According to The Australian Financial Review, most lung cancer is still treated with cisplatin, an old form of chemotherapy that contains platinum today.
But only 30 per cent of patients benefit and, along the way, they often develop serious side effects including kidney damage.
The scientists, led by Professor Neil Watkins, were trying to figure out why chemotherapy wasn't more effective.
As Watkins pondered a large map of a dataset, he recalled de Kretser talking about follistatin and suddenly, saw a possible connection.
This week, an elegant and compelling study has been published in the journal, Science Translational Medicine.
It is proof of principle that mixing follistatin with the chemotherapy, not only turbocharges its effectiveness but prevents devastating kidney damage.
In mice it increased the odds of success from 10 to 70 per cent. Their lung tumours shrunk, they were protected against kidney damage and survived longer.
If this translates to humans – and there is a strong expectation it will - it could transform treatment for many lung cancer patients.

https://www.afr.com/news/casual-chat-with-former-governor-of-victoria-leads-to-lung-cancer-breakthrough-20180725-h135ek

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​http://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5179544
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Australian scientists have developed an "early warning system" that has the potential to alert doctors to an impending heart attack and then provide them with tools that may prevent it.
The system has proved effective in mice and there is a strong expectation it will translate to humans. Trials in humans are now being prepared. 
This world first research led by the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute is published in the premier cardiovascular medical journal, European Heart Journal.
Every year 54,000 Australians suffer a heart attack and 8,600 die as a result of a one. That means, on average, heart attacks claim almost one Australian an hour.

Ref: https://www.afr.com/news/australian-researchers-develop-an-early-warning-system-for-heart-attack-20180726-h135kr

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​http://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/9140075
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Australians scientists have developed what could be the world's first blood test to detect early-stage melanoma. They have proof of concept for the test which, if confirmed by further research, could be ready for use in three years.
With 79 per cent diagnostic accuracy, the test has the potential to save lives, suffering and the expense of treating late-stage melanoma.
The scientists, from Edith Cowan University in Perth, published their results in the journal Oncotarget.
If the test reaches 90 per cent accuracy in the next trial, it could be used, together with visual forms of detection, to make an early diagnosis. This could save many negative biopsies, which cost the public purse $73 million a year.
The test, MelDx, has been submitted for an international patent, and aims to provide greater diagnostic certainty prior to biopsy.
"Patients who have their melanoma detected in its early stage have a five-year survival rate between 90 and 99 per cent," says lead researcher and PhD candidate Pauline Zaenker.
If it has already spread, the five-year survival rate drops to less than 50 per cent.

Ref: https://www.afr.com/news/australians-develop-promising-blood-test-for-early-melanoma-20180717-h12s5q

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​http://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7652294
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Sydney-based biomedical researchers at the Garvan Institute will kickstart an ambitious plan to create a genetic index including summary data of 5000 aggregated human genomes to help the global hunt for cures to diseases, after receiving a grant from Microsoft to crunch the data on its Azure cloud infrastructure.
The index will require enormous amounts of computing power, and the Garvan Institute hopes it will make a major contribution to ongoing international efforts, such as the hunt for cancer treatments, by making the resource accessible to the worldwide genomics community.
Chief of informatics at the Garvan Institute Warren Kaplan said there had been extraordinary advances in the technology of DNA sequencing during the past 10 years, meaning the different genomes could now be split into groups, in order to run hugely complex queries to try to pinpoint the causes of different abnormalities or diseases.
When the sequencing of the first human genome was completed in 2003 it was the result of a 10-year project that cost around $3 billion, but Dr Kaplan said it was now possible for the Garvan Institute to sequence 50 genomes a day at a cost of $1000 apiece.

​Ref:http://www.afr.com/technology/cloud-computing/garvan-institute-uses-microsoft-azure-grant-to-build-genetic-index-to-hunt-disease-cures-20180418-h0yxvf

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2070821
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Woolworths is set to take the wraps off a new $215 million fully automated distribution centre that promises to deliver a step-change in cost savings and productivity when it goes live in the next year.
The state-of-the-art distribution centre in Dandenong South in Melbourne – which is owned by Charter Hall and leased to Woolworths for 20 years – is close to reaching practical completion and is expected to be fully operational later this calendar year or early in 2019.
Woolworths has yet to release details about the distribution centre, which is the largest in Australia and features the nation's largest solar installation and more than 14 kilometres of conveyors.
However, analysts have started crunching the numbers and believe the facility could save Woolworths at least $45 million in annual operating costs, increasing pressure on rivals Coles, Aldi and Metcash's IGA retailers.
"Woolworths is taking a major step forward on costs with this automated warehouse," one analyst said.
The facility, which sits on a 15.9-hectare site 35 kilometres south-east of the Melbourne CBD, will stock more products than Woolworths' Brisbane and Sydney distribution centres combined and will supply most of Woolworths' stores in Victoria.
The Dandenong facility combines technologies used in the traditional logistics industry and those in manufacturing and postal systems, including multi-storey racking systems, robotics and high-speed conveyor and sorting systems, to sort and distribute stock faster and with much greater accuracy than traditional warehouse technology.

http://www.afr.com/business/retail/woolworths-to-take-wraps-off-automated-warehouse-20180423-h0z452

If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
​https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7665064 

According to The Australian Financial Review, a team of Australian engineers has already developed and flown the next generation of aerospace technology: the scramjet, which enables hypersonic flight.
"Supersonic flight is when you break the speed of sound, and achieve speeds over Mach 1 [1235km/h]," says Professor Michael Smart from the Centre for Hypersonics at The University of Queensland. "Hypersonic flight starts at Mach 5."
Mach 5 is about 6170km/h, but the UQ team has already tested a scramjet at Mach 7.5, or 9260km/h. The team – which shares technology with NASA and was previously in the HIFiRE hypersonics project with the US and Australian governments – has made a total of seven test flights, at Woomera, SA, and in Norway, with three Australian-made scramjets.

http://www.afr.com/brand/luxury/uq-spartan-teams-hypersonic-scramjets-could-fly-sydney-to-london-in-2-hours-20180213-h0vzuk

​If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/2902061 

According to The Australian Financial Review, Australia’s obsolete car makers could be brought back to life if the government gets behind electric vehicles in 2018 and starts giving drivers incentives to buy them, the Electric Vehicle Council says.
"We have all of the mineral resources to create things like batteries and the componentry that fits within electric vehicles, there's an opportunity for us to have a role in the automotive market," said Behyad Jafari, chief executive of the Electric Vehicle Council, which represents car manufacturers.
The council is pushing for a co-ordinated national plan to encourage and support the purchase of electric vehicles.
Scott Benjamin, the technical director of intelligent transport for engineering design group WSP, says international vehicle makers are importing components for electric vehicles and bolting them together in Australia, but there is interest from local companies in making vehicles here, potentially using 3D printing.
WSP has discussed the potential for local manufacturing with several companies, including French group Navya, which has been running trials of an electric and autonomous "Intellibus" in Perth for the Royal Automobile Club, and US group Local Motors, which has built a 3D printed car.

Ref: http://www.afr.com/business/could-electric-cars-revive-car-manufacturing-in-australia-20180118-h0kdyn
 
If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5408497
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, the Turnbull government is at war over proposed Clean Energy Target but the rapidly falling cost of wind and solar energy could mean developers can do without such targets and their rich subsidies as soon as the early 2020s.
Contrary to former PM Tony Abbott, who argues that pushing renewable energy onto the grid under the Renewable Energy Target (RET) has made power costly and unreliable, rapidly falling prices may now mean that building more wind and solar is the key to bringing wholesale electricity prices down.
That offers the tantalising prospect that Australia can meet the energy "trilemma" – restoring affordable and reliable energy and meeting the nation's commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – with a mix of wind, solar, gas, storage and "demand response". Demand response offers customers incentives to curb their demand and send energy from solar panels, batteries and smart appliances when demand spokes, helping to avoid blackouts.
AGL Energy has outlined such a future in its plan to replace the ageing Liddell coal power station in the NSW Hunter Valley. But Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull remains unconvinced and deputy PM Barnaby Joyce is openly hostile.
There are still obstacles to financing a 25-year project like a wind or solar farm without subsidies. And wind and solar power need to be backed by dispatchable capacity that can be turned on and off at will – which will be increasingly costly as penetration rises and drives out baseload coal power.
Still, the dramatic shift in debate from only a few months ago – when Mr Turnbull canvassed building new coal-fired power stations – shows how swiftly energy markets are changing.

Ref: http://www.afr.com/news/you-could-soon-build-a-wind-farm-without-subsidy-20170928-gyqieu
 
If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7897870
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Rio Tinto has successfully sent a driverless iron ore train almost 100 kilometres across the Pilbara in what the company says is the first fully autonomous heavy haul train journey ever completed in Australia.
The pilot run of the miner's new autonomous rail system, called AutoHaul, between the Pilbara towns of Tom Price and Paraburdoo marks the first time a Rio train has travelled without driver assistance or a driver monitoring from on board.
The Autohaul project, which envisages converting almost all of Rio's 200 Pilbara locomotives into driverless mode, was approved in 2012 with a $US518 million budget. After a number of technical setbacks, the project is running more than two years behind schedule and is estimated to be significantly over budget. It is now expected to be completed by the end of 2018.
"This successful pilot run puts us firmly on track to meet our goal of operating the world's first fully autonomous heavy haul, long distance rail network, which will unlock significant safety and productivity benefits for the business," Rio Tinto iron ore chief executive Chris Salisbury said.
"Gains from AutoHaul are already being realised including reduced variability and increased speed across the network, helping to reduce average cycle times."
Rio's trains started running in autonomous mode in the first quarter of 2017 and about 50 per cent of the rail kilometres travelled by its fleet are now completed in autonomous mode with drivers on board.

Ref:http://www.afr.com/business/mining/iron-ore/rio-tinto-makes-australias-first-driverless-heavy-haul-train-journey-20171002-gyslss
 
If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/7053845
​

According to The Australian Financial Review, Google Home, the smart music speaker that you command with your voice and can use to control devices around your house, is finally coming to Australia.
The speaker, Google's answer to the surprisingly successful Amazon Echo, will be available from Thursday, July 20, for $199.
The Australian version of Google Home has been designed to understand Australian accents, and will speak back to householders using an Australian accent, too.
Australia is just the fourth country where Google has released a localised version home, after launching it in the USA last October, followed by the UK and Canada.
The device, which is just 14 cms high (and much smaller than it tends to look in photographs), is based around Google's artificial intelligence engine, Google Assistant, which can answer spoken queries such as "OK Google, where is the nearest servo?", and which unlike Apple's Siri can follow the thread of a conversation, so users can ask followup questions such as "OK Google, how long would it take me to walk there?". 
At launch, the Australian version of Google Home will support Stan, Netflix and YouTube on Chromecast-enabled televisions, meaning householders will be able to turn on their TVs and have them start playing movies and shows, all with their voice.
As many as six Google accounts can be programmed into each Google Play device, allowing householders to do things like check their calendar, just by barking commands like "OK Google, what do I have on today" across the room. Cricket, football (soccer) and AFL scores will also be read out by the tiny speaker on command.
Smart home devices such as the Philips Hue lighting system and Linksys's Wemo system are also supported, so householders will be able to turn lights and power points on and off with just their voice.

Ref: http://www.afr.com/technology/google-makes-a-home-in-australia-20170717-gxd9bu

​If you want to read this article in Japanese, please see the following link:
https://www.j-abc.com/jp-blog/5440416 
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