The scale and pace of Asia's transformation in recent years is unprecedented and provides opportunities and challenges as Australian companies seek to respond to the rising demands for medical devices in Asia. [ + ]

Researchers have stated that overworked patent offices are struggling to keep up with the rapid explosion in information and technology that genetic sequences represent, while the public at large is kept in the dark about gene patenting practices. It is hoped that a free online resource will bring some transparency to an otherwise opaque system. [ + ]

Researchers investigating the Sima de los Huesos ('pit of bones'), an underground cave in the Sierra de Atapuerca in northern Spain, have extracted and analysed mtDNA from the femur of a 400,000-year-old hominin, an ancient human. DNA this old had until recently been retrieved only from the permafrost. [ + ]

Adelaide researcher Dr Tasha Stanton has always been frustrated by pain. Not her own but that of others and why, with all of our scientific advances and very large brains, we can't do more to alleviate it, especially in those who live with chronic pain. [ + ]

GI Dynamics' (ASX:GID) and Mesoblast's (ASX:MSB) respective approaches to treating diabetes were able to reduce blood glucose levels while remaining well tolerated during separate trials. [ + ]

Today saw the launch of early-stage anti-infectives company Auspherix, which will develop novel antibiotics to treat resistant bacterial disease. The company has received $1 million in financing from the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund (MRCF). [ + ]

BRW has released its second list of Australia's Most Innovative Companies. Topping the list for 2013 is biotech company Planet Innovation, which last year ranked eighth on the list. [ + ]

Eight of the country's best innovators were recognised last week in the third annual The Australian Innovation Challenge. The challenge is run by The Australian in partnership with Shell Australia with support from the Department of Industry and Innovation Australia. [ + ]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has announced that it will create an observatory in space to detect ripples in the fabric of space-time, known as gravitational waves, which are created by celestial objects with very strong gravity, such as the merging of black holes. Researchers say this will expand the way in which they can observe the universe. [ + ]

Shedding light on a new type of lymphoid cell that appears to play a role in defence against cutaneous infection and the development of allergies will form the basis of Wolfgang Weninger's presentation at the Australasian Society for Immunology meeting. [ + ]

Professor Alan Baxter, Head of the Comparative Genomics Centre at James Cook University, will deliver the annual Australasian Society for Immunology (ASI) Postgraduate Lecture to inspire a new crop of immunologists to take on a career in science. [ + ]

Finally, some important physics - researchers have worked out why if you tap the bottom of a newly opened beer bottle it froths up and foams everywhere. [ + ]

Novogen (ASX:NRT) shares grew more than 18% after the company announced its new JV has discovered that lead drug candidate Trilexium can destroy ovarian cancer spheroids. [ + ]

Regeneus (ASX:RGS) and Mesoblast (ASX:MSB) both plan to take advantage of a new expedited regulatory pathway for regenerative medicine products in Japan. [ + ]

A new technique for imaging blood flow and tissue movement in the lungs has been acknowledged. [ + ]