Fresh Science

Researchers harness the conjuror’s art of deception to make fake needles seem real. Placebos are fake treatments that are crucial in clinical trials to test if a treatment actually works or whether benefits are merely due to receiving an apparently credible treatment from a trusted clinician. But placebos only work if the patient and clinician…

Mosquitoes kill almost 450,000 people each year by spreading the deadly parasitic disease malaria. Dr Renly Lim from the University of South Australia is bringing a new weapon to the fight: drama. Renly and her colleagues recognise that education is essential to stemming the spread of the disease, and they have developed a unique way…

A new recipe for pills and tablets that includes oils and tiny porous particles can help your body absorb medicines more than twice as effectively. “Around 40 per cent of drugs on the market are poorly soluble in water, and they are not being administered efficiently,” says Hayley Schultz, the University of South Australia researcher…

An Adelaide researcher has modified natural clays so that they can clean up multiple soil contaminants simultaneously. “In Australia we have more than 160,000 contaminated sites,” says Dr Bhabananda Biswas from the University of South Australia, who conducted the research in collaboration with the CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC CARE).…