ABC Health and Medicine News

ABC: Latest Health News in Science

• Calcium linked to higher heart attack risk
  New research has cast doubt on whether people should take calcium supplements to ward off the degenerative bone disease osteoporosis.
  
  
• Maths solves sperm movement mystery
  UK scientists may have unravelled one of the long-standing mysteries of human fertility: why sperm cells tend to behave like tiny, surface-seeking missiles.
  
  
• How does a camera aperture work?
  ASK AN EXPERT: Why is 'depth of field' or 'depth of focus' greater with a smaller aperture on a camera or when the iris in your eye is closed down to a smaller pupil size?
  
  
• Shark skin harbours deadly bacteria
  As if rows of serrated teeth and an uncanny ability to smell blood weren't deadly enough, sharks have a new way to harm unsuspecting swimmers: drug-resistance bacteria.
  
  
• Chance find leads to vision insight
  An impromptu late night experiment has led Australian scientists to a discovery that changes our view of how our vision works.
  
  
• Soil crucial to public health: experts
  Soil should be safeguarded as a "saviour" of public health, despite being the source of potentially dangerous bugs, say US experts.
  
  
• Nano-patch could replace syringe
  Australian researchers have developed a needle-free, dissolving vaccination that could be mailed out to households during a pandemic.
  
  
• Probe finds consumer gene tests misleading
  People who send off their saliva to different genetic testing companies are likely to get different results, according to US government investigators.