Elimination of defects in wheat and barley, answers to hostile and/or altered soils, national initiatives on pulses and soil biology, precision agriculture and new grain products rank highly in a new agenda for the Grains Research and Development Corporation (GRDC).

Total commonwealth funding through the education, science and training portfolio will rise by nearly $480 million between now and 2004. In 2004, resources provided to universities will be around $6.3 billion (which does not include science programs transferred to the portfolio in November 2001).

Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has called on New Zealand researchers to link with some of his state's leading research institutions to unlock the scientific mysteries of the 21st century.

Scientists from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, US, have found the key signal that allows a group of normally stationary cells in the ovary to travel.

The Gene Technology Regulator, Dr Sue Meek, has announced that she has issued the first licence under the new Gene Technology Act to trial a genetically modified crop.

The University of Queensland's Centre for Microscopy and Microanalysis and the Brisbane Surface Analysis Facility have joined forces to create and manage a $530,000 X-ray Diffraction Facility for the use of university and external researchers.

A London-based Australian scientist working on research illegal in Australia has made a breakthrough that could result in a cancer vaccine.

CSIRO scientists are working against the clock to collect genetic information from one of the last remaining natural stands of radiata pine on the island of Guadalupe off the west coast of Mexico.

Scientists are building complete blood vessels and the inner surfaces of joints in their laboratories.

A gene involved in setting up the mammalian body plan also appears to control grooming behaviour in mice.

Recent research will, scientists hope, improve the human brain's ability to repair or reorganise itself after injury or disease, in infancy and eventually in adulthood.

Scientists at the University of Leicester Space Research Centre in England have received an award from the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council (MRC) to further exploit technologies developed for space research in the detection and treatment of cancer.

Fresh research could improve the action of anti-cancer drugs by keeping them inside tumour cells for longer.

Professor Chris Fell, President of the Federation of Australian Scientific and Technological Societies (FASTS), has said it was time for the government to announce the second stage of its plans for science and technology.

Researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee and The University of Texas Anderson Cancer Centre have found that patients with the blood cancer chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) had a 26% probability of long term survival when treated with chemotherapy compared to 40% when treated with bone marrow transplant.