Australia

Australian Aborigine mythology begins in a period known as the "dream time", before the emergence of humanity. Many stories about the dream time include legends about stars, gods, or rocks falling from the sky. And new research utilizing Google Earth surveys of the outback show that many of those myths may actually be historically accurate.

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Australia has lifted the ban on research involving animal to human transplants. In 2004, National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) recommended that there should be no animal to human transplantation (xenotransplantation) clinical trials in Australia for a period of five years, subject to review in December 2009.

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While mastectomies save many women from breast cancer, they often leave the subject feeling depressed, unattractive and ashamed. Some women opt for breast implants in an attempt to regain their lost positive body image, but an Australian doctor has now developed a device that allows women to regrow their lost breast using their own tissue.

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While the term "gold prospector" still evokes the image of a weathered frontiersman biting into a rock, advances in biology have now created a prospector that more closely resembles E. coli than a grizzled Forty-Niner. By modifying a bacterium that finds gold toxic, Frank Reith, a geologist at the University of Adelaide, Australia, has created a microbe with an eye for gold that would put Deadwood's George Hearst to shame.

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That's what it looks like, doesn't it? In reality this is Sydney, Australia, Earth, shrouded in a severe dust storm that has covered much of the country's eastern coast for the last few days. And while breathing is hard and transportation has ground to a standstill, the photos are spectacular.

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A decade ago, the bells of doom started to sound for carefree, swinging koalas. A new, HIV-like retrovirus had begun to attack the koala population, decimating its ranks and threatening extinction.

Now, the Australian researchers have launched an effort to stop the spread of the virus before it's too late.

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A significant volcano eruption in Australia is ‘well overdue’ and emergency authorities must better prepare themselves and the wider community to respond to it, the recipient of the prestigious Geological Society of Australia (Victoria Division) Selwyn Medal for 2009 has warned.

Internationally-respected Melbourne geologist and Geological Society of Australia member, Associate Professor Bernie Joyce, will receive the Selwyn Medal this coming Thursday at the Geological Society of Australia’s (Victoria Division) annual Selwyn Symposium 2009.

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The federal government today announced the signing of an agreement between Australia and New Zealand to join forces in the bid for host the $2.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project. The deal was signed by Australia’s Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator Kim Carr, and New Zealand’s Minister for Economic Development, Gerry Brownlee.

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Polar bears starving, corals dying, ice shelves melting--climate change is wrecking the world around us. But there’s an upside if you’re a fan of our national cricket team. Global warming may increase your odds of beating arch rival England.

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Brushfires killed 173 people in Australia earlier this year, and scorched over 115 square miles of land, after suspected arsonists set several blazes. But even natural causes have inflicted plenty of wildfires on the tinder-dry Australian continent throughout its modern history – at least since native aborigines were forced to stop their traditional fire-stick farming that kept such uncontrolled fires relatively contained.

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A team of researchers at Monash University has released a new analysis of precipitation records from the long-term cloud seeding operation in Tasmania that shows a promising increase in rainfall during periods of seeding.

The team worked with Hydro Tasmania analysing the cloud seeding activity over the hydroelectric catchment area in central Tasmania for more than four decades - from 1960 to 2005.

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Australia is sweltering today in substantial heat. No matter where you live it’s likely that you’re in for a real scorcher. Strangely it’s the top end that will cop the least of it. Darwin is in for a relatively cool 29 degrees and thunderstorms while Melbourne and Adelaide are set for top of 43 and 42 respectively. Even Canberra will be cooking at 37 degrees. In Melbourne at 9pm last night it was still around 35 degrees.

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Happy Australia Day to all the PopSci.com.au readers. Like almost everyone else in Australia we're taking the day off to enjoy this awesome country (and cloud if you're in Sydney).

PopSci.com.au will be back as normal tomorrow with regular updates. Lately we've been increasing the amount of content that is being uploaded onto the site, especially local content. While our US team will be uploading through the night, we'll be taking the reigns and uploading through the day so that 24/6 (we have to have one day off!) you'll be getting the latest news on what's new and what's next.

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By now you're probably aware that the Rudd Government are planning on filtering the internet for every Australian. And I'm sure that you are aware just how bad an idea it is. Anyway, if you want to let the Government know that you're not for this and that proceeding with live trials is a bad idea, even when all the closed trials results should have shouted out in big red letters: "THIS ISN'T GOING TO WORK", then head to GetUp.org.

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