Australia

While mastectomies save many women from breast cancer, they often leave the subject feeling depressed, unattractive and ashamed. Some women opt for breast implants in an attempt to regain their lost positive body image, but an Australian doctor has now developed a device that allows women to regrow their lost breast using their own tissue.

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While the term "gold prospector" still evokes the image of a weathered frontiersman biting into a rock, advances in biology have now created a prospector that more closely resembles E. coli than a grizzled Forty-Niner. By modifying a bacterium that finds gold toxic, Frank Reith, a geologist at the University of Adelaide, Australia, has created a microbe with an eye for gold that would put Deadwood's George Hearst to shame.

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That's what it looks like, doesn't it? In reality this is Sydney, Australia, Earth, shrouded in a severe dust storm that has covered much of the country's eastern coast for the last few days. And while breathing is hard and transportation has ground to a standstill, the photos are spectacular.

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A decade ago, the bells of doom started to sound for carefree, swinging koalas. A new, HIV-like retrovirus had begun to attack the koala population, decimating its ranks and threatening extinction.

Now, the Australian researchers have launched an effort to stop the spread of the virus before it's too late.

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Polar bears starving, corals dying, ice shelves melting--climate change is wrecking the world around us. But there’s an upside if you’re a fan of the Australian cricket team. Global warming may increase your odds of beating arch rival England.

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Brushfires killed 173 people in Australia earlier this year, and scorched over 115 square miles of land, after suspected arsonists set several blazes. But even natural causes have inflicted plenty of wildfires on the tinder-dry Australian continent throughout its modern history – at least since native aborigines were forced to stop their traditional fire-stick farming that kept such uncontrolled fires relatively contained.

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What makes an eco-friendly meal? It's a question that has caused many heated arguments. Some say vegetarian, or even vegan, meals are the best way to lead a green lifestyle, since the livestock industry causes a plethora of environmental problems, from massive-scale deforestation to air and water pollution. Others argue that the large-scale production of corn and soy (a popular substitute for meat products) are just as bad for the environment.

In Australia, the debate has taken an interesting turn.

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The last few years have seen tremendous growth in solar thermal power plants—huge arrays of mirrors that concentrate the sun's energy onto a liquid which then boils and spins a turbine. The process is generally more efficient than using photovoltaic panels, and new solar thermal plants under construction in Spain and Australia will be among the largest capacity solar plants in the world. Old-fashioned PV panels were starting to look archaic, or at least suitable only for small-scale projects like roof instillations. But not all PV panels are created alike.

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