Australia ‘a renegade’ on environment, says report

A new report shows that Australia is a laggard and renegade state when it comes to protecting the environment and is going backwards on every indicator of environmental health, from pollution to land clearing. The report, commissioned by a plethora of green groups, contradicted recent assertions by the conservative government of John Howard that it had made great strides in controlling pollution and promoting sustainable land use

Barbie drug does a viagra

A new drug being developed for commercial use in Australia and the United States called Melanotan — more alluringly dubbed the Barbie drug — seems to be an answer to prayers of millions of people who desire to sport the perfect tan. As a bonus it also promises reawakening of sexual desire

Crow reveals talent for technology

The remarkable toolmaking talent of a New Caledonian crow called Betty has challenged the chimpanzee’s reputation as the most proficient toolmaker in the animal world. The bird, one of two kept at Oxford University’s zoology field station, fashioned a hook from an ordinary piece of wire — something even a chimp cannot manage

Diabetics find freedom in surgery that can restore insulin production

A team of researchers, doctors and medical institutions in Seattle may have a simple gift for people with diabetes — freedom. Freedom from worries over maintaining the proper level of sugar in the blood. And freedom from the fear that the disease will destroy their eyes, heart or kidneys. The freedom comes in clusters of cells plucked from a donated pancreas. The cells, known as islets, produce insulin, which the body needs to use sugar. Type 1 diabetes destroys those cells, making the body insulin-deficient

Lab tricks show dogs can count

Robert Young, an animal behaviour expert at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, and his colleague Rebecca West of De Montfort University in Lincoln, UK are convinced that dogs can count and researchers at the University of California Davis say they try to convey different messages through the pitch and pace of their barks