freelance science journalist and author
From The Hep C Review, Hepatitis C Council of NSW, December 2008:The hep C virus is one slippery customer. Once inside, it sits quietly in the body, causing few or no symptoms that might give its presence away. It can remain unnoticed (asymptomatic) for a long time – up to ten years in some people … Continue reading Hep C diagnosis: a testing time
From ABC Science Online, 27 November 2008:Dr Jonathan Anderson saw his first patient with HIV in 1987 as a GP registrar in the UK. The man was sick but no one could work out why, until he was tested for a new virus that was only just emerging into the medical consciousnessFive years earlier, two … Continue reading HIV: a Nobel discovery
From The Australian, 21 November 2008:IT happens regularly in Barry Blaikie’s life: he finds himself standing breathless and paralysed in a street or shopping mall, trying desperately to drag enough oxygen into his damaged lungs to take that next step. People stop to help and ask him what’s wrong, and he’s brutally honest about his … Continue reading Exercise can battle breathlessness
From ABC Science Online, News in Science, 21 November 2008:A man’s secret to maintaining a healthy sex life well into old age could be as simple as shedding a few kilograms, says an Australian obesity expert.Professor Gary Wittert, endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide says erectile dysfunction is often a warning … Continue reading Lose weight, maintain your mojo
From ABC Science Online, News in Science, 18 November 2008:Silkworms and spiders could hold the key to engineering healthy bone tissue to replace damaged bone and teeth, according to a US biomedical engineer.Speaking at the Australian Health and Medical Research Congress in Brisbane, Professor David Kaplan from Tufts University in Massachusetts says spider and silkworm … Continue reading Silk the key to rebuilding bone
From The Australian, 15 November 2008:IF little Jade Ochnio was a “normal” child, her mother Cheri believes she’d be a handful.“If she was my able-bodied child, she’d be the naughty one,” Ochnio says. However Jade, 7, is not able-bodied because she has congenital muscular dystrophy. A few seemingly minor misspellings and deletions in her DNA … Continue reading Dystrophies among rarest mysteries
From ABC Science Online, News in Science, November 11 2008:Australian researchers have discovered that the tipping point for ocean acidification caused by human-induced CO2 emissions is much closer than first thought.Scientists from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) and CSIRO looked at seasonal changes in pH and the concentration of an important chemical compound, … Continue reading Southern Ocean close to acid tipping point
Talking New Scientist stories with Wammo on Kiwi FM, 1 November 2008:The brain is doing very important things when stuck in neutral. Researchers have noticed that instead of lying dormant when unoccupied, the brain devours a huge amount of calories when we’re doing absolutely nothing. So what exactly is it up to? Some say there’s … Continue reading The private life of the brain, with Wammo on Kiwi
From CSIRO’s Process Magazine, February 2008:Although a rake may appear to be a fairly straightforward piece of technology, when used in mineral processing facilities, the difference between a well-designed or poorly-designed rake can mean millions of dollars in scaled, damaged or poorly operating equipment.Research is suggesting that even small changes to the size, shape, location … Continue reading Raking in the benefits
From ABC Science Online, News in Science, 3 November 2008:An Australian study has revealed for the first time the drinking habits of elite Australian football players, showing that unlike the rest of the population, AFL players do their riskiest drinking outside the football season.It’s the first time an entire sporting code has gone under the … Continue reading Study reveals AFL drinking habits
Bianca Nogrady 