One of the world’s largest schizophrenia studies ever has pinpointed five new genetic blips linked to the condition, paving the way for new drugs and management strategies, researchers said. Schizophrenia…
Academic rigour, journalistic flair
Science + Tech – Research and News
Displaying 301 - 325 of 394 articles
Australian researchers have discovered that a dolphin found in Victoria is its own separate species, distinct from all other dolphins worldwide. The dolphins, found only in Port Phillip Bay and Gippsland…
European astronomers have found 50 distant planets orbiting stars and 16 rocky “super-Earths”, planets that theoretically could support life. Expolanets, which orbit stars outside our solar system, were…
Laughing with friends for around 15 minutes boosts a person’s pain threshold by an average of 10%, an international study has found. Laughter has long been associated with well-being, even inspiring a…
A top environmental adviser to the Indian government has described the Gillard government’s proposed carbon tax as an “interesting mechanism” that may be useful for Indian climate policy makers. With annual…
An explosion at a nuclear waste facility in Southern France has killed one and badly burned another but is unlikely to cause a dangerous radioactive leak, experts said on Tuesday. The blast occurred late…
As the Gillard government prepares to introduce its carbon price legislation to parliament, senior environment policy advisers from big emitters China and India have said they are watching closely Australia’s…
Some astronomical questions can only be answered by looking at the whole sky all at once but the technology to do that doesn’t exist yet. Enter the new ARC Centre of Excellence for All-sky Astrophysics…
US researchers say they have identified at least two distinct types of autism, paving the way for new and more targeted treatments. Autism, a neurobiological disorder that impairs social interaction skills…
British researchers say they have identified the gene that controls chronic pain, opening the door to new drug therapies that block the chemical processes that cause chronic back pain, headaches or arthritis…
Mobile phones could track human movement during disasters or disease outbreaks, directing authorities in real time to where aid is needed most, new research has found. Natural disasters displace tens of…
Global climate change and the El Niño weather event may have played a role in 21% of all civil conflicts since 1950, according to a new study published in the journal Nature. El Niño refers to the periodic…
A chemical produced naturally by cane toad tadpoles may one day be used to help control the invasive species, according to new research published today. Cane toads are native to South America but have…
Soldiers returning from combat have heightened activity in the part of the brain that regulates fear but this usually normalises after around 18 months, a study has found. The amygdala, the tiny part of…
Astronomers have a rare new star that is just 27 light years away from Earth, making it the closest young star ever found. AP Columbae, as the red dwarf star has been named, is just 40 million years old…
Many university students use scholarly databases like they would Google, revealing an astonishingly poor understanding of how to refine searches for better research results, a US study has found. The Ethnographic…
Homo sapiens mated with their ancient human counterparts, including Neanderthals, and helped improve the modern human immune system in the process, according to a new study. Researchers from the Stanford…
Asteroid dust collected by a Japanese space capsule that landed in Woomera last year has been matched with samples of meteorites found on Earth, providing new clues about where meteorites came from. The…
World-first field trials of a new technique to stop mosquitoes passing the dangerous and painful dengue virus onto humans have been declared a success, with plans afoot to roll out the method in dengue-plagued…
A new infant formula that aims to mimic the nutritional value of breast milk is under development at CSIRO, but breastfeeding advocates say research dollars could be better spent supporting women’s attempts…
Obese people tend to perform worse than healthy people at cognitive tasks like planning ahead, a literature review has found, concluding that psychological techniques used to treat anorexics could help…
Scientists have discovered a new way of controlling a hormone that stimulates cancer growth and, along the way, gained new insight into how the feel-good hormone oxytocin can be regulated. Researchers…
A “spelling mistake” in a DNA sequence can trigger a process that switches a crucial anti-cancer gene off, thereby boosting the risk of cancer developing, researchers have found. In a paper published in…
Want to avoid getting eaten? If you’re a butterfly, it seems it pays to team up with another foul-tasting species and copy each others markings. Scientists have unlocked the genetic mechanism by which…
Palaeontologists have discovered a 780,000 year old bird fossil, thought to be a type of ancient wedge-tailed eagle, in a Western Australian cave that has trapped birds for millions of years. The eagle…