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David Sinclair gets a laugh at conferences when he says he doesn’t see someone as “old”: “I just look at them as someone whose system needs to be rebooted.”

Never say die: A controversial Harvard-based Aussie’s hunt for the fountain of youth

Is a longevity pill on the horizon? Harvard Medical School professor David Sinclair certainly thinks so – while staring down his growing army of critics.

  • Jane Cadzow

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The June 14 Edition

The Harvard-based Aussie chasing the fountain of youth | US abortion providers under siege | China eats Apple Inc | Growing up gay in Opus Dei | Jana Pittman

Kaya Lehmann caught dengue in February in Bali and has been sick for months.

The hidden menace on the rise in Australia’s favourite winter holiday destinations

Kaya Lehmann visited a waterfall in Bali during a summer holiday. Four months later she’s still counting the cost.

  • Angus Dalton
PhD student Olivia Moscatelli and Associate Professor Jason Tye-Din and have developed a new blood test for coeliac disease that works without exposing people to gluten.

Think gluten makes you sick? A new test could tell you for sure

Australian scientists have developed a new ultra-sensitive blood test for coeliac disease that works even in people following a strict gluten-free diet.

  • Angus Dalton
“I keep telling her: don’t you ever change that word,” laughs Stephen Bailey.

Out of the ashes, a new treatment for a hidden cancer

It’s the insult Stephen Bailey can’t wait to hear. “You’re boring”, the nurse says, matter-of-factly, and Bailey can’t help himself. He grins, ear-to-ear.

  • Liam Mannix
Cockatoos drink from a water fountain in western Sydney.

They conquered our bins. Now Sydney’s cockatoos have learnt to use bubblers

The city-slicker cockies probably weren’t sipping the bubbler’s water for survival. Researchers think they might just be having fun, for now.

  • Angus Dalton
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Deb Frecklington speaks at 1 William Street in Brisbane on Wednesday.

‘Shocking’ new DNA bungle puts dozens of paternity tests under a cloud

The Queensland lab at the centre of a string of high-profile forensics failures is back in the spotlight after dozens of paternity tests were found to be inaccurate.

  • William Davis
A genetically modified Aedes aegypti mosquito at a lab in Brazil.

We finally may be able to rid the world of mosquitoes – but should we?

The mozzie is the deadliest animal on Earth and scientists now have the tools to potentially zap it from existence, but some warn of the hidden dangers of doing so.

  • Dino Grandoni
Hidden black mould revealed after renters pulled a couch from the wall, submitted to the Facebook page Don’t Rent Me.

How bad science warped our ideas about black mould

Fear of toxic black mould infects public consciousness. Should you panic about its health impacts?

  • Angus Dalton
President Donald Trump.

Trump’s war on innovation is a golden opportunity for Australia, if we’re smart enough to take it

Australia could become a hub for world-class research. But our leaders must act decisively, and quickly.

  • Luke Heeney and Sarah Davis