Claims about new planets that turned out to be wrong – and why 'Planet Nine' may be different

Jan 23, 2016 09:18 am UTC| Science

Theres a real buzz among planetary scientists after a new study suggested that an unseen planet, dubbed Planet Nine, of about ten times the Earths mass could be lurking in the Kuiper belt, a band of icy objects beyond...

Can you turbo-charge your genes to produce 'designer babies'?

Jan 23, 2016 09:07 am UTC| Health Science

If you have bad skin or are losing your hair you might jokingly blame your parents for passing on the genes that cause these problems. Of course, most traits that youve inherited probably developed many generations ago....

Scientists find way to predict who is likely to wake up during surgery

Jan 22, 2016 03:45 am UTC| Science

Measuring certain kinds of brain activity may help doctors track and predict how patients will react to anaesthesia before going under for surgery, our research has found. Doctors currently have no perfectly reliable...

The ideas boom – where to from here on?

Jan 20, 2016 05:40 am UTC| Technology Science

The Commonwealth Government has quite wisely recognised Australias long-term prosperity is unlikely to rely on our traditional areas of excellence. The exporting days for coal are numbered; easy power from open-cut mining...

Parkinson's disease: waiting for the hope to cure a life sentence

Jan 18, 2016 07:35 am UTC| Health Science

My life changed on a cold, dark, rainy January morning in 2011. Worried about a modest tremor in my left hand, my doctor had referred me to a neurologist. At the appointment, I was asked to perform various motor tasks...

Not so science fiction after all, the internet could out-evolve humanity

Jan 15, 2016 02:18 am UTC| Science

Living things accumulate and reproduce information. Thats really the driving principle behind life, and behind evolution. But humans have invented a new method of accumulating and reproducing information. Its digital...

New NASA Mission: Protect Earth from Asteroids

Jan 13, 2016 15:02 pm UTC| Science

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) recently announced the creation of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO) to help detect and track thousands of asteroids passing near Earth each...