Sixteen Australian senior school students will take part in the 2010 International Science Olympiads in biology, physics and chemistry.

A University of Western Australia researcher has exploited mosquitoes' love of honey to develop a rapid and effective method for monitoring mosquito-borne disease.

The Australian share market rose today following a strong lead from U.S markets overnight after China reported robust export data and European markets reversed some of their recent losses. [ + ]

Vaisala has strengthened its position in the life science market through the strategic acquisition of Veriteq Instruments.

A PhD student from Monash University has succeeded in tweaking the chemical structure of insulin leading potentially to the development of medications that are stable at room temperature. [ + ]

Avita Medical has announced exceptional results following the first FDA-approved treatment of a U.S burns patient with the company’s ReCell spray-on-skin treatment. [ + ]

The Queensland Health and Medical Research Awards held in Brisbane last Friday honoured a number of outstanding individuals for their work in areas including pain treatment, immunology, lymphoma and post transplant disorders. [ + ]

A British biotech company is preparing for phase II trials of a new antibiotic being viewed as a major leap forward in the fight against drug -resistant strains of bacteria. [ + ]

A consortium has launched legal action against four biotechnology companies, including Genetic Technologies (GTG), challenging the validity of patents concerning genetic material. [ + ]

The federal government has announced new funding of $440,000 to support 69 research collaborations between Australian and overseas groups, as part of the International Science Linkages – Science Academies Program. [ + ]

Dynamin is well known for its role in controlling endocytosis, particularly in synaptic vesicles in nerve cells and for its pivotal role in the brain. [ + ]

University of Queensland Associate professor Nancy Pachana has been awarded the 2010 ADC ( Australian Davos Connection ) Future Summit Leadership Award for her contribution to medical understanding of how the brain ages. [ + ]

New Zealand science software specialists Biomatters has released the latest version of its Geneious Pro sequence analysis software, which it says will allow users to achieve the full bacterial genome assembly for data from a range of leading sequencers using just a desktop computer. [ + ]

Declines in banks and miners pulled the S&P/ASX200 Index down today erasing Thursday’s gains and leaving the exchange pretty much where it started the week. [ + ]

A scraping of buccal cells from the lining of the cheek can predict, with a high measure of reliability, one’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, or determine how far they have already progressed towards dementia. From the ability to predict, comes the prospect of being able to prevent. [ + ]