freelance science journalist and author
Science reporting
From ABC News in Science, 5 March 2014: The hairy legs of water striders are artfully designed to strike a balance between the water capillary action and gravity, Chinese researchers have discovered. They found the spacing of the insect’s leg hairs fits a formula that takes into account the contact angle of the hairs and … Continue reading Leg hairs hold secret to walking on water
From ABC News in Science, 26 February 2014: Once creatures of the night, cane toads are now becoming active during the day to adapt as they move into semi-arid regions of Australia. Australian researchers used acoustic tags normally used to track fish movements and discovered that cane toads were accessing a dam during daylight hours, … Continue reading Desert cane toads no longer nocturnal
I wrote my first astronomy story recently. It was one of those stories where the journal/research organisation press release sounds amazing and you think, ‘wow, this story is going to write itself’. Then you look at the actual paper and you can’t even understand what the title means. Reading the abstract makes your brain leak … Continue reading Do you need a science background to write about science?
From ABC Science News Online, 10 February 2014: Astronomers have discovered the oldest known star, born in the fiery wake of a first generation supernova after the Big Bang. The star, with the catchy name SMSS J031300.362670839.3, came to the attention of an international team of astronomers because of its unique chemical fingerprint showing it … Continue reading Oldest known star discovered
From Fish magazine, September 2013: The journey of a prawn from the trawler to the table is long and complex: a story of boats, boxes, containers, planes and trucks, of fisheries, factories and supermarkets, and of fishermen, distributors and consumers. For the most part, the steps along this journey are unimportant, as long as they … Continue reading Keeping track
From ABC News in Science, 2o August 2013: Researchers have paired up a fungus and a bacteria to produce high-quality biofuel from agricultural waste materials such as corn stalks and leaves. Using the fungus Trichoderma reesei and the common bacteria Escherichia coli, US researchers were able to produce 1.88 grams of the biofuel isobutanol, per … Continue reading Microbial duo boost biofuel production
From ABC News in Science, 5 August 2013: A study on monkeys has called into question the fundamental assumption that an active neuron is a hungry one; an assumption that underlies brain imaging techniques such as fMRI. Researchers compared levels of neuron activity and the amount of glucose uptake in the primary motor cortex of … Continue reading Trained brains become more efficient
From ABC News in Science, 10 June 2013: There could be some truth in the anecdotal belief that stress can turn your hair grey. The appearance of grey hairs after periods of stress or skin damage could be the result of depletion of stem cells from the base of the hair follicle, according to a … Continue reading Stress may really turn your hair grey
From ABC News in Science, 31 May 2013: It’s not quite the ‘smart gene’ but researchers have identified a small number of genetic markers associated with educational attainment. A genome-wide association study using genetic data from more than 100,000 individuals found three genetic markers that were significantly linked to an individual’s numbers of years of … Continue reading Degrees of learning in the genes
From Fish magazine, March 2013: For a fish as prevalent and important as the West Australian Dhufish, its offspring have remained under the research radar for a remarkably long time. Endemic to Western Australia, the Dhufish (Glaucosoma hebraicum) is a favourite of recreational and commercial fishers. But, until recently, little was known about its eggs … Continue reading Early life of the West Australian dhufish
Bianca Nogrady 