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'Traffic light' ecolabels on fast food menus could nudge us towards more sustainable choices

2026-07-11T01:00:00+10:00

US scientists say traffic-light-style ecolabels on fast food menus could help us make more sustainable choices. The team tested a range of ecolabels on burger or sandwich menus among 6,210 US adults. These included labelling foods with a low climate impact only, labelling foods with a high climate impact only, grading foods on a scale of climate impact from A-F, a traffic light system applied to all foods, and a QR code with no climate information, for comparison. They found the traffic light labelling was most effective, leading people to choose meals with 30% lower greenhouse gas emissions from the sandwich restaurant, 15% lower greenhouse gas emissions, and slightly healthier meals from the burger joint, compared to the QR code label. These labels may be an effective way of nudging us towards more sustainable fast food choices, the authors conclude.

Heatwaves could be linked to more hospital visits for mental health issues

2026-07-10T19:00:00+10:00

Australian and international researchers say sustained extreme heat was linked to an increased risk of heading to the hospital for issues relating to mental health. The researchers looked at hospitalisation records from across the globe, covering over 2.6 million admissions and nearly two decades. With a heatwave being described as being hotter than 97.5% of the other days of the year, and lasting for four consecutive days, the researchers say the relative risk of being hospitalised was around 3.3% higher during the first day of the heatwave, and up to 5.6% higher over the following eight days. These links were stronger among older adults and in people who live in areas with lower population density, the team adds.

First graph-based pan-genome for mung bean maps hidden genetic variation behind key crop traits

2026-07-10T19:00:00+10:00

Researchers at Murdoch University's Centre for Crop and Food Innovation have made a significant contribution to a landmark international study that has uncovered tens of thousands of previously hidden structural variations influencing agriculturally important traits in mung bean.

EXPERT REACTION: First case of deadly H5 bird flu in a local Australian seabird detected

2026-07-10T13:30:00+10:00

Highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu has been detected in an Australian seabird, a greater crested tern, marking the first time it has been detected in a local bird rather than a migratory bird from the sub-Antarctic region. The bird, which was found in Robe on the South Australian coast, has been tested by CSIRO and confirmed to be infected with H5N1 bird flu. Below, Australian experts comment on what this detection means.

Modelling reveals Sydney’s 1789 smallpox outbreak killed as many as 220,000 Indigenous Australians

2026-07-10T10:30:00+10:00

New computer modelling has revealed that as many as 220,000 Indigenous Australians died in a devastating 1789 smallpox outbreak that originated in Sydney, by tracing its origins to the First Fleet. Soon after British ships arrived, smallpox swept through First Nations communities in the Sydney area and many died as a result. The study found that the epidemic had a devastating demographic impact and ramifications for how First Nations people resisted colonisation and their capacity to manage Country, with the impact still being felt today.

Dr AI might lead real doctors to mistrust contradicting advice

2026-07-10T04:00:00+10:00

Doctors tended to trust incorrect advice presented as being generated by artificial intelligence (AI), even after they were given the chance to see that the best practices contradict the AI, say Spanish researchers. In two experiments, the researchers told 223 physicians that they were going to treat patients for a rare disease using a not-yet-proven treatment still under development. They were then told that an AI system had identified which patients were more or less likely to benefit from the treatment. The physicians then chose which patients to treat, and after being presented with data on patient recovery, rated their perceptions of how reliable the AI was. In the first experiment, the physicians tended to rate the AI as reliable, say the researchers, adding that the doctors did not use data about patient recovery to realise that the AI suggestions were actually incorrect, and in the second experiment, that the treatment was completely ineffective.

Feeling like you're losing your sense of smell is linked with depression

2026-07-10T01:00:00+10:00

European scientists say subjectively feeling like you're losing your sense of smell is linked with depression, but when scientists actually measure the loss of the sense objectively, it is less strongly linked with depression, except in older people and anosmic patients, who have a total or partial inability to smell. The team pooled and re-analysed the data from seven previous studies looking for links between subjective smell loss and depression, and 11 that looked at objective smell loss and depression. All seven studies looking at subjective smell loss showed a link between feeling like you're losing the sense and depression, while the 11 studies on objective smell loss found this link was weaker, except in people aged 65 and over and anosmia patients. The clinical implications of the findings are still to be established, and longer-term studies that look at how this might work in the body are needed, the authors conclude.

Trade in your smelling salts for chocolate to help your gains at the gym

2026-07-09T14:00:00+10:00

Want to feel more full, less hungry and get more reps in at the gym? Malaysian scientists say you should sniff some dark chocolate. The researchers found that people doing resistance training in the gym reported that dark chocolate, or at least chocolate with a high cocoa content, decreased feelings of hunger, desire, and intentions to eat, leaving them with a fuller feeling when compared against smelling a neutral smell such as water. Also, sniffing the chocolate was able to help the trainees add extra repetitions to their sets, say the researchers. To work this out, the team gave 23 healthy mid-20s men one of three odour samples: liquified dark chocolate containing 90% cocoa, liquified milk chocolate containing 60% cocoa, or a water sample serving as a control. Additionally, the team say the people who huffed the milk chocolate had a more pleasant experience than the other two.

Culturally tailored maternity care lifts healthy birth rates for First Nations families

2026-07-09T12:16:00+10:00

More First Nations babies are being born healthy through a culturally tailored midwifery model of care delivered at three major maternity services in Melbourne, according to a large-scale study led by La Trobe University.

Pregnant women may avoid child protection out of fear and mistrust

2026-07-09T12:03:00+10:00

Pregnant women who become involved with child protection services often experience fear, mistrust and stigma, leading some to avoid health and support services altogether, new Griffith University research has found.

The power of conversation post-childbirth: Midwife-led birth debrief strengthens perinatal mental health

2026-07-09T11:10:00+10:00

A new study from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has found that a structured, midwife‑led birth debrief can significantly strengthen women’s emotional wellbeing after childbirth and can be built into routine maternity care.

Concerns about AI health-prediction models trained on unreliable datasets

2026-07-09T11:00:00+10:00

Some AI models designed to predict stroke and diabetes risk may be based on datasets whose origins cannot be verified, according to new research.

Obesity drugs may not improve your quality of life

2026-07-09T10:45:00+10:00

Although they might help you lose weight, most obesity drugs don't improve your quality of life, according to a review of the benefits and harms of obesity drugs. The study found that the greatest weight loss was with tirzepatide (Mounjaro) and cagrilintide-semaglutide (CagriSema), but larger weight losses also came with higher rates of side effects and treatment discontinuation, which the authors say indicates a clear benefit-harm trade-off. None of the studied drugs convincingly reduced kidney failure or produced clinically meaningful improvements in quality of life. The injectable form of semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy) was the only drug linked to a reduced risk of death from any cause, heart attack, and heart failure.

'Liquid gold' breast milk donations reduce the rate of life-threatening disease in Australian premature babies by more than a third

2026-07-09T09:47:00+10:00

The rate of a life-threatening gut disease called Necrotising Enterocolitis (NEC) has decreased by 38% in very premature babies who received donated breast milk from Australian Red Cross Lifeblood, according to research published today in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health.

One-size-fits-all charts for foetal growth could often miss at-risk babies

2026-07-09T08:30:00+10:00

UK researchers suggest the charts that are used in the UK and Australia to measure a baby's growth before birth might often misclassify babies as being either too small or too big, which could lead to issues relating to missing bubs at risk of stillbirth or unnecessary interventions. In Australia, we tend to rely on a charting system called Hadlock, which the researchers in this study note is among the main ones used in the UK. The team compared the rates of babies identified as too small or too large according to different charts in 3.2 million births between 2015 and 2025, and say that the use of a customised growth chart that adjusts for the mother's characteristics, such as weight and ethnic origin - which would affect the usual growth of the baby in the womb -, would provide better and more accurate data than the standardised charts, leading to improved care and making it easier for physicians to spot a baby that needs extra care during pregnancy.

High hunger hormone level linked to anorexia might help predict risk of relapse

2026-07-09T08:01:00+10:00

People with anorexia nervosa have unusually high levels of a hormone called LEAP2 in their blood when they are in the acute phase of the disorder, according to research being presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum 2026 in Spain. The hormone, which is produced by the liver and intestines, effectively overrides the body’s normal hunger signals, and researchers have found that levels of LEAP2 are 20% higher in patients when they are hospitalised with anorexia nervosa compared to after four months of hospital treatment. The researchers say this difference was particularly apparent in patients who relapsed six months after being discharged from hospital, suggesting the hormone could help doctors predict who is likely to relapse.

Meningococcal B vaccine ineffective in gonorrhoea prevention for men who have sex with men

2026-07-09T07:00:00+10:00

A randomised controlled trial has shown the meningococcal B vaccine is ineffective in gonorrhoea prevention for men who have sex with men.

Hidden pathway drives COVID-19 infections

2026-07-09T07:00:00+10:00

New research has uncovered a hidden pathway that allows COVID-19 to infect the immune system and trigger damaging inflammation in the lungs.

After the rupture: how communities carry collective trauma and find healing

2026-07-09T06:00:00+10:00

When tragedy strikes, entire communities can be left reeling. A UNSW researcher says recovery from collective trauma depends on the same force that often causes the harm: the actions of people.

New York's stray cats are littered with parasites

2026-07-09T04:00:00+10:00

New York may be famous for rats, but cats are not far behind, and now researchers have found that more than half the stray cats they tested in the Big Apple had at least one species of parasite. The most common parasites were species from a group of roundworms called Toxocara. The researchers found that male cats were significantly more likely to be infected with these roundworms and, along with juvenile cats (<1 year), they shed significantly higher numbers of eggs, making them “super-shedders”, driving environmental contamination. The researchers say this data shows that stray cats present a long-term public health risk.

Indigenous peoples in the Amazon face massive cultural and ecological loss due to climate change

2026-07-09T01:00:00+10:00

An overseas study says Indigenous Amazonian cultures could lose a third of the plants they use, services these provide - like medicines - and over a quarter of the 'Amazonian knowledge pool'. Compiling reports on native plant use since the 16th century, Swiss and US researchers counted nearly 5,800 species used by local communities, and modelled their local extinctions in coming decades due to climate change. Over half of the Indigenous languages used in the reports are also at risk. The authors say the combined threat could lead to a vast loss of knowledge, and recommend integrating biological with cultural heritage in science and policy to help prevent this.

New deep-sea measurements show how the ocean floor forms

2026-07-09T01:00:00+10:00

Scientists studying a seafloor site southwest of Australia have captured how molten rock emerges at boundaries between tectonic plates. French researchers set up instruments monitoring seismic activity and seafloor changes around 2 km underwater at the boundary between the Australian and Antarctic plates. Two months in, they measured earthquake activity and the ocean floor sinking by 4 metres, as millions of cubic metres of magma that had been stored underneath poured out to form new seafloor. The researchers suggest decades of strain build up at plate boundaries, until ground and magma movement release it in such "seafloor spreading" events.

People with depression may be more likely to chase likes on social media

2026-07-09T01:00:00+10:00

People with depression or depressive symptoms may be more heavily motivated by the likes they get on social media, according to an international study of Twitter users. Using various recruitment methods, the researchers ran several tests comparing the behaviour of Twitter users with depression and a random sample of users, looking at how much they were likely to post the day after getting a lot of likes on a tweet. In all the datasets, the researchers say depression and depressive symptoms were linked to a higher likelihood of being influenced by the amount of likes they were getting. The authors say this contradicts previous lab-based studies showing people with depression are less responsive to rewards, suggesting real-world rewards such as social media validation may impact a depressed brain differently.

A cubesat that can detect thermonuclear weapons in space

2026-07-09T01:00:00+10:00

Cubesats could detect the presence of nuclear weapons on space satellites, according to a modelling study by international researchers, who say this approach could be used to verify that nations are complying with the Outer Space Treaty, which prohibits the placement of nuclear weapons in orbit. The Outer Space Treaty, which is the basis of international space law, stipulates that nuclear weapons may not be placed in space because they could destroy most of the satellites in low Earth orbit. The authors say that there is currently no practical method to verify that nations are complying with this particular aspect of the treaty, but their simulations indicate that a 9U-cubesat-sized device can identify a thermonuclear weapon from a distance of 4km and could be the path forward for ensuring that everyone is keeping up with the treaty.

How much does a child's birthweight influence their growth through childhood?

2026-07-09T01:00:00+10:00

Children born at a higher birthweight for their gestational age are likely to have a bigger height and weight well into their childhood, according to international research. The team followed the growth trajectories of more than 36,000 babies in Europe and 2500 from elsewhere in the world until they were 10 years old - comparing how their initial birthweight for their gestational age influenced their growth throughout the study. The researchers say babies born with the lowest percentile birthweight and the highest percentile birthweight followed opposite patterns - smaller babies went on to be below average height and weight up to age five, and vice versa for the larger babies. At 10 years, the researchers say the children who had the highest birthweight were at a higher risk of overweight or obesity.

Non-invasive brain zapping could help people with depression

2026-07-09T01:00:00+10:00

Norwegian and German researchers say the use of intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) - short bursts of magnetic pulses that mimic the brain's natural theta waves - over an area of the brain responsible for high-level executive functions, including working memory, cognitive flexibility, planning, and selective attention, could help reduce the symptoms of major depressive disorder. The team put 73 adults with major depressive disorder into a randomised trial where half were given iTBS and the other a sham program, which went on for 10 once-daily sessions. The researchers say the iTBS group had significantly greater reductions in clinician-rated depressive symptoms after five and 10 sessions. The researchers note that while these zaps were better in the short term, the difference between the groups levelled out after four weeks, with the sham group showing continued improvement.

EXPERT REACTION: Australia's latest health report card reveals strengths and weaknesses

2026-07-09T00:01:00+10:00

A new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has found health outcomes in Australia continue to improve and remain high by global standards, but chronic conditions and mental health conditions are increasingly impacting Australians. Australia’s health 2026 provides a comprehensive, national picture, showing where Australia’s health stands, the key factors shaping it, and where targeted attention is most needed. Key report findings include: Australians are living longer; chronic diseases account for most of Australia's health burden; mental health conditions are affecting a growing number of Aussies; cancer outcomes continue to improve; unhealthy lifestyles account for more than a third of our disease burden; childhood immunisation coverage has declined; there has been progress in Indigenous health, although Indigenous Aussies remain twice as likely to be unwell as non-Indigenous Aussies; demands on the health system are growing; and health inequities remain, with barriers to care including cost, service availability and waiting time.

WHO says fighting cancer now less about what we don't know and more about what we don't do

2026-07-08T23:00:00+10:00

Much of the burden of cancer felt around the world is now about a lack of access to care rather than a lack of knowledge on how to prevent and treat it, according to the World Health Organization's Global Status Report on cancer for 2026. The report outlines how global inequity means common cancers now have high survival rates in high-income countries while lower-income countries aren't seeing the same improvements - for example, five-year survival for breast and childhood cancer is now above 85% for wealthy countries but below 30% for the least wealthy. In the report, the WHO makes key recommendations for better implementing cancer control policies around the world to help close this gap.

What do we know about pregnancy in transgender men?

2026-07-08T17:01:00+10:00

Some transgender men and gender diverse people get pregnant - including after some degree of medical transition - and international researchers say there is very little evidence available on the potential physical and mental health impacts of gender diverse pregnancy and childbirth. The researchers say a recent review found around 6-9% of trans/non-binary people assigned female at birth have pregnancies, so they searched for relevant research on the topic to see what we know and don't know. They say people who take testosterone appear less likely to get pregnant, but the medication can't be relied on as birth control. There may be higher risks of pregnancy loss among this group, the researchers say, but the lack of available research makes it hard to draw firm conclusions. There are similar gaps in knowledge around postnatal depression for gender diverse parents who experience childbirth, they say.

Beans for blokes, broccoli for women: Which veggies protect young hearts?

2026-07-08T12:47:00+10:00

The vegetables you put on your plate in your 20s could shape your health for the rest of your life - and a new study from Edith Cowan University (ECU) suggests men and women may benefit from different veggies.

EXPERT REACTION: Major Telstra outage hits phones, public transport, traffic lights, and card payments

2026-07-08T11:30:00+10:00

There’s been a major Telstra outage that seems to have started on the morning of Wednesday 8th July, affecting potentially millions of customers and causing delays to public transport networks in ACT, VIC and NSW. It’s also affecting traffic lights in SA and EFTPOS payment systems. Below, Australian experts comment.

‘Can I be a zombie for another two years?’ Why Aussies are having fewer kids

2026-07-08T10:37:00+10:00

Exhaustion, trauma and the harsh realities of parenting are driving more Australian families to think twice about having another child. A new study of more than 1,000 parents shows decisions about having another child are far from simple, and often come down to whether families feel they can cope physically, emotionally and mentally with doing it all again.

Australian cancer trials are getting worse at reporting sex differences - putting patients at risk

2026-07-08T10:00:00+10:00

New research out of The George Institute has found that Australian cancer trials are getting worse at collecting the data clinicians need to treat women safely - and we don't actually know if current treatments deliver the same chance of cure and quality of life for women as they do for men. Fewer than 2% of Australian cancer trials report results separately for men and women. Women face higher rates of severe side effects from treatments, including immunotherapy and chemotherapy. But without sex-disaggregated data, clinicians have no way of knowing whether a treatment's safety or effectiveness profile applies to their female patients at all. The kicker: this has gone backwards since guidelines were introduced to fix it. Sex-based analyses have dropped from 44% of trials to just 22%.

Rethinking the one-night sleep study

2026-07-08T09:39:00+10:00

One night may not tell the whole story when it comes to sleep apnoea. New Flinders University research has found that sleep apnoea severity can vary significantly from night to night, meaning standard single-night sleep studies may miss or misclassify cases. The findings suggest multi-night monitoring could lead to more accurate diagnoses, better risk assessment and more personalised treatment for the millions affected by this common but serious sleep disorder.

In an emergency, we'd rather follow the crowd than those right in front of us

2026-07-08T09:01:00+10:00

A new study suggests we're likely to follow the most popular evacuation route rather than the ones we've just seen people take. About 380 people in the UK watched videos of computer-generated pedestrians in an emergency queuing and evacuating through one of two exits, then chose their own way out. On average, people favoured the one picked by more of the computer-generated evacuees, even when the latest evacuations were through the other - and when asked about their reasoning, many said this was a deliberate strategy. The authors say this provides a foundation for understanding group evacuations and crowd dynamics.