Fresh Science

The world’s fastest growing abalone—the tropical donkey’s ear abalone, Haliotis asinina—can be bred to grow rapidly and reliably for aquaculture, Queensland biologists have found.

Researchers at Prince Henry’s Institute in Melbourne have discovered how an extra copy of a gene halts the process of becoming a boy. Their work may lead to earlier diagnosis and better management of a condition known as disorder of sex development (DSD) whereby one in 4500 babies is born with ambiguous or incomplete genital…

Edwina Sutton and colleagues at the University of Adelaide have been busily turning female mice into males.

RESEARCHERS in Sydney have discovered that an enzyme only found in immune cells plays a key role in promoting rheumatoid arthritis. The work raises the possibility of new and better treatments for the painful and debilitating condition, which affects about one in a thousand Australians of all ages.