SCIENCE

Hospitals in Auckland had to postpone elective surgeries to meet the growing needs of beds in hospitals as people taking to bed with severe flu or influenza is on the rise.

British parents, in hundreds, are traveling to the U.S. for In Vitro Fertilization treatment to select a baby girl. Eight in ten British couple want a baby girl through IVF. Since sex selection is banned in the United Kingdom, more and more British parents are traveling to America to have IVF treatment in order to select the gender of their unborn baby.

Peter Lynagh from Melbourne gave up sex for one whole year to raise £50,000 for charity. Lynagh has donated the entire money to Australian charity, Free to Shine, an organisation which focuses on educating and saving young Cambodian girls from the sex trade.

A five-minute session of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) helps reduce pain by at least 60 per cent, said scientists at the University of Reading. Studies reveal that positive thinking can relieve an individual of pain by changing the way it is "experienced."

Antiviral VivaGel in Ansell condoms, which is capable of inactivating 99.9 per cent of HIV virus, will be available in the Australian market within few months. The special technology has been designed by Australian biotechnology firm Starpharma.

HIV researchers hope for an effective and functional cure may have a little setback called "long-term remission" instead of full annihilation of the virus. The status means that someone can still have detectable levels of the virus but not active enough to require further treatment.

Sandstone landmark shapes, such as those found in the Arches National Park in eastern Utah, U.S., are products made no less than by Mother Nature itself and not by some medieval or first human settler. Mother Nature's secret? Gravity.

Purdue Pharma LP's hydrocodone bitartrate tablet (HYD) is undergoing "priority review" by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the company recently announced.

A drug combination that will help cure tuberculosis sooner has been devised by South African researchers.

Drivers are always warned to stay alert; even a brief diversion in focus can lead to mishaps and long drives can be strenuous at times. But now you don't have to worry about dozing off while driving, the new smart car seats will alert you when you do. The researchers at the Nottingham Trent University, UK have developed a car seat which can detect when a driver is feeling drowsy and alert him immediately.

The sun has taken off as no sunspots were observed on July 17.

A new study by the researchers at the University of East Anglia has found that for life to evolve on other planets oceans were extremely essential. The research paper, The Importance of Planetary Rotation Period for Ocean Heat Transport, was published in the journal Astrobiology. It looked into the ocean's role in making the planet's climate stable and favourable, moderating climate in Earth-like planets.

July 20, 2014 marked the 45 anniversary of The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). It was this very same day in 1969 that Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to set foot on the moon, leaving the world in amazement. 45 years later the immense progress of NASA still astounds the world.

Sam Van Aken, art professor from Syracuse University, has grown a unique tree that produces forty varieties of stone fruit.

Rainforest Connection - a California-based platform created a way to protect the rainforest and stop illegal logging by the use of smartphones. Old smartphones are being wrapped into a waterproof casing powered by solar energy and are being mounted on a hidden spot on the trees where it is hard to see them.

The months of July and August will offer sky watchers the viewing experience for the 2014 Delta Aquarids meteor shower. The sky display started on July 12 and it can be viewed until Aug 23, 2014 with the peak scheduled to take place from July 28 to 29 and observers in the Southern Hemisphere will have the best views.

A new player has joined the worldwide list of nations hurtling space missions to Mars. The United Arab Emirates recently announced plans to send a mission to the red planet by 2021.

Japan's highest peak Mount Fuji has been placed by a team of researchers in a "critical state" to erupt, spurred by the pressure built underneath it by the 2011 magnitude-9 Tohoku-Oki earthquake.

At least 18 people have died after typhoon Rammasun struck Hainan island off China's southern coast on Friday.

An article published in the journal Nature looked into psychological therapy that causes brain changes within patients of mental disorders. Though neuroscience and clinical science are different and there is a "culture gap" between the two, the essay suggests that the two disciplines must be combined and explored together for the best results.

ASIMO stunned the viewers with its latest technology that allowed it to recognize different voice tones and differentiate each when several persons spoke simultaneously, responding well to different instructions given by each person. What's more is that the bot has learned sign language and can communicate through it.

The movement of the sunflower has fascinated many since time immemorial, how the beautiful yellow flower would turn towards the sun everyday unfailingly. While scientists had stated that the light rays from the sun triggered the mechanism in the plant, a new research published in the scientific journal, Nature has discovered something unthought-of and equally fascinating. The study led by Hagop Atamian and Stacey Harmer of the University of California in Davis, discovered that it isn't just t...

As if their sudden death wasn't bad enough, the bodies of passengers aboard doomed Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 were stolen by pro-Russian rebels to be brought to an undisclosed location. And if that wasn't ruthless enough, rebels have also been reportedly stealing possessions from the dead. It was more than a double whammy the bereaved families of the victims can take from the senseless killing.

Scientists at the Australian National University have developed a material that can twist light itself. This unlike regular material possesses extraordinary properties; it is the latest in a new breed of materials called metamaterial. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Particular parasites Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii), found in cat’s intestines can help cure cancer, say scientists. The parasite, according to researchers causes a person’s immune system to react in a particular manner that parallels how the immune system attacks a tumor.

A study found that underwater excavation activities near coral reefs can impact light and food needed for their survival, doubling chances of frequency of diseases in them.

New Zealand had the warmest winter on record in 2013. According to the State of the Climate 2013 report released by the American Meteorological Society, some of the countries in the Southern Hemisphere including New Zealand had 2013 as the one of their warmest years.

A list of what could be the first batch of identities of people who perished aboard the downed Malaysia Airlines MH17 had started to emerge.

Researchers have found that electric bacteria, like Shewanella and Geobacter, feast on electricity. They are on a hunt to find more species that 'eat' electricity.