Variants of viruses, such as that causing COVID-19, can now be quickly studied in the laboratory, even before they emerge in nature and become a major health problem.

New technology has been developed at the University of Queensland and can now enable researchers to manipulate viruses synthetically allowing rapid analysis and mapping of new potential virus variants. 

Palestinean twin activists Muna El-Kurd and Mohommed El-Kurd have become the faces of a campaign to halt Palestinian evictions from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah. 

Footage was released on social media showing Muna being handcuffed and escorted away by israeli officers. Her brother Mohommad later turned himself in after receiving a summons.

They have since been released from prison.

The Australian National University has cracked the code that will enable us to send spacecraft to interstellar space.

The spacecraft is smaller than an average craft and uses lasers to navigate through space.

Scientists anticipate that they may be able to see results in 20 years, making it the first craft allowing us to report interstellar activity in our own lifetimes.

Brisbane researchers are urging key decision-makers to help close the educational gap and to better Australia’s treatment of children and young people experiencing disadvantage.

The UQ study, named the COVID Project, aims to consult with government stakeholders to assist families with financial disadvantages caused by COVID-19 to ensure students at risk of falling behind receive extra support.

Foreign Minister Karen Andrews has said a three year old who has developed sepsis in immigration detention and her family, are unlikely to be resettled in Australia. 

Three-year-old Tharnicaa Murugappan was flown into Perth Airport for a suspected blood infection after suffering from vomiting and dizziness 10 days prior to detention on Christmas Island. 

The Murugappan family, Tamil asylum seekers, were controversially removed from their home in Biloela awaiting deportation in 2017. 

The construction of a new cross-river bridge linking South bank to the Queens Wharf Development area, will force Brisbane to avoid Brisbane’s CBD with toll waivers as the Riverside Expressway is expected to close for an entire weekend.

The temporary closure will allow a major bridge section to be lifted over the roads. 

The Riverside Expressway will be off limits to traffic in both directions between Elizabeth and Margaret streets from 10pm on June 18, until 5am on June 21.

A robotic surgical assistant called Da Vinci Xi arrived at North West Private Hospital in Everton Park. The assistant robot helps empower surgeons with minimally invasive surgical procedures including urology and gynaecology.

The system allows the surgeon to control the robot from a console which translates hand movements into tiny movements within the body in real time.