ScienceNetwork WA

WITH its free-floating fibrous roots and rapid growth rate, the water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is one of the most invasive aqueous weeds in Australia and, for many countries around the world, a serious environmental and economic issue.

OVER the next five years, medical researchers from 36 academic institutions in developed nations around the world will join forces to unravel the link between early life nutrition and later obesity-related metabolic disease.

RESEARCHING are urging a more cohesive approach to dental health in rural and remote WA after finding disturbing levels of tooth decay among preschoolers.

THE Western Australian government last month announced a new marine park to be established at Camden Sound off the Kimberley coast.

INSECTS may form a sustainable, nutritious alternative to meat in the effort to keep food production in pace with the planet’s booming population.

THE Telethon Institute for Child Health Research in Perth is currently participating in the world-first development of an asthma vaccine, after finding mounting evidence the disease’s establishment appears to be consequential of viral respiratory infections.

A TEAM of Perth researchers is causing a major rethink on geological history after a study showed major iron formations in Australia, about 1.8 billion to 1.9 billion years old, were synchronous with those found in North America.

MARINE biologist Dr Barry Wilson has proposed a theory to explain the formation of the Kimberley’s fringing coral reefs.

PATIENTS suffering from spinal cord injury may soon find help in the form of stem cells drawn from their own bone marrow, thanks to a research project from the University of Western Australia.

THE berries of Grevillea pyramidalis ssp. Leucadendron have caused severe skin burns to children in remote Aboriginal communities.

AN Edith Cowan University PhD student expects research to demonstrate a relationship between Parkinson’s disease and sleeping poorly.

A WESTERN Australian expert on retaining carbon in the soil in the agriculture sector has been appointed to a national committee to advise on the carbon offsets scheme.

RESEARCHERS from the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) are conducting a comprehensive nationwide study into the prevalence of occupational exposure to carcinogens and the occurrence occupational cancer in Australia.

THE average WA hospital keeps hand hygiene practices above the statewide benchmark for the first time, however several regional hospitals have recorded below average compliance levels.

ACCORDING to Winthrop Professor of Coastal Oceanography Charitha Pattiaratchi, WA isn’t immune to tsunamis.

COLLISION avoidance technology and remote control programming have led to an award-winning mining system being developed in WA.

A STUDY has highlighted the risks of using faster methods of venom immunotherapy (VIT) to prevent allergic reactions to insect bites, suggesting slower, prolonged methods may be safer.

VASCULOGENIC erectile dysfunction (ED) is a novel marker and predictor for future atherosclerotic cardiovascular (CV) events, new research concludes.

GIVEN Chinese supply restrictions and increasing future demand, WA is well positioned on Rare Earth Oxides (REOs).

SOCIAL networking technology is empowering protesters to spread their messages further, organise rapidly and frustrate police attempts to control them.