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Science In Public

Science writers, communicators, media, training, and public relations

Sarah Bradley

Single test for over 50 genetic diseases will cut diagnosis from decades to days

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  • A single DNA test has been developed that can screen a patient’s genome for over 50 genetic neurological and neuromuscular diseases such as Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophies and fragile X syndrome.
  • The new test avoids a ‘diagnostic odyssey’ for patients that can take decades.
  • The team, from Australia, UK and Israel, has shown, in a paper today in Science Advances that the test is accurate. They are now working on validations to make it available in pathology labs.
  • They expect it to be standard in global pathology labs within five years.

A new DNA test, developed by researchers at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in Sydney and collaborators from Australia, UK and Israel, has been shown to identify a range of hard-to-diagnose neurological and neuromuscular genetic diseases quicker and more-accurately than existing tests.

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What ingredients went into the galactic blender to create the Milky Way?

Our galaxy is a giant ‘smoothie’ of blended stars and gas but a new study tells us where the components came from

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In its early days, the Milky Way was like a giant smoothie, as if galaxies consisting of billions of stars, and an enormous amount of gas had been thrown together into a gigantic blender. But a new study picks apart this mixture by analysing individual stars to identify which originated inside the galaxy and which began life outside.

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Securing global net zero: universities have solutions

  • Zero carbon flight is possible, and could be ready by 2030 (Leeds University)
  • Where should I plant my grapes in 2100? (University of Tasmania)
  • Understanding wildfire management with virtual reality projections (Penn State)
  • Floods, droughts, heatwaves, polar vortexes – warming oceans drive extreme weather (University of Bergen)
  • Understanding heat uptake across the Southern Ocean (UNSW Sydney)
  • Open-source solutions for direct carbon capture (NYU)
  • What does ‘net zero’ mean if you don’t have electricity? (University of Southampton)

Speakers available from universities across the world available for interview.

The 50 universities across the world who form the International Universities Climate Alliance are all working on ways we can secure global net zero. The Alliance was established in April 2020 and is convened by the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

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Where are the world’s women in physics?

Highlights from the 7th IUPAP Conference on Women in Physics

14 July 2021

  • Women are less likely to have access to essential career resources
  • Women are massively under-represented in physics journals
  • Only 18 per cent of Australian STEM professors are women.

“On the first day of the 7th IUPAP Conference on Women in Physics we heard about the scale of the challenge to redress gender inequity in physics. As the conference progresses we hope to learn more about how we can work together to improve the situation for women in physics,” said Professor Sarah Maddison, conference co-chair.

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Indigenous health, shark gonads, blind books, and future food: it’s National Science Week!

This year’s festival runs 14 to 22 August with thousands of events around Australia.

Entertainment, business, environment, food and wine, Indigenous, the Arts, health, sport, technology, farming and agriculture, lifestyle, education, and disability media …

EVERY round can find a story in this year’s National Science Week.

National Science Week 2021 runs from 14 to 24 August. Here are some of the early top picks:

Future-proofing food
How are we going to feed 10 billion people on a planet hit by climate change? Ask one of the hundreds of Australian scientists working on solutions. For instance:

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Free telescopes for Launceston, Exeter and Ulverstone schools, April 29 and 30

Sky-gazers visit the region to get kids dancing with the STARS

Astronomers, students and telescopes available for photographs. Key dates and locations:

April 29, morning: Riverside High School, 354 West Tamar Road, Launceston; Jay Duggan: 03 6327 6333
April 29, afternoon: Exeter High School, 28 Glen Ard Mohr Road, Exeter; Greg Finnigan: 03 6394 4366
April 30, morning and afternoon: Ulverstone Secondary College, 38 Leven St, Ulverstone; Kylie Waters: 03 6425 1433; 0400 126 282

Three schools in Launceston, Exeter and Ulverstone will be visited by astronomers, who will present them with powerful telescopes and show eager students how to use them to unlock the secrets of the stars.

Dr Brad Tucker, from the Centre of Excellence for All-Sky Astrophysics in 3D (ASTRO 3D) and the Australian National University, together with Mr Peter Swanton, also from ANU, will give the telescopes to Riverside, Exeter and Ulverstone high schools on April 29 and 30.

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