An open-source tool that allows physicists and mathematicians to solve complex equations, without spending hundreds of thousands on expensive software, has won first prize in the scientific software division of Les Trophées du Libre, an international competition for free software.

CSIRO scientists have combined disease resistance genes in wild wheat varieties. [ + ]

Queensland researchers show how the stress hormone noradrenaline acts as a fast modulatory transmitter in the brain. [ + ]

Human evolution has become supercharged in the last 40,000 years, new research shows. [ + ]

Millipore Corp has announced a joint development agreement with Rohm & Haas Company to create high-performance chromatography products for use in the production of biologic drugs.

LCT is set to start a pig islet transplantation trial for type 1 diabetes that may have a profound effect on the debate over Australia's xenotransplantation moratorium in 2009. [ + ]

A DNA-based therapy could speed the development of effective drugs to combat antibiotic-resistant super bugs.

Malaria specialist Brendan Crabbe appointed new director of Burnet Institute. [ + ]

Scientists have discovered that many insects have a form of immune memory similar to the vertebrate system, which protects them against reinvasion by previously encountered pathogens.

A rapid diagnostic test for Chlamydia will be available next year. [ + ]

Hundreds of maps of the visual system available online for evolutionary research. [ + ]

West Australian researchers have developed a test that could predict very early on in treatment if mesothelioma patients will benefit from chemotherapy.

The UK Health Protection Agency has developed a quick and accurate method of identifying strains of the ‘superbug’ Acinetobacter baumannii.

Researchers from the University of Melbourne and the Howard Florey Institute have discovered a biological cause for why children with ADHD are not able to handle stressful environments.

US researchers have used computational biology to uncover the physiological states of the malaria parasite in patients' blood. [ + ]