James Cook University

A new study has found that the contents of commercially produced extracts used to test for shellfish allergies differ widely between manufacturers. The researchers say the lack of standardization increases the risk of false negatives.

For many, the idea of having a few dozen hookworms set up shop in your gut sounds more like a Survivor challenge than a beneficial health therapy, but scientists see a bright future in the human worm farm's ability to protect against chronic disease.

In the third BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition, a stunning snap of the invasive orange pore fungus (Favolaschia calocera) has not just encroached on native species’ territory but taken out the top spot in the annual contest.

It can be difficult to determine if someone has malaria – enough so, that many people who don't even have the disease end up being treated for it. A new technique, however, could make diagnosis much easier and more reliable.

​Climate change already appears to be responsible for an overabundance of jellyfish in the world's oceans, but new research indicates that it may also lead to something else – lots and lots of squid. The findings run contrary to what was expected to be the case.

​If the mosquitos in a given area are carrying a potentially lethal virus, then the sooner that local health authorities know about it, the better. According to new research, traps that collect the insects' liquid waste may allow that to happen – and cheaply, too.

​Sharks are in the ocean and piranhas are in freshwater … right? Well, it turns out that 150 million years ago, the sea was also home to a piranha-like fish known as Piranhamesodon pinnatomus. The recently-classified creature is officially the earliest known flesh-eating ray-finned fish.

​As if the world's coral reefs weren't already in enough danger due to bleaching, a new study indicates that plastic trash is also killing them off. According to the study, when such debris comes into contact with corals, the likelihood of disease increases from 4 to 89 percent.

The Great Barrier Reef has seen better days, after a one-two punch of coral bleaching events struck it in 2016 and 2017. Warming sea temperatures has been pegged as the culprit, but researchers have found that a “perfect thermal storm” of oceanographic conditions led to the 2016 mass bleaching.

To find out how coral-eating fish manage to make a meal out of something that stings other fish, researchers at James Cook University in Australia took a closer look at the extraordinary lips on a tubelip wrasse.

Where are there fossilized footprints from more types of dinosaurs than anyplace else in the world? Well, that would be "Australia's Jurassic Park," a stretch of the coastline that contains tracks from 21 different types of dinosaurs.

It has been more that 80 years since the last Tasmania tiger died in captivity, but some suspect it continues to exist. Among those is a team of Australian scientists preparing a field survey on the very northern tip of Queensland in hope of catching the nocturnal creature in action.