Posts tagged as:

biology

Tammar wallaby’s clever immune tricks revealed

10 July 2011

Two thymus glands fast-track immune defences Baby wallaby photos available Until now, it was a mystery why many marsupials have two thymuses—key organs in the immune system—instead of the one typical of other mammals. Now postdoctoral researcher Dr Emily Wong from the University of Sydney and her colleagues have found that the two organs are [...]

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Multi-layered armour protects body against immune failure

6 July 2011

The human body incorporates multiple fail-safe mechanisms to protect it against the “friendly fire” from its immune system known as autoimmune disease, Charis Teh and colleagues at the John Curtin School of Medical Research (JCSMR) at the Australian National University have found.

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Match your treatment to your cancer

30 June 2011

Cell death genes essential for cancer therapy identified. New research has uncovered why certain cancers don’t respond to conventional chemotherapy, highlighting the need to match treatments to cancers better.

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Understanding the link between HIV and dementia

29 June 2011

HIV can hide out in the brain, protected from the immune system and antiviral drugs, Dr Lachlan Gray and his colleagues at Monash University and the Burnet Institute have found.

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Samurai of the sea

9 June 2011

What sawfish really do with their saw Scientists thought that sawfish used their saw to probe the sea bottom for food.  But a Cairns researcher has found that these large (5 metres or more) and endangered fish actually use the saw to locate and dismember free-swimming fish – using a sixth sense that detects electric [...]

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Bacteria munch up alumina impurities

19 July 2010

Previously unknown species of naturally-occurring bacteria have the potential to save the alumina and aluminium industries millions of dollars while helping to reduce their impact on the environment, microbiologist Naomi McSweeney has found in a collaborative project between Alcoa, CSIRO and the University of Western Australia.

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Add fertiliser to fight weeds

14 June 2010

Feeding weeds fertiliser sounds like exactly the wrong thing, if you want to get rid of them, but Jennifer Firn of CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems has been doing just that—to control African lovegrass, an invasive species of rangelands in every Australian state.

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Waste is a waste: Pigs reduce the burden on the oceans

10 June 2010

A biotechnologist from the South Australian Research and Development Institute has taken using “everything but the pig’s squeal” to new lengths. Through clever recycling of pig waste, Andrew Ward has been able to produce feed for aquaculture, water for irrigation, and methane for energy. His ‘waste food chain’ can be applied to breweries, wineries and [...]

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Fresh Scientists of 2010

26 May 2010

We are pleased to announce the Fresh Scientists of 2010: Peter Domachuk, School of Physics, University of Sydney Naomi McSweeney, School of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Western Australia Andrew Dowdy, Bureau of Meteorology Julien Ridoux, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Melbourne Bridget Murphy, School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney [...]

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How lobsters create their colours

26 July 2009

A team of Queensland researchers have discovered that lobsters, prawns and other crustaceans have evolved a unique way of making colours: making the complex patterns appreciated by biologists and connoisseurs of seafood. Their work will help with conservation, aquaculture and may even lead to a new food colourant. And all the colours come from just [...]

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Dinner for tuna: tracking tuna dining habits across the Indian Ocean

8 June 2009

Southern bluefin tuna can’t even have a quiet snack without CSIRO researchers knowing. They’ve developed a way of tracking when the tuna feed and also where, at what depth, and the temperature of the surrounding water.

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Owl CSI – feathers and DNA reveal night secrets

4 June 2009

…more than 2,000 feathers have been collected, some from highly threatened species, such as the elusive Rufous owl …

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Bilbies bring new life to desert dunes

2 June 2009

Bilbies and bettongs-the desert forms of bandicoots and rat-kangaroos-can bring degraded desert landscape back to life, a new study at the University of New South Wales has found.

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Does my asinina look big in these genes?

15 July 2008

The world’s fastest growing abalone—the tropical donkey’s ear abalone, Haliotis asinina—can be bred to grow rapidly and reliably for aquaculture, Queensland biologists have found.

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Big babies and small families make evolutionary sense

10 July 2008

Why don’t elephants (and humans) have thousands of little babies instead of one big one? Sydney researchers have discovered and modelled the key factors responsible for offspring and family size.

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How brains go from digital to analogue

24 June 2008

Electrical communication in the brain works not only like a digital computer, but also like analogue tape. How this occurs has been unravelled by researchers at The Australian National University’s John Curtin School of Medical Research.

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