Sydney, Feb 10 - Smokers beware. Your heavy puffing around the time of conception greatly increases the chances of your child developing the most common form of childhood cancer, known as Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), a study reveals.

The study investigated the link between parental smoking and the occurrence of ALL in offspring.

Sydney, Feb 10 : Physical activity can help offsprings undo the negative metabolic effects passed on to them by their obese mothers, a study reveals.

An overweight mother can powerfully impact the next generation, altering central appetite circuits in the brain and contributing to increased fat deposits and metabolic disease in their children.

Sydney, Feb 9 - Offering hope to more than 160 million people worldwide who are considered clinically blind, a bionic eye implant will be ready for human trials in
2013, reveals a study.

A bionic eye is an extraordinary photocell developed by scientists, using space technology, that could replace a malfunctioning human eye.

Sydney, Feb 8 - Magnetic pulses could stamp out neurological disorders such as Parkinson's, depression, schizophrenia, epilepsy and stroke after researchers unravelled how they work to stimulate the brain.

Sydney, Feb 8 - The key to shedding pounds is cutting down on calories, not carbohydrates or proteins, especially among the overweight with type 2 diabetes, a study reveals.

Melbourne, Feb 7 : People who are exposed to more sunlight may be less likely to suffer from food allergies and eczema, researchers say.

The study of 7600 Australian children found that those in southern parts of the country were more likely to develop eczema and food allergies than those who lived further north.

Sydney, Feb 3 - Prescribing errors can be slashed by 66 percent with the introduction of electronic methods in hospitals.

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers reviewed 3,291 patient records and looked at both procedural (incomplete, unclear medication orders) and clinical (wrong dose, wrong drug) errors, and rated the potential severity of the errors (minor to serious).

Sydney, Feb 3 - Physically active children are more likely to keep diabetes and heart disease at bay, a new study reveals.

The study, led by researchers Glenn McConell and Mary Wlodek from Victoria and Melbourne Universities, tested whether exercise could re-programme rats predisposed to diabetes and heart disease owing to their lower birth weight.

Sydney, Jan 31 - Production of sperm not only seems to lower one's immunity but is also a more biologically taxing process than previously thought.

Damian Dowling of Monash University's School of Biological Sciences and Leigh Simmons, professor at the University of Western Australia, have investigated the trade-off between sperm quality and immunity.

Sydney, Jan 30 - What you think about your illness matters just as much, if not more, than the factors and conditions that determine your health condition.

Keith Petrie of the University of Auckland and John Weinman of the Institute of Psychiatry at King's College, London, conducted a review of the existing literature on patients' perceptions of illness.

Sydney, Jan 30 - Boys exposed to high levels of testosterone in the foetal stage are twice as likely to experience retarded language development.

"An estimated 12 percent of toddlers experience significant delays in their language development," said Andrew Whitehouse, associate professor at Perth's Telethon Institute for Child Health Research.

Melbourne, Jan 30 : In a startling medical breakthrough, scientists in Scotland have created brain tissue from skin samples of patients who are suffering from mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and depression.

The latest achievement was made by researchers at Edinburgh’s Centre for Regenerative Medicine.

Melbourne, Jan 27 : An Australian company is developing a hair test to screen for breast cancer, and it says that the test could become a viable alternative to mammography.

SBC Research is conducting an 80-patient trial to test its hypothesis that women with breast cancer have higher levels of phospholipids in their bloodstream that can be detected in their hair.

Sydney, Jan 24 - Wider hips can reduce chances of premature death by protecting against metabolic disorders such as diabetes.

"We knew that higher hip circumference was protective against metabolic diseases such as diabetes as well as death," Adrian Cameron from Deakin University, study co-author.

Sydney, Jan 23 - Genetic factors only partially affect our lifelong intelligence levels, while environmental causes seem to exert the largest influence.

In a number of studies since early 2000, researchers have shown that when people took intelligence tests as children and then again in old age they tended to keep about the same relative score.

Sydney, Jan 19 - A harmonious mind-body connect, the key to good health, also seems to determine how your skin reacts to allergies.

A team of neuroscientists have found that if someone does not care about a part of their body, their immune system will also respond accordingly, treating it as 'non-self' rather than 'self.'

Sydney, Jan 19 - Teenagers hooked on energy drinks or mixing them with alcohol might be subjecting themselves to toxic effects like palpitations and even seizures, says a seven-year study.

There has been a dramatic increase in the number of calls to a poisons hotline. Symptoms include palpitations, agitation, tremor and gastrointestinal upset, besides signs of serious cardiac or neurological toxicity such as hallucinations, seizures.

Melbourne, Jan 17 : Researchers are still trying to find the actual link between video games and depression.

A new Australian study has found that excessive video gamers are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety than casual players.

But the researcher believes participants suffering from a mental health disorder are using gaming as a coping mechanism, rather than it being the cause, News. com. au reported.

Sydney, Jan 17 - Sex promotes greater growth of seagrass, a vegetation that doubles as a huge carbon sink and shelters marine species, reveals a study.

Seagrass meadows grew predominately via vegetative growth or cloning, using rhizomes that spread under the seabed, then send out roots and shoots, says a recent research at the University of Western Australia Oceans Institute.

Melbourne, Jan 16 : Apart from helping you shed those extra kilos, exercises like going for a jog, swimming or lifting weights in the gym three times a week, can also boost your income by up to 9 percent.

According to a new study by Dr Vasilios Kosteas from Cleveland State University in Ohio, US, indulging in even moderate exercise such as a regular walk has a positive impact on earnings.

Sydney, Jan 14 : The availability of pornography through portable devices is being blamed for the rapid escalation of sexually abusive behaviour in children.

Children as young as five in Victoria, Australia, are being referred to specialist programs to address sexually abusive behaviour - and the number of minors exhibiting such behaviour is exploding.

Sydney, Jan 13 : Predators can also be quite finicky about food, preferring that which offers high nutritional value rather than calorie content.A new study has found that such insect predators, given a choice of food, will select a diet that maximises their chances of reproducing.

Sydney, Jan 10 : Taking a daily dose of aspirin to prevent a heart attack or stroke may do more harm than good, scientists including one of an Indian-origin have warned.

Aspirin has previously been hailed as a “wonder drug” and come to be regarded as a “just in case” self-medicated measure for millions of healthy patients.

Sydney, Jan 9 - A surprise discovery has shown how some cells may be capable of exercising control over their own destiny.

Immunology researchers from Walter and Eliza Hall Institute drew this conclusion after studying B cells, immune system cells that can make antibodies.

Sydney, Jan 4 - Children can die or suffer serious brain damage if they are left in a hot car for even a short time, reveals a study.

Some 1,500 children were reportedly rescued from cars in the last 12 months. During November and December 2011, nine children were found in locked cars, with four such cases in the last four days.