Neuroscientists have shown that gut bacteria 'speak' to the brain to control food choices, identifying two species of bacteria that have an impact on animal dietary decisions. [ + ]

Gene variants that affect the way the human brain works may be the reason why people eat certain foods that aren't good for them, according to a new study. [ + ]

A laboratory error, by US researchers, has led to the discovery of beta blocker carvedilol's cancer-fighting properties. [ + ]

Researchers have evaluated a new test that enables diagnosis of hepatitis C infection in a single visit, with promising results. [ + ]

Australian scientists, technologists and celebrities have signed an Open Letter to reinforce their support for, and the significant value of, science and technology, just days after an ANUpoll found that a large majority of Australians support science and want politicians to rely more on the advice of scientists and experts. [ + ]

Researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed a method for finding new antibiotics from fungi. [ + ]

Researchers have adapted an RNA-targeting CRISPR protein for use as a highly sensitive diagnostic tool. [ + ]

Researchers have discovered a protein in human umbilical cord blood that could be used for the treatment of age-associated declines in mental ability. [ + ]

​​Currently worth a few million dollars, the emerging organs-on-chips market could grow between 38% and 57% and reach AU$79.91m to AU$155.8m by 2022, predicts research and consulting company Yole. [ + ]

CSL Behring has announced that the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved AFSTYLA, a recombinant single chain coagulation factor VIII (rFVIIISingleChain) in patients with haemophilia A. [ + ]

Australian biotech and medical associations have come together to urge the government to "not devastate" the Australian MTP (medtech, biotech and pharmaceutical) sector "by gutting the Research & Development (R&D) Tax Incentive". [ + ]

Geneticists have come up with an effective way of using plant pharmacopeia to produce more effective drugs. [ + ]

Researchers have successfully produced oil in the leaves, stems and seeds of plants, in a significant breakthrough for the renewable oils industry. [ + ]

The Australian National University and the University of South China have agreed to work together on fusion energy research, with the prospect of Australia providing China with its first plasma stellarator device. [ + ]

Themis Bioscience, an Austrian biotech company developing prophylactic vaccines against emerging tropical infectious diseases, is testing a vaccine for the Zika virus. [ + ]