A small dragon and a species of legless lizard have vanished from agricultural areas of central New South Wales. Up to nine other reptile species are also in decline, CSIRO wildlife researchers warned. [ + ]

Scientists are researching whether a caterpillar's diet makes it distasteful to birds. Biologists at Stirling University, Scotland believe that if it can determined why predators avoid certain insects, crops in many parts of the world may be saved. [ + ]

University of Melbourne research chemists are synthesising biomolecules without their mirror images. [ + ]

An anti-cancer vaccine to treat breast cancer employs a 'Trojan horse' technique that triggers a patient's genes to make its own healing medicine. [ + ]

How important is it to know the chances of an adverse outcome for heart surgery? Hospital administrators now consider this type of information an important part of hospital operations. [ + ]

The National Science Writers Festival 2000 will be held in association with the Brisbane Writers Festival. The Festival will be held in Brisbane from October 19 to the 22. [ + ]

According to a US psychologist, the mood a person is in can influence the choice of foods eaten and choice of foods eaten can influence mood. [ + ]

The biotechnology company, BresaGen, will receive human embryonic stem (ES) cells from the University of Wisconsin, USA. The cells will be used in the company's Cell Therapy Program, conducted in the Department of Biochemistry at Adelaide University. [ + ]

The Scientific Suppliers Association of Australia (SSAA) have changed its name to Science Industry Australia at its Annual General Meeting. [ + ]

In international competition, the CSIRO's Cyberoos have finished 9th in the Simulation League of the 4th Robot World Cup (RoboCup) in Melbourne. [ + ]

The first sequence of images taken of a 'near miss' space rock that zoomed past Earth this week were taken by an Australian remotely controlled telescope at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst. [ + ]

New figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that Australia's expenditure on Research and Development slumped 10% against GDP in the two-year period from 1996-97 to 1998-99. These were the worst results in an international comparison of 17 OECD countries. [ + ]

The Royal Society of NSW will hold a meeting entitled 'Dinner with the General Manager (GM)' on 4 October 2000 at 6:00 to 9:00pm at City Tattersalls Club, Sydney. [ + ]

Adelaide University engineers are using complex mathematical processing to remove the noise from heartbeats, an approach that promises benefits for some of the most serious health problems. [ + ]

When Einstein died he left his papers to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Professor Hanoch Gutfreund, a fellow physicist and former President of that university, is probably the best qualified person to speak about Einstein. [ + ]