Immunotherapy is treatment that boosts the body’s immune system by producing more infection-fighting agents, such as white blood cells and antibodies, to help fight disease. While it may seem a modern…
Ross River virus infection is the most commonly reported mosquito-borne disease in Australia, with more than 4,000 cases of illness are reported every year. Activity has been recorded from every state…
Most of us are living longer and we are all expected to be working longer. Because the likelihood of cancer increases as we age, we’re more likely to be diagnosed with cancer while still a member of the…
Ice cores are cylinders of ice drilled from glaciers and ice sheets. When snow falls it takes with it a record of many aspects of the atmosphere. As long as no melting takes place, this information is…
In past decades, emerging markets were traditionally thought of as “basket case” economies, with the associated stigma. Perceptions have improved in recent years, but there are still concerns these economies…
Animal welfare is a term that frequently pops up in headlines, most recently in the debate over how animals are killed for kosher and halal food. But the concept of animal welfare is often misunderstood…
When we watch a movie, how do we know where and when it is taking place? This is just one of the questions a production designer working on a film or TV show helps audiences answer. They do so through…
Astronomers didn’t know, 20 years ago, whether planets existed around any stars other than the Sun. All that changed in 1995 with the discovery of an exoplanet orbiting the star 51 Pegasi. And by the beginning…
“Eat your five-a-day” is a health slogan that has been kicking around since the 1980s. The UK government made it an official campaign in 2003. But understanding the exact benefits (and harms) that our…
Malignant brain tumours are the most common cause of cancer death in children. And the most common of these are called medulloblastoma. Although these tumours can occur in both children and adults (they…
Banding is an attempt to mitigate some dangers arising from the way children are allocated to secondary schools. The characteristics of the children attending a school matter a great deal to all concerned…
In recent weeks the issue of the religious content of Australian education has been hotly debated. Last week The Age reported the latest development. Principals in several Victorian state schools had ceased…
The Human Genome Project was completed in 2003, mapping out all of the genes of the human genome. When the first draft of results were published many were surprised that we had only 24,000 genes. This…
Zines are small-circulation, self-published magazines. Their emergence can be traced back to fanzine, a term used by science-fiction fans from the 1940s to set their amateur publications about popular…
Financial markets love to come up with snappy acronyms – you have all heard of BRICS, but there are many others, with the “fragile five” being the latest. The BIITS - Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa…
Picture a reclusive man, dripping with sweat all night in a dark lab, illuminated only by crackling sparks that periodically leap from enormous machines and cast a purple glow across his face. This was…
You don’t need an expert to tell you obesity has become a major health problem worldwide. The World Health Organisation estimates 35% of the world’s adults are overweight and 11% obese, double the rate…
Dozens of sharks have reportedly been caught since Western Australia’s “catch-and-kill” drum line program began two weeks ago. Firm numbers are not available given the WA government’s unwillingness to…
The terms of reference for a royal commission into allegations of corruption and misconduct in the unions were lodged earlier this week by the federal government. The remit of the royal commission is both…
It may seem like a fairly fundamental question, but there is still debate over whether viruses should be considered a form of life. The diversity of viral infections is immense. Viruses cause everything…