Gout Gout is fast becoming the face of Australian athletics, regularly clocking blisteringly quick times over 100- and 200-metre sprints. And he's only 17. Many think the best is yet to come. So what is it about Gout that makes him such an impressive sprinter at such a young age?
A protein in the immune system, DECTIN-1 - primarily responsible for defending the body against fungal infections, has been found to control the severity of autoimmune diseases such as irritable bowel disease (IBS), type 1 diabetes, eczema, and other chronic disorders.
We've been hearing a lot about a certain proposal to get nuclear power up and running in Australia, but little's been said about what happens when plants reach the end of their life. Decommissioning a single nuclear power plant can cost hundreds of millions of dollars and take decades. So what's involved, and why is the process so long and expensive?
Soils are too often neglected but caring for them brings many benefits for plant nutrition, human health and a boost for the farm economy.
Hearts, kidneys and now livers — over the past couple of years, surgeons have taken all these from gene-edited pigs and put them in people.
Nick Rowley reviews out progress towards net zero carbon emissions, Jared Diamond proposes mining the sea floor, and California’s legacy of Albert Einstein.
As far as planets go, they don't get much more iconic than Saturn. A huge golden ball encircled by gigantic rings. But those distinctive rings — the very things that give Saturn its pizzazz — have seemingly disappeared. So what’s going on, and when will they be back?
Lord Howe Island may appear an island paradise, but its ecology has been under intense pressure from invasive species such as rats and pigs. Now birds are being found with stomachs full of plastic.
They might be the epitome of cool, but Formula 1 race car drivers can get hot — really hot. An F1 cockpit can heat up to 60 degrees Celsius, and this affects cognition — the last thing you want when you're fanging around a track at 300kph. This year, a new rule was introduced to give F1 drivers a bit of relief from that heat … which is just one of the risks of F1 racing. Because we often hear about the performance of the cars in the race, but what about the humans behind the wheel?...
80% of diseases are impacted by environment or lifestyle described as your exposome. Thomas Hartung expects information from studying the exposome will bring benefits on par with those brought by studying the human genome.
For women who get bacterial vaginosis or BV, a common condition that can cause a fishy-smelling discharge, many will get it again (and again). Why some people were prone to recurrent BV was a mystery … until now. Australian researchers have shown that BV-related bugs can be sexually transmitted, and treating male partners significantly cuts recurrence rates.
America’s top research institutions face an uncertain future.
A weekly injection that stops that hankering for hot chips and donuts? Many people on Ozempic and similar medications report this phenomenon, saying they no longer have incessant thoughts about sweets and fried food. So how do these drugs, known as GLP-1 agonists, work in the brain to dial down "food noise" and help people lose weight?
Naomi Oreskes talks about Donald Trump and her latest book The Big Myth ahead of her visit to Australia in early March.
The H5N1 strain of avian influenza is currently ripping through the US, infecting wild animals, livestock and people. One person has died, and around 70 more infections have been confirmed. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has made massive cuts to the nation's leading science and health agencies, and announced plans to withdraw from the World Health Organization. As the risk of another pandemic rises, what does all this mean for us in Australia?...
San Antonio Texas has restored the San Antonio River encouraging plants and animals back to the city.
An asteroid dubbed 2024 YR4 is causing a stir among the space community and a frenzy in the media. It currently has a 2.3 per cent chance of crashing into Earth three days before Christmas in 2032. But this is not our first asteroid rodeo. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au
Vale the Professor of Happiness Felicia Huppert
Varroa is the parasite responsible for destroying bee colonies all around the world and is regarded as "the greatest biological threat to Australia's honey bee population." The good news is that some honey bees can fight back. And they're being helped by breeders, scientists and artificial insemination on the tiniest scale. Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au...
Unlike other deserts, Australian deserts experience occasional high rainfall. It supports a unique ecology.
Australia's summer UV levels are high enough to cause sunburn in as little as 11 minutes. Yet the summer sun in the Northern Hemisphere rarely feels that full on. So why does our sunlight have that extra "bite"? Spoiler: it's not the hole in the ozone layer. Learn more on Lab Notes, the show that brings you the science of new discoveries and current events. Get in touch with us: labnotes@abc.net.au...
Opals, ancient humans and sharks dating back 465 million years. This week we see how today’s world has been shaped from the distant past.
Antarctic krill (Euphausia superba) do much more than fill whales' bellies. These tiny crustaceans also play a huge role in Earth's carbon cycle. They sequester around 40 million tonnes of carbon each year, mostly in their poo — that's the equivalent of taking 35 million cars off the road. Yet there's plenty we don't know about these thumb-sized critters. Now a new study has revealed what they get up to under the Antarctic winter sea ice, and how this behaviour affects carbon calculations. Dive ...
Opalised fossils previously overlooked at the Australian Museum have overturned our understanding of the origin of mammals with the emergence of a whole new age of mammals: The Age of Monotremes.
Robert F Kennedy Jr is tipped to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services. Over the years, RFK Jr has repeatedly pushed the claim that childhood vaccines cause autism spectrum disorder — a theory that's been well and truly debunked. So where did this idea come from? What's bowel disease got to do with it? And what might the US expect with an anti-vaxxer at the helm of health and human services? Learn more on Lab Notes, the new show that brings you the science of new discoveries and cu...
A remote community in the western Pacific is working with scientists to battle the effects of invasive species, a leaking WW2 oil tanker and climate change.
Strewn throughout the sands of an island in the Great Barrier Reef, shards of pottery lay for thousands of years before an archaeologist quite literally stumbled across them 20 years ago. As more pieces were lifted from the sand, a question was also raised: Who shaped and fired these clay pots? We also get to the bottom of a strange phenomenon that had the earth ringing like a bell for nine days -- and earthquake scientists abuzz for a year. Solve these mysteries and more with science reporters ...
Hollywood promoted her as the most beautiful woman in the world. But Hedy Lamarr was more than good looks. She invented and patented a new form of communication which is used widely today and even allows mobile phones to work.
Do you get texts telling you there’s an unclaimed parcel waiting for you at the post office? Turns out scammers can find out if we’re expecting something in the post and time a scam text to coincide with our online purchases -- and it could all be completely legal. And while 2024 saw advances in artificial intelligence, they didn’t seem to wow us like they did in 2023. Are we simply harder to impress now? Breaking all this down -- and more -- are technology reporters Ange Lavoipierre and James P...
CRISPR is the most powerful means of gene editing ever developed. It led to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier being awarded the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2020. Jennifer Doudna speaks with Merlin Crossley about CRISPR, its capability, and the ethical questions which arise.
