Ten months on from the huge news that a chlamydia vaccine had been approved for Australia's koala population, an 18-month-old female known as Bamse has become the first to receive the groundbreaking medicine in a new double-dose format that makes large-scale treatment possible.

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Category: Infectious Diseases, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Queensland University of Technology, Vaccines, Koala, Animal science, Australia, Biodiversity, Endangered, Disease

So, you need to inspect pipelines – either because you work for an oil company or you’re an environmental monitor trying to prevent ecological disasters. How do you do it?

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Category: Drones, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Fixed-wing drones, Inflatable

The US has racked up another historic drone warfare first as US Central Command (CENTCOM) announces that a trio of Corsair autonomous surface boats successfully carried out a simultaneous attack against the Bandar Abbas Naval Base in Iran.

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Category: Military, Engineering

Tags: US Navy, Autonomous, drones, Marine Innovations, Warfare

About a kilometer deep beneath the ocean surface, where sunlight disappears and food becomes scarce, lives a giant creature that can wait out starvation and survive more than five years without eating.

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Category: Biology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Genetics, Diet, Animals, Marine Biology, isopod

Around 90% of all humans prefer to use their right hand. For cockatoos, it’s mostly the left.

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Category: Biology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Fossils, Hand, Ediacaran , Brain, American Museum of Natural History, Paleontology, Animal science, ancient

We’ve already seen plenty of smart glasses that combine stylish design with music playback and hands-free video recording. For folks who appreciate having those features but don’t like wearing glasses, Auriview has just launched a new product on Kickstarter. The X1 takes a similar approach but packs the technology into a different form factor – bone-conduction earphones. What sets it apart from similar products is a built-in AI assistant that allows users to interact with the device through voice commands.

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Category: Wearables, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Headset, Artificial Intelligence, Bone Conduction, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster

Chris Tonkin, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)/The Conversation

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Category: Infectious Diseases, Illnesses and conditions, Body and Mind, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Parasites, Cats, Pets, Brain, toxoplasmosis

For decades, basketball training technology has relied on repetition and pre-set programming modes.

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Category: Sports, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, basketball, Training aid, Artificial Intelligence

A robot that swims like a diving bird and then flies like, well, a bird, sounds like the setup for two different machines bolted together. But researchers at MIT and EPFL built one that does both with a single set of wings. No propellers, no legs, and no origami-style folding mechanism to switch modes.

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Category: Robotics, Engineering

Tags: MIT, Robots, Engineering, Birds, EPFL, Biomimicry, Flight, Dive, Swim

It's getting harder and harder to outrun heatwaves around the world, so having a portable fan handy could be the move this summer. Zera's latest model promises powerful cooling in a surprisingly tiny package.

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Category: Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Fan cooling, Personal, Travel, Kickstarter, xxKickbooster, Portable

Our distant relatives, Homo floresiensis, nicknamed “hobbits,” have been credited with two advanced skills: hunting small elephant relatives and controlling fire – both generally associated with large-brained hominins, such as Neanderthals and modern humans.

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Category: Archaeology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: hobbit, Fossils, Human, Diet, Hunting, Fire

Blue Origin is racing against the clock to undo the damage caused by its New Glenn rocket exploding in May.

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Category: Space Systems, Engineering

Tags: Blue Origin, New Glenn, Rocket, NASA, Launch

Blue Origin is racing against the clock to undo the damage caused by its New Glenn rocket exploding in May.

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Category: Space Systems, Engineering

Tags: Blue Origin, New Glenn, Rocket, NASA, Launch

In 2006, Harley-Davidson did a thing. When it did this thing, some wee came out of me. It came out of a few other people, too. Which was perfectly understandable, as you will come to understand.

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Category: Motorcycles, Transport

Tags: Racetrack, Motorcycle, Harley Davidson, Reviews, Cruisers, Drag Racing, Crazy, xxShowcase

Do you ever lie awake at night when the house is quiet, only to notice a low hum that seems to come from nowhere?

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Category: Biology, Science, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: Hearing, tinnitus, Sound, Frequency

With its substantial size and lack of wheels or trailer, the Evergreen XL isn't a good fit for would-be nomads. Instead, it trades portability for a remarkably spacious interior that's closer to an apartment than a traditional tiny house.

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Category: Tiny Houses, Outdoors

Tags: Building and Construction, Tiny Footprint, Micro-House, House, Home

Some parts of the world face natural disasters more frequently than others. Wildfires and tornadoes are among the biggest threats in the US, and cause thousands of people to lose their homes every year ... not to mention the insurance challenges homeowners have to deal with. There are modern fire-resistant materials and new stronger building methods, but they often only reduce damage and buy extra time rather than actually save the house.

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Category: Architecture, Engineering

Tags: Wildfires, Home, House, Emergencies, Protection

The Airseekers Tron ... it's an odd one, for sure. There are a few things that I find irritating, but then it'll go and surprise me with some stuff it can do really well, where even "better" or "more expensive" robomowers tend to struggle. I ran the mower in my neighbors' pristine yard that has a few more obstacles than mine, as well as my yard, which couldn't possibly be any more straightforward.

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Category: Around The Home, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Robots, Lawnmowers, Lawnmower, Garden

Finger joint strains are the bane of long hours spent daily on the computer, which is what led Melvin Wong, founder and engineer at Airra Labs, to build a better computer mouse – the Rotary Mouse, which is currently on Kickstarter.

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Category: Computing, Consumer Tech, Technology

Tags: Mouse, Kickstarter, Ergonomic

Brad Reisfeld, Colorado State University/The Conversation

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Category: Society & Community, Wellness and Healthy Living, Body and Mind, Refractor: Science & Health

Tags: University of Colorado, Chemicals, PFAS, Pollution, Health, Plastic waste, Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)