Professor Alan Cowman of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute will deliver the Rubbo Oration at this year's Australian Society of Microbiology (ASM) annual meeting, being held in Melbourne next week.

WA company Epichem and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative are collaborating to develop new drugs to treat African sleeping sickness and similar, forgotten diseases.

Biofuels - North America and India are into it in a big way, Brazil wants everyone to play, and China is spending a packet to join in. Now a group of Queensland biotechnologists have teamed up with the Swiss to sweeten the game.

UK scientists have successfully created human-animal hybrid embryos using nuclear transfer.

Research grid could lead to improved drug research and safer clinical trials for cancer and other diseases.

10 life scientists become fellows of the AAS.

High performance computing is stimulating collaborative research across state - and country - borders.

Malaria specialist Brendan Crabbe appointed new director of Burnet Institute.

The elusive molecule responsible for spreading gene silencing through plants is still unknown, but the pioneers of RNAi research at CSIRO Plant Industry are close to tracking it down.

Fast-track grants of $100,000 available to small projects addressing big needs from Bill Gates Foundation.

In this interview, futurologist Ian Pearson talks about his profession, explains why he doesn't think we will understand intelligent machines when they finally arise, and discusses the convergence of nanoscience, biotechnology, information technology and cognitive science.