Want more working memory? Then you need to expand your brain. Credit: Flickr/Elena Gatti, CC BY By Joel Pearson Before we had mobile phones, people had to use their own memory to store long phone…

-Low-income populations deserve basic energy rights to protect them from "energy insecurity" and the environmental and related health risks from living in "energy sacrifice zones" where energy is…

By Amanda Salis, University of Sydney Dietary guidelines broadly recommend a daily intake of 10,000 kilojoules (2,400 calories) for men and 8,000 kilojoules (1,900 calories) for women. But what do…

A collaboration between more than 70 researchers across the globe has uncovered nine new genes on the X chromosome that, when knocked-out, lead to learning disabilities. The international team…

By Katy Bell, University of Sydney; Alexandra Barratt, University of Sydney, and Andrew Hayen, UNSW Australia Cancer screening is beneficial when it’s able to prevent people dying from cancer. And it…

Women are playing an increasing role in science today but there are still barriers that can prevent them from achieving success comparable to their male colleagues. This feeds the argument that…

Not many people would know the peculiar vocabulary used to evaluate scientists. ‘H index’, ‘impact factor’ and ‘citation number’ are some of the snazzy phrases that are now ubiquitous in the world of…

Cancer researchers say a large genome-wide association study (GWAS) that spanned three continents has identified four chromosome locations with genetic changes that are likely to alter a woman's risk…

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have identified the genes encoding a molecule that famously defines Group A…

People with life-threatening or incurable diseases may be willing to try experimental drugs and unproven treatments. Credit: juicyrai/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND By Tina Cockburn, Queensland University of…

Research undertaken on beagles and the contraceptive pill in the 1970s was found to be fabricated - there never were any beagles. Flickr/Understanding Animal Research, CC BY-SA By Mark Israel,…

If you're at high risk of skin cancer, check your skin regularly. Roman Königshofer/Flickr, CC BY-ND By H. Peter Soyer, The University of Queensland and Anna Finnane, The University of Queensland The…

We don't actually know whether probiotics have a measurable impact on digestive health - and if it is positive. brownpau/Flickr, CC BY-SA By Paul Bertrand, RMIT University; Andrew Ball, RMIT…

 Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is one of a group of preventable, lifelong conditions (the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders) that may result from high alcohol use in pregnancy. It can cause low IQ,…

In a radio interview , Prime Minister Tony Abbott raised what he described as the “potential health impacts” of wind farms. Yesterday’s article in The Australian by Liberal Democrat senator David…

Preventing inflammation in obese fat tissue may hold the key to preventing or even reversing type 2 diabetes, new research has found. Researchers from Melbourne's Walter and Eliza Hall Institute and…

Imagine being able to tone down appetite and promote weight loss, while improving the body’s ability to handle blood sugar levels. That’s just what Tony Means, PhD, and his team at the Duke…

What causes us to lose muscle strength as we age and how exercise can prevent it from happening has never been thoroughly understood, but McMaster University researchers have discovered a key protein…

A large international analysis of 174,000 patients has shown conclusively that statin treatment reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease in women. The study was an international meta-analysis…

Caloric restriction in mice has been touted for accomplishing everything from increasing longevity to lowering cholesterol, but those animals are weaned on that from birth, and humans will go to jail…