articles

Melbourne scientists have revealed a better way to identify which patients should respond to powerful ovarian cancer drugs called PARP inhibitors (PARPi), resolving an important question in ovarian cancer care about why some patients respond to the drugs, while others do not.

Chinese researchers have discovered and characterized a sophisticated mechanism in bird feathers that enhances tear resistance, overturning a centuries-old explanation of how bird feathers work.  

During the last ice age, there was an ice free corridor wedged between two large ice masses in the Arctic. This corridor, which spanned several hundred kilometres, provided habitats for highly adaptable marine life-forms.

Large quantities of the greenhouse gas methane are stored in the seabed. Fortunately, only a small fraction of the methane reaches the atmosphere, where it acts as a climate-relevant gas, as it is largely degraded within the sediment. This degradation is carried out by a specialized community of microbes, which removes up to 90 percent of the escaping methane. Thus, these microbes are referred to as the “microbial methane filter”. If the greenhouse gas were to rise through the water and into the atmosphere, it could have a significant impact on our climate.

Nanoparticles derived from green mango peel could be the key to remediating oil sludge in contaminated soil according to new research from the University of South Australia.