There is evidence of obesity being “socially contagious”, a study finds that a person is more likely to be overweight if they live close to obese people.

People are needing to pay more attention to balancing lived environments as within Australia alone 62.8 per cent of the adult population is overweight and obese.

Adults were more likely to be obese if they lived in regional areas as opposed to major cities.

Scientists in China have successfully cloned 2 monkeys, becoming the very first primates to be cloned from a non-embryonic cell.

Researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai have stated the breakthrough should be of huge benefit when studying genetically uniform primates, eventually including humans.

The research underscored the focus China has been taking to remain at the cutting edge of Bioscience technology, and highlights the difficulties in ethical and moral boundaries around cloning.

Volcanic tremors have forced rescuers to suspend their search effort for victims of a deadly eruption and avalanche at a Japanese ski resort.

The eruption near Kusatsu ski resort killed one person and left eleven injured as volcanic rocks flew through the air.

The search effort for survivors trapped under the snow near the mountain will resume once conditions have improved.

A severe heatwave is forecast for the large part of south-east Australia over the long weekend.

For the north of Tasmania, extreme conditions are expected with maximums 10 degrees above the January average in Adelaide, Melbourne and Hobart.

This is the second severe heatwave warning in south-east Australia in a fortnight.

Holidaymakers in the Wye River caravan park are up in arms after park operators failed to properly warn them of a gastro outbreak at the site.

Upon arrival at the popular Great ocean road park campers were handed a leaflet saying there had been an outbreak of gastro, but the staff were quote ‘all over disinfecting the bathrooms and keeping everything clean.’

Some holidaymakers said they should have been contacted before they arrived at the park, and many had to cut holidays short when family members fell ill.

A suspected third case of the devastating banana disease, panama, has been discovered in far north Queensland where eighty per cent of the country’s bananas are grown.

Samples from the Tully Valley taken last week have tested positive for Panama tropical race 4, a disease which doesn’t affect the fruit itself but rapidly kills cavendish banana plants.

The Department of Agriculture and Fisheries said further testing will be conducted to determine how wide spread the disease is, but has warned this could take up to six weeks.

Working parents around Brisbane are facing a dilemma about where to place their kids, with a shortage of after school care places available for children to attend.

Executive director of The ParentHood family lobby group, Jo Briskey, is calling on the state government to prioritise making before and after school care more accessible to families.

Ms Briskey says there is not enough infrastructure to keep up with demand and many families are turning to hiring nannies, which is expensive because babysitters aren’t government subsidised.

Traditional land owners have called for Adani to hire more Indigenous workers for its project in central QLD.

Indigenous people currently make up 7 percent of the mining company’s workforce however Jangga elder Colin McLennan wants that percentage to be higher.

Mr McLennan believes the company can be persuaded to employ more Indigenous people after taking direct control over the project last year.