Not all chimpanzees are created equal. Not only are some more intelligent than others, but about half of this variation is genetically inherited, according to research published today in Current Biology…
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An international study of ice cores has helped researchers pave the way for a better understanding of how Antarctica’s volcanoes have affected the global climate over the past 2,000 years. The research…
Mobile phones have become such an important part of our daily lives that they’ve started adopting our microorganisms, according to research published yesterday in PeerJ. James Meadow and colleagues from…
Ancient remains have confirmed that the face and jaw evolved before the rest of the skull in Neanderthals and early human ancestors. Research conducted at the Sima de los Huesos (Pit of the Bones) archaeological…
Keeping cool during summer can be difficult, but new research published in Biology Letters shows that koalas cope with high temperatures in an unusual way – by hugging trees. Researchers used thermal imaging…
Crickets are nothing if not noisy, but populations on two Hawaiian islands have embraced silence by rapidly losing sound-producing wing structures to avoid infestation by deadly fly larvae. In Current…
The federal government’s cuts to CSIRO will make it more difficult for the organisation to fill the research and development gap left by Australian businesses, according to CSIRO chairman Simon McKeon…
Ratites – a group of flightless birds including the emu, ostrich and extinct moa – were long believed to have evolved from a single flightless ancestor, but research published today in Molecular Biology…
Memories from early childhood are notoriously elusive but why can’t we recall our most formative experiences? New research suggests it could be a case of the old making way for the new – neurons, that…
If you’ve ever bitten into a strawberry and wondered why it doesn’t taste as sweet or as good as others in the punnet, you could blame the fruit’s genetics. Two studies, published today in BMC Genomics…
The stereotype that popular kids don’t get bullied has been busted by a new study that found becoming more popular at school can actually increase a student’s risk of being bullied. The study, published…
A computer system has been developed that can tell whether facial expressions of pain are real or fake – with possible implications for those of us who fake the occasional “sickie”. A study, published…
Often scientists spend most of their time concentrating on research, rather than getting out to promote it – but over the past two days, scientists have been meeting decision makers in Canberra at the…
Scientists have simulated the electrical energy produced in the Earth that may have led to life 3.5 billion years ago. Using a fuel cell, researchers from the University of Leeds and NASA’s Jet Propulsion…
Congenitally blind people have been taught to perceive body shape and posture through “soundscapes” that translate images into sound, a study published today in Current Biology reports. Vision often dominates…
Less than a year after the launch of the Galaxy S4 smartphone – and the battery issues that came with it – the Samsung Galaxy S5 was one of a host of offerings the electronics giant presented to the World…
Many amputees experience pain in their missing limbs, but allowing them to “see” their missing limbs in action through augmented reality technology may help alleviate this phantom limb pain (PLP), a case…
Action-packed videogames might help dyslexic adults learn to read, according to a study published today. Dyslexia is a reading disability that occurs when the brain does not properly recognise and process…
Salmon use Earth’s magnetic field to create a large-scale mental map which they follow to find suitable feeding grounds, a study published today in Current Biology has found. The salmon are born in rivers…
Memory is an essential part of our existence. Who we are, what we know and what we think can all be derived from our ability to remember. How reliable, though, are our memories? A study, published in the…
Picture a tropical rainforest, with thousands of species per hectare, and it’s quite easy to believe that up to three quarters of all plant and animal species are found in the tropics. But what makes the…
It’s one of the most tantalising questions in evolutionary biology: how did our aquatic ancestors first move from water onto land? Thanks to research published today in PLOS Biology, new light has been…
One of Australia’s leading experts on cancer therapy at a molecular level is to receive a top research honour by the Australian Academy of Science. Professor Jerry Adams, from the Walter and Eliza Hall…
The discovery of soft-tissue comb remnants on a fossil could change the way we visualise dinosaurs. The findings, published today in Current Biology, concern the fossilised remains of an Edmontosaurus…
Perseverance is a quality that plays a large role in the success or failure of many pursuits. It has never been entirely clear why this trait seems more apparent in some people than others, but a new piece…