UK researchers at the UCL Institute of Neurology have identified a possible new treatment for Parkinson’s. The research, published in The Lancet, shows that from a small safety trial of 62 people with Parkinson’s, the 32 participants injected with exenatide (a ...
More »‘Breakthrough’ study could prevent disease, pave way for designer babies
For the first time, a team of international scientists have successfully used a specific technology to edit human DNA, to prevent disease. Their study, published in Nature, showed that, through the use of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, a gene mutation causing hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) could ...
More »Trump’s tweets decoded to reveal his persona
Nothing currently drives the international news and the US policy agenda more than Donald Trump's prolific, often controversial tweets. So, it makes sense that a team of international researchers, led by QUT, would examine them to determine his personality. By analysing his ...
More »Skilled migrants not poaching local jobs: ACER
Everyone has probably heard something akin to the following from a taxi/Uber driver: ‘I worked as an engineer in India and now, here in Australia, the only job I can get is as a driver.’ A newly-released ACER research briefing ...
More »Study shows anaesthetic effective in treatment of depression
Since ketamine was first synthesized in 1962 it’s had various medical and recreational uses. Normally used as an anaesthetic, it has particular value in veterinary science due to its ability to sedate animals without suppressing respiration nor cardiovascular functions. Now researchers at the ...
More »UTS to fight fake news with new research centre
UTS hired a suitably zeitgeisty ‘thinkfluencer’ to launch its Centre for Media Transition: Jeff Jarvis, a podcast host with a parody Twitter account. Though he is many other things, too: not least, the director of the Tow-Knight Centre for Entrepreneurial ...
More »Journals prey on Star Wars paper
Do or do not. There is no try. Neuroskeptic did, and the results were just as bemusing as Yoda’s famous line. The blogger for Discovery Magazine and the PLOS Neuroscience Community submitted a Star Wars-themed paper to nine journals known ...
More »Dogs are the new purist coffee
'Single origin' is a phrase you'd likely see at your local cafe, along with smashed avocado. Now, it applies to pooches, too. Researchers from Stony Brook University in the US have found that, contrary to previous thought, all domesticated dogs probably share ...
More »Pan-continental project seeks to break the Antarctic ice
As I spoke to University of Tasmania researcher, associate professor Elizabeth Leane, I could hear sighing gusts of wind in the background. "I'm looking directly at an ice breaker," she loudly voiced over the gale. By that she meant the Aurora Australis, a red, 95-metre behemoth ...
More »Australian and German researchers clean up, together #G20
Amid the usual, Trump-driven headlines at this year’s G20 summit – a meeting of world leaders from 20 major economies – you may have glimpsed something less sensationalist but just as significant: a new, $20 million Australian-German research project to ...
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