from the University of Qu...

The shape of the glutamate transporter is revealed.

How do brain cells talk to each other? With machines, of course.A team, led by Ichia Chen of the University of Sy...

Adelaide’s past as told by koala teeth.

If you want to know how Adelaide, South Australia, was settled by Europeans, you may need to look at rat and koala te...

Feeling sad? Play Animal Crossing to cheer up!

Get your islands ready and prepare your plant army because, contrary to popular belief, video games really could brin...

Soil changes mean more toxins in food.

Not everything in soil is good, and some trace elements – like cadmium – can be picked up by plants and transferred t...

Machine learning reveals trends in under-reporting of sexual assault.

Reporting sexual assault is a very sensitive and nuanced matter, and identifying at-risk groups may illuminate areas ...

Nine studies led by women from the past few months.

Each 11 February is the UN’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science, and to celebrate, today we’ve gathered ...

The coelacanth got genes from horizontal transfer.

Thought to be extinct for 65 million years, a surprise coelacanth (pronounced see-luh-kanth) was captured in 1938 and...

Deaths from cardiac disease aren’t just an oldies’ problem.

Sometimes, the heart just stops for no perceivable reason. Sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is a prevalent hidden killer, ...

Our brains are hardwired with visual working memory.

How do you know where something is when you can no longer see it? Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of...

Synthetic progesterone linked to brain tumours.

Prolonged use of hormones may have long-term consequences for women.A team of researchers led by Alain Weill from...

Tangle-web spiders use pulleys to subdue big prey.

If spiders aren’t scary enough, tangle-web spiders can catch really, really big prey with their crane-like pulley-sys...

Toxic leakage of an otherwise useful cell protein leads to Alzheimer’s.

As if Alzheimer’s wasn’t vicious enough, researchers have found the wrong type of breakthrough – a brutal process whe...

The physics of sidewinder snake movement.

Physicists have long studied the unique movement of snakes, and now they have proof that there’s more to snakeskin th...

Cute discovery sheds light on life of baby tyrannosaurs.

A terrifying tyrannosaur – a cousin of T. rex – may have started its life about the size of a border collie.Artis...

Experts in women’s health and wellbeing call for recognition of unique experience.

Shock news for women around the globe: your cardiovascular symptoms are not vaguely the equivalent of men’s and ought...

A new paper shows that indigenous lands have a significant role to play in protecting endangered wildlife. The paper,...

Catnip chemical attracts cats and appears to repel mosquitoes.

Seen your cat rolling around in catnip (Nepeta cataria) or silver vine (Actinidia polygama)? Your furry friend might ...

Metamaterial can be reprogrammed with different properties.

If you need a material that can literally be changed to suit you over time, look no further.Metamaterials – meani...

DNA origami might be the answer for making superconducting nanomaterials.

DNA is a clever molecule that folds easily, so it can be used to act as scaffolds for nanomaterials. This involves lo...

Chemical scent plays a remarkably different role for insects and plants.

Seems that some smelly butterflies don’t get a lot of action, thanks to an anti-aphrodisiac.A new study, led by K...

Access to water a win in many ways for Zambian women.

Those of us in the developed world tend to take our privileges for granted: it’s exactly what drove the Internet meme...

Some evolutionary changes have no particular reason or benefit.

It’s easy to focus on the big picture when one thinks of evolution: how organisms adapt and change over the march of ...

Fish-like Bluebots use LED lights and cameras to swarm like the real thing.

Why have a school of fish when you can have a school of robots?This is a question recently answered by a team of ...

Snakes repel venom via a magnet-like mechanism.

Franz Mesmer might have been on to something when he described animal magnetism as an invisible force possessed by al...

Tailoring prevention for the neurodivergent.

A nation-wide study of people aged 10 years and over diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) in Denmark has lin...

Looking skin deep can provide new discoveries, at least in this vanguard field of research.

All manner of unusual jobs exist in science, but perhaps one of the most remarkable is the expertise of Phil Bell, of...

Phages force problem bacteria to expose themselves to antibiotics.

How do you stop a superbug from fighting an antibiotic? Try giving it another enemy.Acinetobacter baumannii is a ...

Monozygotic – “identical” – twins have small genome differences.

Identical twins have long been touted as an incredible resource for genetics because they’re “genetically identical”....

Risk of HPV-related throat cancer is higher with multiple oral-sex partners.

Seems we need to take care when going down, because the frequency of oral sex might increase the risk of human papill...

La Niña brings rain to Australia, drought to New Zealand.

Lush, temperate rainforests, flowing rivers and abundant glaciers are just part of New Zealand’s (Aotearoa) charm. Bu...

Mother’s pre-pregnancy weight can affect son’s reproductive health.

Infertility is a heartbreaking experience that carries a huge emotional toll, and the reasons for it remain elusive o...

Researchers find possible prostate cancer blocker.

As well as being common and commonly lethal, prostate cancers are also pretty cunning, with an ability to resist horm...

Neural signatures show how our imaginations respond.

Loneliness isn’t just a feeling; it appears to deeply affect our brain networks. When nobody is around, our imaginati...

Study pinpoints the cause of flower diversity.

The huge variety of flowers we know has made them seem very complex, but there may be a relatively simple reason why ...

Stem cells self-organise into trunk-like structures.

Growing an embryo outside the body may not be that far away.German scientists report that they have successfully ...

Failure to recombine surprisingly common, study finds.

The events that happen before life begins can go wrong surprisingly often.An important one is meiosis, where cell...

Genome study reveals some clever breeding.

Donkeys have been helping humans for millennia, but our knowledge of their origins has previously been limited to arc...

There’s a lot to learn when a gene turns green.

Some genes might not mind a bit of extra pressure when it comes to evolution.A Swiss team led by Andreas Wagner o...

Study explores the blending of complex animal patterns.

A little mathematics has shown how animals get their extraordinary patterns.Previous studies have revealed how an...

New images provide insights into muscle disorders.

The myosin protein is well known for walking, but now it seems it also sleeps.3D visualisation of: top, the shutd...

New system assesses potential for biofuel production.

The fuel of the future may be produced by microalgae – but which microalgae?We know these microorganisms use sunl...

Chemicals in gases may be an indicator of coral health.

Gassy corals make a happy reef, it seems, but these gases may be lost if the water gets too hot.Animals release g...

Researchers streamline the list of known vascular species.

A major difficulty in plant research is the sheer abundance of names. Most databases contain multiple or archaic ...

Scientists begin building an encyclopedia of their genes.

The grains we use for bread and beer have thousands of years of history. Now, researchers are one step closer to unde...

Genomic study may help save the Tasmanian Devil.

Australia’s iconic Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus harrisii) is particularly prone to a cancer that spreads through biti...

Hint: think temperate zones and more to the north.

There’s a lot more to bees than you might think, because there’s a lot of them. Around 20,000 different species, in f...

Researchers study varied stress susceptibility on reefs.

Low oxygen levels in the ocean prevent coral from respiring properly and could be as much of a threat to the world’s ...

Patterns in the brain are specific to what you see.

The age-old question of whether we all see colour the same may now have an answer.Researchers at the National Eye...

Researchers develop new way to sort and classify them.

Not all neurons are equal, so researcher are building a “cheat sheet” to clarify things.In the largest categorisa...

Genome study identifies important positions in the DNA.

Mammals most at risk of extinction have low genetic diversity in some regions of DNA, according to a new genomic anal...

We now know a lot more about the avian tree of life.

Bird lovers can now rejoice in exploring the genomes of nearly all bird families.About 40% of the newly sequenced...

New CRISPR technique isolates heat tolerance gene.

Warming oceans are bad news for coral, but an improved CRISPR-Cas9 technique has revealed a “heat shield” gene that c...

Thousands of new species discovered using DNA.

Scientists have deciphered 12,566 new species of microbiotas from DNA samples, expanding the diversity of bacteria an...

Defence antibodies learn from the intestine.

The gut is well known for being the first line of defence against infection, but it seems it also protects our most i...

Genome sequencing reveals our shared history.

“Man’s best friend” is the phrase most often wheeled out to describe dogs’ thousands of years as a human companion an...

New variants reveal patterns of human movement.

Exploring a huge number of genes has helped uncover migration of early humans and the evolution of disease-resistant ...

Same region controls reaching by hand or foot.

The brain isn’t going out on a limb when choosing to grasp things.Instead, new research shows, there is an overar...

Genes could be the reason you’re a natural – or not.

A gene called ROBO1 helps brain development, which can also lead to higher math scores, according to new German resea...

Microbiota help healthy foetuses grow.

Micro-organisms in the gut microbiome begin growing in foetuses as early as five months, new research shows.In a ...

They recognise each other thanks to similar microbiomes.

Bee sisters are genetically closer than human sisters, so it’s easy to assume this is why they recognise each other. ...

Study suggests they have a fluorescent UV shield.

Tardigrades have always been known for their toughness, but now it seems they might be able to share a superpower....