freelance science journalist and author
Medical reporting
From ABC Science, 5 June 2015: A highly resistant malaria parasite hijacks resources in immature red blood cells to defend itself against the impact of anti-malarial drugs, researchers have found. The study, by Australian and Scottish researchers, looks at how different species of malaria parasite behave inside the human body. Their findings, published today in … Continue reading Malaria parasite hijacks red blood cells to beat drugs
From ABC News in Science, 12 March 2015: A deadly strain of bird flu known to infect humans is spreading rapidly and silently through chicken populations across China. The findings, published today in Nature, raise fears of a bird flu pandemic, as the sheer size of this disease reservoir increases the likelihood of a mutation … Continue reading Silent spread of bird flu raises pandemic fears
From ABC News in Science, 10 March 2015: Overvaluing and overpraising children can contribute to the development of narcissism, researchers have found. A study, published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science , answers a long-standing question of whether narcissistic traits develop as a result of too much or too little parental … Continue reading Too much praise helps create narcissistic kids
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 26 February 2015: Mention the word ‘Pap smear’, and most women will reflexly cross their legs and shudder. It’s become something of a modern rite of passage for young women; receiving your invitation to join the cervical cancer screening program, and submitting yourself to the dubious pleasure of being prised … Continue reading Why there are plans to part ways with Pap smears
From ABC Science, 25 February 2015: Long lashes may make your eyes stand out, but researchers have discovered the ideal lash length that protects your eyes from dust and damage. The study, published today in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface , found that eyelashes of a length around one-third the width of the … Continue reading Ideal lash length follows one-third rule
From Monash Magazine, February 2015: One question being asked over and again by governments and agencies about the Ebola epidemic is: how many more cases to expect? Between the asking and the answering lie hugely complex calculations. These must take into account all that has happened with the spread of the virus so far, and … Continue reading The human numbers of Ebola
From Monash Magazine, February 2015: Cancer chemotherapy is far from subtle. It effectively means carpet-bombing the body with a toxic regimen that kills cancer cells, but also obliterates a lot of healthy cells in the process. The ultimate hope with this approach is that the cancer surrenders before the patient does. But what if cancer … Continue reading Medicine enters the nano world
From ABC News in Science, 11 February 2015: Australian scientists say they have unravelled a key mechanism in mice that may explain how obesity can be passed from a mother to her children. The mechanism may also provide insight into why obese women find it difficult to fall pregnant. According to their study, obese mothers … Continue reading Obesity damage to mum’s eggs passes to offspring
From ABC News in Science, 5 February 2015: Our brain’s reaction to pictures of angry or fearful faces could help predict our risk of developing depression or anxiety in response to stressful life events, a new study suggests. Researchers used MRI scans to examine activity levels in a part of the brain associated with our … Continue reading Angry faces may forecast mental health risk
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 27 January 2015: Sixty years ago, childhood leukaemia was a uniformly fatal illness. With nothing in the medical arsenal to treat the disease, it killed just about every child who developed it. If a child is diagnosed with leukaemia today, they have around an 80 per cent of surviving beyond … Continue reading Being a ‘guinea pig’ in a clinical trial
Bianca Nogrady 