Science

A police officer uses a loud speaker to warn and disperse people gathered in a commercial area in Bangalore on July 14, 2020, as residents prepare for a week-long lockdown to contain the surge of COVID-19 coronavirus cases. (Photo by Manjunath Kiran / AFP)

Vaccine nearer after trials success

A US firm says it will soon start final-stage human trials for a possible COVID-19 vaccine, as millions of people across the world returned to lockdowns.

World

In this undated image obtained from NASA, NASA's Perseverance rover is attached to a spin table during a test of its mass properties at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. - NASA's most advanced Mars rover, Perseverance, launches from Earth on July 30, on a mission to seek out signs of ancient microbial life on what was once a river delta three-and-a-half billion years ago. The interplanetary voyage will last six months. (Photo by - / NASA / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / NASA " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

NASA to look for life on Mars

NASA’s most advanced Mars rover, Perseverance, launches from Earth on July 30 on a mission to find signs of ancient microbial life.

The Times

Pig power may aid defective lungs

Donated human lungs that would normally be rejected as too damaged for transplants could be repaired by attaching them to pigs, a study suggests.

HealthThe Times

Generic pic of a scientist using a microscope. Picture: Supplied

HPV ‘causes prostate cancer’: research review

Some prostate cancers are ‘highly likely’ to be caused by human papillomavirus, according to a review of research.

KAT LAY

‘This is a systemic virus’Science

This handout illustration image obtained February 27, 2020 courtesy of the National Institutes of Health taken with a scanning electron microscope shows SARS-CoV-2 (yellow)—also known as 2019-nCoV, the virus that causes COVID-19—isolated from a patient in the US, emerging from the surface of cells (blue/pink) cultured in the lab. - President Donald Trump has played down fears of a major coronavirus outbreak in the United States, even as infections ricochet around the world, prompting a ban on pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. China is no longer the only breeding ground for the deadly virus as countries fret over possible contagion coming from other hotbeds of infection, including Iran, South Korea and Italy. There are now more daily cases being recorded outside China than inside the country, where the virus first emerged in December, according to the World Health Organization. (Photo by Handout / National Institutes of Health / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH/NIAID-RML/HANDOUT " - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

How COVID-19 ‘attacks a range of organs’

Seven months after the emergence of the novel coronavirus in Wuhan, it’s become clear that it is much more than a respiratory virus.

Natasha Robinson

exclusiveScience

10/07/2020. Scientist and astronomer Paul Davies photographed with his wife Pauline in Birchgrove, Sydney. The couple are usually based in Arizona for part of the year but have found themselves grounded in Sydney due to travel restrictions around Covid-19. Britta Campion / The Australian

‘We may have to live with virus forever’

Scientist Paul Davies says the two key exit strategies, elimination plus a vaccine and herd immunity, were not certain of success.

Helen Trinca

ExclusiveScience

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos JULY 13, 2020: Dosing begins in first human trial of UQ COVID-19 vaccine: The next critical phase for The University of Queensland’s COVID-19 vaccine is underway – with the research effort moving out of the lab and into human trials. Healthy adult volunteers have received the first dose of the vaccine at the Brisbane clinic of phase 1 clinical trials specialist, Nucleus Network. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Supplied

‘Millions of vaccine doses’ coming

Drug-maker CSL will produce millions of doses of Australia’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine as it is being tested to speed up an anticipated rollout.

Jamie Walker

Nation

(FILES) In this file photo taken on March 26, 2020 A researcher works on the development of a vaccine against the new coronavirus COVID-19, in Belo Horizonte, state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. - Brazil is in the forefront of vaccines for the new coronavirus, testing in large scale and preparing for the production of millions of dosis. On the other hand from Europe of China, the virus is expanding in the country which is second in the world in number of cases after the United States, an ideal situation to test the effectivity of a vaccine. (Photo by DOUGLAS MAGNO / AFP)

Australian Covid vaccine trials begin today

Australian scientists are on track to deliver a COVID-19 vaccine this year, with the start on Monday of human trials of the prototype drug.

Jamie Walker

The Times

Engineers observe a KhalifaSat model at the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC), in the Gulf city of Dubai on July 5, 2020. - The oil-rich United Arab Emirates has built a nuclear power programme and sent a man to space, and now plans to join another elite club by sending a probe to Mars. Only the United States, India, the former Soviet Union, and the European Space Agency have successfully sent missions to orbit the Red Planet, while China is preparing to launch its first Mars rover later this month. The UAE, a collection of sheikhdoms better known for its skyscrapers, palm-shaped islands and mega attractions, is now pushing to join their ranks in what will be a first for the Arab world. (Photo by GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP)

Earth attacks! Army of spacecraft heading to Mars

China, the US and the UAE are using a ‘launch window’ in which the Red Planet is close to continue the hunt for life.

Christina Lamb

exclusivePolitics

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JULY 09: Victoria's Chief Health Officer Professor Brett Sutton speaks during a press conference on July 09, 2020 in Melbourne, Australia. Victoria has recorded 165 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, as Melbourne residents observe new lockdown measures introduced in response to the rise in new coronavirus cases through community transmission. Lockdown restrictions across metropolitan Melbourne and the Mitchell shire came into effect at midnight, with Victorian residents of those areas under stay at home orders for the next six weeks. Under the new lockdown restrictions, people will only able to leave home have for exercise or work, to buy essential items including food or to access childcare and healthcare. Victorians cannot gather in groups of more than two or their household group, school holidays will be extended for at least a week. Retail can remain open and markets are permitted to open for food and drink only. Cafes, restaurants, pubs, clubs and bars are back to takeaway only. Two public housing towers which have been under hard lockdown will be reopened subject to stage 3 COVID-19 restrictions, however seven other towers remain under hard lockdown while health authorities continue COVID-19 testing. (Photo by Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images)

Lockdown works or 500 cases every day

Locked-down Victoria will be hammered by up to 500 new cases of COVID-19 every day by the end of next week unless the outbreak is checked, exclusive modelling shows.

Jamie Walker

RainfallScience

The weekend's rain is a welcome change for many farmers in rural regions.

La Nina to bring wet weather

A weather event – known as La Nina – is expected to deliver a rainy spring and relief to drought-stricken communities.

Angelica Snowden

Science

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA - JULY 9: Nick Coatsworth, Australias Deputy Chief Medical Officer, speaks during a national COVID-19 briefing on July 9, 2020 in Canberra, Australia. Nick Coatsworth said the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee (AHPPC) did not give specific advice about cancelling the Australian National University pilot scheme for bringing international students to Australia, but said it is the right decision given hotel quarantine is under review. (Photo by David Gray/Getty Images)

Masks needed to limit COVID-19 spread

Health authorities say Melburnians in coronavirus hot spots should wear face masks to help prevent further community transmission.

Angelica Snowden

Immunisation hopePolitics

A protestor holding a placard is seen during the 'Wake Up Australia!' march against mandatory vaccinations at Hyde Park in Sydney, Saturday, May 30, 2020. (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi) NO ARCHIVING

Anti-vaxxers could derail vaccine rollout

Public health experts calling for a mass education campaign to battle widespread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation.

Max Maddison

Science

Surgeon doctor standing in hospital. Medical healthcare staff and doctor service.

Why our fatality rate is one of world’s lowest

Australia’s low COVID-19 fatality rate reflects high testing rates and the fact our hospitals have not been overwhelmed, experts say.

Natasha Robinson and Imogen Reid

Science

12/12/2017Dr Michael Winlo, head of Linear Clinical Research and Prof Peter Leedman Dir of Harry Perkins and on the ECI Board.pic Colin Murty The Australian

‘Biopsy bank’ to aid liver cancer research

Medical specialists and researchers are creating a bank of more than 500 biopsies from liver cancer patients and sharing results around the world.

Paige Taylor

EXCLUSIVEScience

28-06-20 - Damian Slater and his family, Isaac (son) and wife Carmen Pellegrini at their home in Perth's northern Suburbs. Damian suffers with Myositis.Pic:Tony McDonough

Trial offers hope for myositis sufferers

New funding for a drug trial is giving Australians with a rare muscle-wasting disease new hope.

Rachel Baxendale

The Times

This undated handout image obtained July 2, 2020 shows the white-throated sparrow. - In the 1950s, bird lovers in Canada easily recognized the song of the white-throated sparrow, a kind of Canadian sparrow, thanks to the three final notes of its song, repeated several times.Words even accompanied them: "Oh my sweet, Ca-na-da, Ca-na-da, Ca-na-da". But at the end of the last century, biologists noticed that local birds were starting to innovate in western Canada: instead of the triplet ending, their song ended with a series of two notes, duolets, a little syncopated, as if the end had become: "Ca-na, Ca-na, Ca-na ...". (Photo by Scott M. RAMSEY / SCOTT M. RAMSEY / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO /SCOTT M. RAMSEY/HANDOUT" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS / TO GO WITH AFP STORY BY IVAN COURONNE - "In 20 years, a new tube has conquered small Canadian birds"

Sparrows catch earworm, change tune

Scientists have tracked over 290 years a new song from niche tune to hit through the white-throated sparrows of Canada.

Tom Whipple

World

Mass elephant death mystery

Hundreds of elephants have died mysteriously in Botswana’s famed Okavango Delta.

The Times

A handout photo made available by the European Southern Observatory on July 26, 2020 shows an illustration of what the luminous blue variable star in the Kinman Dwarf galaxy could have looked like before its mysterious disappearance. (Photo by L. CALCADA / European Southern Observatory / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / EUROPEAN SOUTHERN OBSERVATORY / L. CalÃ§ada" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS

Monster star goes out with a whimper

A unique glimpse of the death of one of the most massive stars in the known cosmos has suggested that these monsters end their lives not with a bang but with a whimper.

RHYS BLAKELY

TRIALHigher Education

29/06/20 Sian Fourie, pictured in her Melbourne home wants to conceive a baby in the next year. Aaron Francis/The Australian

Bid to fix preconception misconceptions

Hundreds of women hoping to become mothers will participate in an Australian-first trial that aims to probe preconception health.

Natasha Robinson

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/science/page/89