The directors of Don Whitley Scientific are sad to announce that the company's founder and chairman, Dr Don Whitley, has died at age 89 after a short illness. [ + ]

A robotic rover deployed in the most Mars-like environment on Earth, Chile's Atacama Desert, has recovered subsurface soil samples during a trial mission to find signs of life. [ + ]

A boy and a girl in Brisbane have been confirmed as the second set of semi-identical twins in the world — and the first to be identified by doctors during pregnancy. [ + ]

A new map of the brain's immune system reveals that the phagocytes in the brain — the so-called microglia — all have the same core signature but adapt in different ways depending on their function. [ + ]

The board of medicinal cannabis company AusCann has announced the appointment of Ido Kanyon as Chief Executive Officer, commencing 22 May. [ + ]

Trial data showed that Melbourne biotech company Aravax's therapy has a highly favourable safety profile, even in patients with severe peanut allergies. [ + ]

Direct-acting antivirals have been found to be associated with a reduced risk of liver cancer and death in people with chronic hepatitis C. [ + ]

Thermo Fisher Scientific has signed a multiyear agreement with German immunotherapy company BioNTech, focused on supplying critical raw materials for the manufacturing of precise immunotherapy vaccine candidates. [ + ]

Researchers have revealed how origami-style folded paper, prepared with a printer and a hotplate, has detected malaria with 98% sensitivity in infected participants in Uganda. [ + ]

The new funding will enable the manufacture and testing of a number of Strep A vaccines currently being developed and fast-tracking of clinical trials in Australia. [ + ]

A new screening technique for non-small-cell lung cancer helps assess whether immune checkpoint inhibitors would be a suitable treatment method for individual patients. [ + ]

Sufferers of frontotemporal dementia become increasingly fixed on their external environment and lose the ability to mind wander, even during periods of boredom. [ + ]

From 20–24 March, the World Science Festival Brisbane will bring some of the world's most eminent scientists into Brisbane's cultural precinct and regional Queensland. [ + ]

UK researchers developed cells from Crohn's disease patients with a molecule called RAR568, which makes the cells behave more like cells from healthy people. [ + ]

Sperm that live for longer before fertilising an egg produce healthier offspring, according to new research in zebrafish. [ + ]