With the lifting of two moratoria on genetically modified crops in Australia recently, so did the inevitably polarised debate take off. Those for and against are unlikely to change their minds and, unfortunately, some scientists are now afraid to speak theirs.

Graeme O'Neill has been writing about science for almost 30 years and along the way he's developed a couple of favourite stories. One is the evolution of fruit bats, recounted in our last issue, and the other is the role of FOXP2, sometimes called the Chomsky Gene. In a sublime twist, the two stories have merged together.

Professor Emeritus Jack Pettigrew has argued for more than two decades that fruit bats are actually flying primates, distant relatives of monkeys, lemurs and us.

We look at the background to the massive international collaboration looking for genes associated with breast cancer, which published its landmark findings in the May 27 edition of Nature.

Beckman Coulter has released the Coulter range of LH 780 haematology systems

Differences in anti-oxidant levels between males and females may be why men are more likely to develop skin cancer, American researchers report.

A clinical trial conducted by Sydney medical device company CathRx (ASX:CXD) has shown that its catheters can appropriately diagnose arrythmias when measuring electrical signals generated by the heart.

Anti-GM NGO, the Australian GeneEthics Network, is hosting an Australian speaking tour by American Dr Chuck Benbrook, a prominent organic-food advocate and bete noire of genetically modified agriculture.

Australian malaria vaccine researcher Professor Ross Coppell says smallpox was eradicated from the planet because the mass vaccination campaign employed a powdered formulation of dried, attenuated virus.

Cochlear boss Chris Roberts has spent 30 years at Australia's leading device companies -- but that doesn't mean he has stopped learning, as Helen Schuller discovers.

A survey of Australian medical research specialists has found that bias and manipulation in reporting of clinical trial results are rife when the trials are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies.