Lunch Wrap: ASX takes profits as GemLife pops on IPO debut, Santa Fe surges 300pc
GemLife pops 20pc in biggest float of the year
Microsoft cuts jobs, wild Fed rumour denied
The ASX took a step back on Thursday, down 0.5% by lunch in the east after setting a fresh record yesterday.
Overnight on Wall Street, the Dow slipped 0.1%, but Nasdaq rose 0.8% and the S&P 500 hit a new record thanks to a fresh Vietnam trade pact that had Trump puffing his chest.
Elsewhere, Microsoft is swinging the axe again. Around 120 Aussie jobs are set to go as part of its latest global cull of 9,000 roles.
Meanwhile, one particularly wild rumour suggested Scott Bessent could take on double duty as both Fed Chair and Treasury Secretary.
The White House shot it down immediately as 'absolutely fake news', noting the roles were officially split back in 1935.
And over in US Congress, the House is sprinting to pass Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' before the July 4 deadline.
A few Republican holdouts have flipped their votes, including Ohio's Warren Davidson, who now says the bill includes 'major wins'.
Back home, though, after a strong week, local punters seem to be taking profits this morning.
Retailers like JB HiFi (ASX:JBH) and Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) fell, giving back recent gains sparked by talk of a possible RBA rate cut.
Miners, on the other hand, found their second wind.
China's leadership has apparently had enough of its steel sector eating itself alive with lowball pricing.
Xi Jinping's crew came out swinging this week, promising to crack down on 'disorderly' price competition and shut the door on excess industrial capacity.
That gave iron ore a kick, and sent the ASX miners roaring this week, including today.
Lithium names followed suit. Pilbara Minerals (ASX:PLS) jumped 8%, Mineral Resources (ASX:MIN) rose 6.5% this morning.
And on the IPO front, GemLife Communities Group (ASX:GLF) has just made its grand entrance.
The over-50s luxury resort developer opened at around $5, a 20% premium on its $4.16 IPO price, a tidy win on the year's biggest float.
The $750 million raise comes courtesy of the Puljich family and Singapore's Thakral Capital, joining a busy IPO season that's already seen Virgin Australia (ASX:VGN), Tetratherix (ASX:TTX) and the Twiggy-backed Greatland Resources (ASX:GGP) hit the boards.
In large caps news, ProMedicus (ASX:PME) leapt 6% and touched its all-time high after landing two juicy US imaging contracts worth nearly $200 million.
Elsewhere, AMP (ASX:AMP) is back in court.
Two new legal proceedings – one in Victoria over super insurance fees, and another in NSW tied to the Macquarie Shopping Centre sale – have landed on the company's desk.
AMP says it will defend both.
ASX SMALL CAP WINNERS
Here are the best performing ASX small cap stocks for July 3 :
Security Description Last % Volume MktCap
SFM Santa Fe Minerals 0.145 368% 1,445,835 $2,257,382
OKJ Oakajee Corp Ltd 0.031 55% 297,791 $1,828,921
AXP AXP Energy Ltd 0.002 50% 45,000 $6,684,681
PAB Patrys Limited 0.002 50% 4,369,649 $2,365,810
AGY Argosy Minerals Ltd 0.026 37% 14,785,349 $27,662,498
AMS Atomos 0.004 33% 1,000,000 $3,645,055
PLG Pearlgullironlimited 0.008 33% 8,200 $1,227,251
WR1 Winsome Resources 0.160 25% 1,234,147 $31,096,415
EQS Equitystorygroupltd 0.025 25% 175,992 $3,336,408
AOK Australian Oil. 0.003 25% 5,785,563 $2,003,566
CUL Cullen Resources 0.005 25% 2,837,583 $2,773,607
KPO Kalina Power Limited 0.005 25% 3,532,455 $11,731,983
THR Thor Energy PLC 0.010 25% 1,103,950 $5,686,319
WBE Whitebark Energy 0.005 25% 200,000 $2,749,334
OAK Oakridge 0.080 23% 375 $1,754,864
REZ Resourc & En Grp Ltd 0.022 22% 514,252 $12,089,504
THB Thunderbird Resource 0.011 22% 5,863,549 $3,507,673
NSB Neuroscientific 0.140 22% 769,105 $38,246,206
PAR Paradigm Bio. 0.465 21% 1,185,593 $149,930,097
CRN Coronado Global Res 0.163 20% 19,430,895 $226,321,254
WYX Western Yilgarn NL 0.030 20% 261,891 $3,439,027
BNL Blue Star Helium Ltd 0.006 20% 46,483 $13,474,426
CCO The Calmer Co Int 0.003 20% 6,010,228 $7,528,383
PRM Prominence Energy 0.003 20% 2,000,001 $1,216,176
Santa Fe Minerals (ASX:SFM) jumped more than 300% after locking in a deal to acquire the Eburnea Gold Project from Turaco Gold, giving it 100% of the granted Satama Permit and up to 90% of the nearby Bouake North Application once granted. Satama's already shown promise, with hits like 26m at 4.82g/t gold, and sits on a 2km-long mineralised zone with plenty of room to grow.
Geophysics suggests multiple parallel zones still to be drilled, and the Bouake prospect lies just 35km from Endeavour's 3Moz Lafigue mine. To fund the move, Santa Fe has secured $1.2 million at 5c a share, a chunky 61% premium, all subject to shareholder and ASX sign-off. If this plays out as planned, Santa Fe said it could be a big step for the company into West African gold.
Australian Oil Company (ASX:AOK) has settled with ex-director Gary Jeffery and his company Dungay Resources, wiping a $1 million loan and over $180k in interest from AOK's books. In return, it will pay $28,000 in cash and issue 36 million shares to cover historical director fees. The deal follows a broader management review, and is aimed at strengthening the balance sheet and moving forward with plans to grow its Californian operations.
Resources and Energy Group (ASX:REZ) has secured firm commitments to raise $1.1 million at 1.5c a share, a 16.7% discount to the last trade. The cash will go towards expanding its vat leach facility, ramping up gold production at Maranoa, and drilling across its East Menzies project. The raise saw strong backing. A third gold pour is on the way, and approval for more vats is pending.
ASX SMALL CAP LOSERS
Here are the worst performing ASX small cap stocks for July 3 :
Code Name Price % Change Volume Market Cap
EEL Enrg Elements Ltd 0.001 -50% 1 $6,507,557
ADY Admiralty Resources. 0.005 -29% 100,000 $18,406,356
DGR DGR Global Ltd 0.004 -27% 100,000 $5,740,328
CDE Codeifai Limited 0.059 -26% 18,615,441 $35,435,076
CAV Carnavale Resources 0.003 -25% 6,237,500 $16,360,874
KLR Kaili Resources Ltd 0.006 -25% 14,599 $1,179,203
BYH Bryah Resources Ltd 0.009 -25% 6,068,163 $10,439,442
MPP Metro Perf.Glass Ltd 0.050 -24% 51,732 $12,234,954
WWG Wisewaygroupltd 0.145 -22% 8,140 $30,960,341
VEN Vintage Energy 0.004 -20% 5,068,952 $10,434,568
ID8 Identitii Limited 0.005 -17% 729,200 $4,668,081
TEG Triangle Energy Ltd 0.003 -17% 421,996 $6,267,702
HMD Heramed Limited 0.011 -15% 3,025,217 $11,382,836
AS2 Askarimetalslimited 0.006 -14% 73,792 $2,829,195
BLU Blue Energy Limited 0.006 -14% 835,489 $12,956,815
REC Rechargemetals 0.013 -13% 664,404 $3,854,850
RMI Resource Mining Corp 0.013 -13% 835,624 $11,016,800
NAG Nagambie Resources 0.015 -12% 82,482 $13,656,140
MTC Metalstech Ltd 0.115 -12% 744 $27,133,811
SUH Southern Hem Min 0.031 -11% 226,806 $25,768,402
TAT Tartana Minerals Ltd 0.031 -11% 8,968 $7,495,106
UVA Uvrelimited 0.120 -11% 289,914 $8,127,000
HTG Harvest Tech Grp Ltd 0.016 -11% 452,204 $16,127,041
RR1 Reach Resources Ltd 0.008 -11% 61,118 $7,869,882
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Resolution Minerals (ASX:RML) is wasting no time starting exploration at its Horse Heaven project in the US, a historical producer of strategically important metals antimony and tungsten.
Silver Mines (ASX:SVL) has completed acquisition of the Calico North silver project and kicked off an earn-in at the Kramer Hills gold and silver project in California.
StockTake: Many Peaks Minerals (ASX:MPK) has expanded its gold play in west Africa with the addition an exploration permit south of the company's Ferké.
Drilling at Brightstar Resources' (ASX:BTR) Sandstone Hub has returned high-grade gold hits that highlight its tremendous exploration potential.
Australian tech company Codeifai (ASX:CDE) has appointed industry leaders from OpenAI, Google, Binance and WhatsApp to spearhead growth plans.
RareX (ASX:REE) has found a 70m heavy rare earths bearing vein at its Mt Mansbridge project in WA, just down the road from the 11.7Mt Browns Range project.
LAST ORDERS
Finder Energy (ASX:FDR) has closed a $6m placement early due to strong support, with major shareholder Longreach Capital Investment committing to $2.7m.
FDR will channel the new funds to bring the Kuda Tasi and Jahal oil development project to a final investment decision and support the transition to an offshore development company, targeting first oil in 2027.
Western Yilgarn (ASX:WYX) has brought former WA government director Darren Foster onto the board as a non-executive director, leveraging his extensive expertise in environmental approvals, sustainable development and stakeholder engagement.
Foster has previously served as the deputy director general of the WA department of fisheries, as director of the environmental protection authority and most recently as director general of the department of the premier and cabinet.
At Stockhead, we tell it like it is. While Finder Energy and Western Yilgarn are Stockhead advertisers, they did not sponsor this article.
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ABC News
44 minutes ago
- ABC News
What does it take to bring back an extinct animal?
Belinda Smith: Hi, this is The Science Show, and I'm Belinda Smith, keeping Robyn Williams' seat toasty and warm for the next few weeks. Few activities are as satisfying as making something, whether that's baking the perfect pavlova or knocking up a nesting box. But how would you even begin to create, I don't know, a brand new flavor or bring back to life an extinct species of frog? Those stories are coming up but first is the US experiencing a brain drain? News Grab: Good morning. It's now 5.35 here in the east. We are allowing all of our stations across the country to join us. Now with the breaking news, we are projecting at this hour the 47th president of the United States. Uh, Donald Trump will be, uh, elected to return to the White House. Belinda Smith: Since President Donald Trump retook office, the state of scientific research in the States has been well precarious, to say the least. The administration immediately implemented a federal spending freeze, so that included government funded grants and has proposed billions of dollars in cuts to science and health research. Billions with a B. It's just so hard to keep up with all of this, and it's not even been six months. The silver lining is that other countries like Australia are taking advantage of the situation and targeting programs at US researchers. ABC Health reporter, Olivia Willis, has been looking into this and she joins me now. So Liv, what's the latest out of the states when it comes to research funding? Olivia Willis: So since Trump's return to office in January, there's been. As you say, a real frenzy of government funding freezes, cuts, executive orders, all of which have had a major impact on scientific and medical research on national science and health agencies in the us um, but also science and health funding in, in many parts of the world that are reliant on US funding and that includes, uh, researchers in Australia. We know that so far. Well over a thousand research grants have been terminated at government agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and NASA. Together, those total, several billions of dollars, and there's many more grants that have also been flagged for review. And then on top of that, hundreds of staff have been cut from some of these federal agencies that I mentioned, as well as. The Centers for Disease Control, the FDA and the Trump administration has also targeted specific universities, many of which are Ivy League schools, places like Harvard and Columbia, and frozen their federal funding if they don't comply with a set of demands that the government has laid out. And they're often things related to affirmative action, diversity initiatives, um, campus protests and so on. Big picture for year, the White House budget. Their proposal now is to cut. The National Institutes of Health, their budget by 40%, and the National Science Foundation's budget by 55%. So very, very significant. I will say that thinking broadly about these cuts, the government has said that they're essentially about eliminating waste and bias in government funded research. But I think, you know, they're also the result of efforts to combat what the Trump administration has described as gender, ideology, um, and an executive order to end diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. So we know that many of the cancel grants or grants under review focus on marginalized and underrepresented groups, uh, racial and ethnic minorities. So groups that have, have been largely understudied historically, and the Trump administration perhaps doesn't see this type of research as benefiting broadly the health of all Americans. Belinda Smith: What other areas of faced cuts? Olivia Willis: There's also research areas that have lost funding simply because they're not priorities of the Trump administration or, or I guess the government doesn't see them as fitting in with their own scientific agenda. So things like research into vaccine misinformation, uh, hiv aids, climate science, clean energy. I should note that this is a really fast moving situation and things will probably change. So we know that a number of lawsuits have been launched against the government regarding these funding freezes and cuts. Some of them have been successful. Just a couple of weeks ago, a federal judge ruled that the cancellation of more than $1 billion in research grants at the National Institutes of Health. That they were illegal in order for them to be reinstated. It looks like the government will file an appeal on that judgment, but in the meantime, staff at at certain agencies have been instructed not to cancel any further grants. So it's definitely a fast moving, unfolding dynamic situation. I. Belinda Smith: And may get dragged through the courts for months and months to come. Olivia Willis: I think so. Belinda Smith: Mm. What have these cuts done to researchers? Olivia Willis: Well, I think it's probably important to think about the context of how significant the US is as a player in research funding globally. So. It's, it's one of the biggest funders in the world of research and development. The National Institutes of Health alone is the biggest funder of medical research globally. A huge number of researchers around the world would benefit off funding from that agency. Um, and in 2023, it was estimated that the US actually provided 30% of all global r and d funding. So you can. Get a sense there from just how much they contribute to what those cuts would mean in terms of specific research fields. There's, you know, we're seeing areas of research, I guess, that have been threatened because huge chunks of their funding have been wiped out. And then for the researchers. The people who work at these federal agencies, a lot of people have lost their jobs, um, or their funding. That of course includes principal investigators and professors, but also early career researchers, PhD students, people who rely on scholarships. And I think the other thing is that for many scientists, it appears to have really created, I guess, a climate of, of fear and worry about their jobs and the viability of their research long term. Belinda Smith: You are listening to Belinda Smith on the Science Show, and I'm talking to health reporter Olivia Willis, about the state of research funding in the United States. Now, I've seen reports of countries that are seeing this as an opportunity for them to really beef up their local scientific expertise and try and get that US talent to relocate to their countries and establish their research programs There. What's been going on in that space and what's Australia's done? Olivia Willis: Yeah, we are, so there's several European universities that have set up initiatives. Um, countries like France and Canada are actively recruiting. The European Commission recently announced 500 million euros to make Europe a magnet for researchers in the next two years. So I suspect that's going to be a popular location for some US scientists when it comes to Australia. There are a number of research institutes. That I know have received really significant interest from US researchers since these cuts have happened. And recruiting scientists is something that the Australian Academy of Science is actively working on. So in April, they set up a program to nationally coordinate this recruitment effort. It's called the Global Talent Attraction Program, and I recently spoke to the academy's chief executive, Anna Maria Arabia, about this. Anna-Maria Arabia: We know that talent is everywhere. Uh, but opportunity is not everywhere. And, uh, this is a, an initiative to attract to Australia leading talent that we know, uh, builds capability in Australia that builds our, uh, scientific talent pool. Um, that enables scientific advancements and industries, um, to be seeded and to grow. Um, importantly, talent like this train and mentor, the next generation of young Australian scientists, uh, we know it creates jobs. Um, and, and we know science and technology is part of a really, um, rapid, uh, global race at the moment. Belinda Smith: So the Australian Academy of Sciences calls this a global talent attraction program, but it sounds quite targeted to the us Olivia Willis: Yeah, that's right. So at least initially it is specifically for US scientists, um, and also Australian scientists in the US who are wanting to return home. As I mentioned, in April, they launched the program and that was about essentially getting funders for it and people to kind of support this research. But it was actually just this week that they've announced that applications for the program are now open. Belinda Smith: So it's early days yet really in terms of getting people involved in the program that might be interested in coming to Australia. Do you know if the Australian Academy of Sciences has any priorities in terms of the, the types of research that they're particularly interested in attracting? Olivia Willis: So the program itself, they've described as discipline agnostic, meaning I think that it, it's not limited to any specific areas of research. That being said, when I spoke to Anna Maria Arabia about it, she told me that one of the reasons they wanted to launch it was so they could assess applications against Australia's. What they call capability gaps. So she talked about areas like data science, statistics, mathematics, um, all being areas that as a kind of research landscape we need to bolster and also touched on issues about the fact that our population is aging, that we need to decarbonize. So it sounds like there will be. Some kind of strategic considerations that are made when they're looking at the types of, um, the, the areas of research that they want to bring more expertise in. Anna-Maria Arabia: We are also looking at areas where there is just outstanding talent that we know if they were to come to Australia, there is no doubt that the multiplier effect and the impact of their contribution, uh, would be many times, uh, what it costs to bring them here. It is the story of Australia. Uh, so many of our leading scientists today were born overseas. We look at our own fellowship, who Australia's most distinguished scientists, and we did account since 2017. Um, the fellows elected to the academy. 42% of them were born overseas. It is the Australian story. Uh, our research effort is relatively young and since World War II and so many of our stellar scientists, you only need to think of Professor Michelle Simmons or Lydia Roka or Brian Schmidt, all born abroad, all bought their capability here as young scientists who, who seeded, uh, talent here, who nurtured the next generation and have now built Um, research sectors and industries we could have only dreamed of. Olivia Willis: So what does this program involve? So once the academy has identified scientists that they're interested in bringing to Australia, they'll work with universities and research institutes to look at. Basically where they can place them so the universities and the research organizations will host them. And my understanding is the Academy's talent attraction program will provide the research funding and the relocation support. Belinda Smith: Mm-hmm. And what about like local researchers? You know, it, it's, it's a, it's a tough old grind being scientists having to apply for grants and. Olivia Willis: Is there any support for local people? It is a great question and it's something I put to her as well. You know, as you say, research funding is extremely competitive in Australia. A lot of researchers miss out, and so I asked whether that was a concern, you know, pouring funding into US scientists or international researchers when many of our own researchers are struggling to get grants. Anna-Maria Arabia: I think we should do everything we can in Australia to nurture young talent, but I feel that these are related, but separate strategies. Uh, so to those young researchers, I would say, uh, through this program we are attracting to Australia, uh, individuals who will inspire you, who will mentor and train you. Um, and provide opportunities that don't exist today. They are not taking away money that would otherwise go to support early career researchers. In fact, they create opportunities for them. Belinda Smith: That was Anna Maria Arabia, CEO of the Australian Academy of Science and ABC Health reporter Olivia Willis, filling us in on the US research funding situation. And now a story of scientific endeavor from our shores. Come with me and let's take a trip back to 2013. News Grab (2): It sounds like part of the plot from Jurassic Park, but Australian scientists have taken the first step in bringing an extinct species back to life. Belinda Smith: It's a tantalizing thought, isn't it? To hit control Z and undo something thought permanent to bring an animal back from the dead. Nearly two decades ago, a small group of scientists came surprisingly close to resurrecting the extinct gastric brooding frog. These creatures lived in creeks in Queensland, rainforests, and while they looked like your bog standard frog, you know, [00:13:00] bulgy eyes, mottled skin, they did something extraordinary. They reared their young in their stomach, the only frogs we know of that could do this. But by the mid-eighties, they'd all hopped off this mortal coil, largely thanks to a deadly fungus. ABC Science reports Jacinta Bowler has this story about the painstaking efforts to bring the frogs back. Jacinta Bowler: It's March, 2008, and frog expert Michael Mahony can barely believe his own eyes. He's peering through a microscope at cells, a few dozen tiny brown blobs on a glass dish, and they seem to be dividing. Michael Mahony: Two or three out of the 50 would start to divide and you're going, whoa. It's actually happening. First division, then they go into second division and, and we're, you know, at that moment you really are high fiving. Jacinta Bowler: Look, in normal circumstances, cell division doesn't cause high fives. But these are no ordinary cells. They're from the long extinct gastric brooding frog. And Michael's team was trying something thought impossible de-extinction. Appropriately. The team was called Project Lazarus, a nod to the Bible story where Jesus brought a dead man back to life. But in that story, the resurrected Lazarus had been dead for just four frog the team was trying to bring back had been stuffed in a freezer for a few decades, and on that day, in 2008, they'd done it. Michael Mahony: What else can this be, but the gastric brooding frog? Brought back, Jacinta Bowler: but this early success would be very short-lived. Michael Marney's work with the gastric brooding frog started long before he joined Project Lazarus. He'd spent a decent chunk of the eighties trudging through the rainforest of Queensland, searching for the frogs which lived on the ground and were about palm sized. But what really captivated Michael was the fact that the gastric brooding frog was the only species we know of that looked after their young in their stomach. So the female would lay eggs. Eat them. And once they turn from tadpoles into small frogs, she would vomit them back up again and her babies would hop off and start their new lives. Michael Mahony: Uh, so there are two, uh, species of gastric brewing frog and the first one was discovered in 1973, not far from Brisbane, about uh, 150 kilometers north of Brisbane, uh, by a guy named David Liam. Jacinta Bowler: That one was called the southern gastric brooding frog. Michael Mahony: And by 1980, uh, that frog had disappeared in the wild. And then in 1984, while doing field work in the rainforest of Queensland, a group of people I was with, um, we discovered a second species of gastric brooding frog, about 80 kilometres west of Mackay. Jacinta Bowler: That's the northern gastric brooding frog. Michael Mahony: So it was discovered in 1984, and then, um, by the end of 1986, it unfortunately it also disappeared in the wild. Jacinta Bowler: Unfortunately these two frog species were not the only ones that Michael has seen dwindle Michael Mahony: and disappear. We'd been further north to the rainforest of the wet tropics looking at, um, some specialist frogs that live only in the wet tropics rainforest. And we started to have a, a sense that things weren't right 'cause we couldn't find things in lots of places where they used to be. And so after the disappearance of the second gastric brooding frog, a lot of scientists in Australia, frogs, biologists at least, were, were having discussions about, well, things are disappearing and what's going on? Jacinta Bowler: It turns out that a deadly fungus called kitr was to blame. It kills by thickening the frog [00:17:00] skin, which disrupts the ability to balance salt and water levels and can even stop them breathing. Michael Mahony: Since then, the, the late 1980s, it's been a sort of a constant battle to, to map this disease and try and understand which, uh, which frogs will be next to, um, to go. So in the last decade, um, the lab I work in and with colleagues, I think we described something like six new species of Australian frogs. And, and four of them, the moment they were described, were listed as endangered under the, um, the national Threatened species list. And they're listed as endangered 'cause they're down to the last four or five populations. And so. They're already on the vortex to extinction. Um, this is one long continuum for the conservation biologists. It's saving habitat, saving species, saving populations, sometimes being involved in triage, you know, collecting the last individuals of a population to go into a captive husbandry so that it, we still have it, we've still got some chance of it not going completely, Jacinta Bowler: and when it does go completely. What if it's the final last ditch attempt when all others fail? Michael turned to de-extinction. Michael Mahony: And of course it's far better that animals and plants are protected and don't get to that, the problem of going extinct. But what we now know is that for most animals that are going extinct, it's been human cause. It's our responsibility. And it doesn't seem to me a, a fast step to say. You know, the animal's only gone 20 or 30 years and we have some genetic material. Should we try and recover it? He wasn't the only one thinking about these things. Jacinta Bowler: Project Lazarus was the brainchild of Professor Mike Archer at the University of New South Wales, who brought together a number of researchers with a specific set of skills to try and [00:19:00] resurrect the gastric brooding frog. Michael was there Michael Mahony: because I, inverted commas, knew a bit about Australian frogs. Jacinta Bowler: Andrew French was one of two cloning experts brought on. Andrew French: I met, um, professor Michael Archer through a colleague of mine, professor Alan Tren. I was working for Alan and we were, we were looking to explore reproductive technologies across domestic and laboratory species, and I. We just happened to sit down at a meeting one day when Professor or Michael Archer came along and we just discussed about applying these technologies to an Australian frog. Jacinta Bowler: Another frog expert, one named Mike Tyler, just happened to have the gastric brooding frog in the back of his regular freezer. And yes, there are a lot of Mike's and Michaels in this story. Andrew French and his team, Andrew French: we thawed the tissue. We looked at the cells. The cells seem to be all intact. All we're really after is the DNA in it because the machinery to manage and manipulate and grow that DNA is all found in the egg. Jacinta Bowler: They had the DNA and were almost ready to go. After finding an appropriate surrogate frog species, which was the giant barred frog, and making sure the frozen cells were thawed correctly in 2008, they began work on resurrecting the extinct gastric brooding frog. At Easter, during the giant barred frog's breeding season, they'd carefully take eggs from the surrogate frog, remove the DNA inside and replace it with decades frozen DNA. Andrew French: We, we were just excited, but we always wanted to have, uh, repeatability and we always wanted to make sure that, you know, what we were doing was actually, you know, reactivating the genome of this extinct frog. Jacinta Bowler: Almost immediately they had success. A few of the cloned frog eggs began to divide much to Michael Marney's delight as he watched them growing under the microscope, but it didn't. Michael Mahony: Last problem was, is that within the next 24 hours, and we repeated that experiment numerous times, uh, the embryos would start to die. About 24 or 36 hours later, Jacinta Bowler: Michael and his colleagues could not figure out. What was happening? Michael Mahony: Yeah, I mean it, it's be Deviled us. Jacinta Bowler: Project Lazarus tried the process every Easter and in 2013 they went public with what they'd been able to do so far News Grab (3): using cloning technology. They've reactivated the DNA of a frog that was wiped out more than 30 years ago. Extinct Frog has landed Newcastle Scientists in Time magazine's 25 best inventions of 2013. Jacinta Bowler: While news reports at the time suggested that this de-extinction effort was the first of its kind, that's not quite true. Let's leave the Newcastle Frog Lab for a moment and head to the Pyrenees Mountains In the year 2000, a mountain goat found in Spain called the Pyre, and Ibex died out on a tree from the last surviving member of the species, A female called Celia. Using the same technique, project Lazarus used scientists in Spain, created clone embryos of Celia and implanted nearly 200 of them into 57 surrogate goats. Seven of those surrogates became pregnant, and just one gave birth In July, 2003, Celia Species was the first to become de extinct, but only for about 10 minutes. The baby quickly died. The Pyran and Ibex is now known as the only animal to have gone extinct twice. If Project Lazarus had succeeded, the gastric brooding frog might have shared the same fate as the mountain goat. Kitt fungus, which killed both species of gastric brooding frog. The first time round is still wiping out species in Australia and around the world. Critics of de-extinction argued that releasing the gastric brooding frog back into the wild would simply leave it vulnerable to Kitt infection and dying out all over again. Plus, if cloned frogs were able to be bred and keep in mind, currently there was only one frog. One sex, any offspring would be severely Michael Mahony: inbred to see all of those they're all true, but the first thing is to have an idea and to, to put it out there. And so I like to think, um, the thine and the mammoth, for example, are what I call flagships. You know, where somebody puts out a real challenge and that gets attention. And all of the other smaller things that are happening. You know, the genetic work that's going on to prevent extinction, you don't hear about it in the media very often at all. People are beavering away day after day in labs all over the country working to prevent the loss of genetic diversity from our, from our native animals. Jacinta Bowler: It's in this landscape. The next generation of de-extinction efforts have already begun trying to bring back animals like the thine and the mammoth. In April, according to biotechnology company, colossal Biosciences, News Grab: 13,000 years after the last dire wolf walk the earth. Scientists say they've now brought them back Jacinta Bowler: with gene edited puppies sitting on the throne from Game of Thrones. I can't lie, it is extremely cute. But putting that aside, no matter how cute the puppies are, some scientists reckon that calling them dire wolves is misleading. They aren't clones of actual di wolves, but a gray wolves with a few genes change to make them more like di wolves. Still, Michael Marney is extremely chuffed about this. Michael Mahony: I mean, there's been a lot of debate about whether it's a dire wolf or not. I mean, to me that is like, oh, guys, get over it. These technicians, these biologists have taken the total DNA of, um, the dire wolf from ancient DNA. They've sequenced it. They've said these, these 14 genes, we can see gene sequence differences. They constructed that DNA, then they used a modern technique, um, of, um, called CRISPR, where they cut and placed that DNA into the embryo. And they, and they, um, were successful in transferring them to, um, surrogate mothers and then producing pups. So this is just amazing. Like, uh, offspring with, um, you know, 14 new, um, genes put into it. They've shown that, um, the modern promise of of DNA technology can be used to recover, lost, um, genetic diversity. That, that's just incredible. Jacinta Bowler: Whether the puppies are dire wolves or graywolf hybrids, colossal biosciences faces the classic problem of what happens next, and there's no plans at this stage to release the wolves into the wild. Michael Mahony: I don't think we should discourage people developing the technologies and going there because if colossal had not done those things, I think. Well, who would've paid attention? Jacinta Bowler: As for Project Lazarus, the team kept trying for a few more years, but eventually the whole project kind of petered out. Michael still has one researcher in his lab working on frog cloning, but it's mostly taken a backseat while Project Lazarus tried to bring the gastric brooding frog back to life. Kitt continued to spread, affecting hundreds of species of frog around the world. According to the international union for conservation of nature, 36 frog species are now either extinct in the wild or extinct. Full stop. More than 660 are critically endangered. For Michael, anything that can stop the biodiversity crisis should be seriously considered. Michael Mahony: We either go and save their habitat or we bring them into a, a zoo situation to breed them because they're going to go in the wild. And so some of Australia's, well, probably Australia's most iconic frog, the corrobor frog really only exists in, in, um. In zoos. Uh, a handful may be out in the wild left, but so de-extinction is preventing it from going extinct. I mean, technically de-extinction is, yeah, it's gone. Now. We've gotta do some fancy genetic work to try and bring it back, but there's a lot of fancy work going on just to keep many, many species from dipping off the end. Belinda Smith: That was Michael Mahony, emeritus Professor at the University of Newcastle, speaking to ABC Science reporter, Jacinta Bowler, and you are listening to the Science Show on a BC Radio National. I'm Belinda Smith, filling in for Robyn Williams…now for a topic very close to my heart. Chips or crisps, depending on what you call them. It doesn't feel like that long ago when you'd go to the canteen for a pack of chips and your options were salt, barbecue, salt, and vinegar, and chicken. Now, forget chicken. You can get chicken feet flavoured chips, even duck tongue. I wanted to know how we've arrived at this, frankly, wild array of flavours. So I trundled off to Werribee in Melbourne's West to the CSIRO. Joanna Gambetta: My name is Joanna Gambetta, um, a research scientist in the food chemistry team. Um, I work mainly with flavour and aroma compounds and also with a lot of data analysis and things like that, but mainly trying to understand, um, the drivers of aroma in our foods are in our wines, and how certain things like the environment can modulate what we actually feel in the end. Belinda Smith: So you're the perfect person for me to talk to you this. Joanna Gambetta: I dunno, but I'm the person who volunteered Belinda Smith: going in. I sort of assumed that this whole process of building a flavour from scratch would be entirely done in the lab with whizbang equipment. But I'm wrong. Joanna Gambetta: How do we get these things to taste like something else? We usually first try to figure out what is the flavour that we want, what it is that we are trying to replicate, and one of the first steps would always be to convene a sensory panel, which is basically a group of trained panelists, which is what we call them. Belinda Smith: These panellists are trained to describe not just what they taste, but also what they smell. Both contribute hugely to what we call flavour. And you really want a group of people that come from all backgrounds and ages because when it comes to the ability to taste and smell, Joanna Gambetta: there's a lot of genetic variability. Some people are more bitter sensitive than others. While there are people who are bitter, bitter blind, for example. Or sometimes when we are going through different phases of our life, we might be more sensitive to different taste sensations than others. So kids, for example, have. A higher affinity for sweet than older people. As we age, we become more sensitive to sweetness and we can tell it apart more differently. Or when we become even older. Some of those taste sensations doll down as well. Belinda Smith: This whole process of breaking down flavours to synthetically rebuild them is a pretty recent thing. Hamish Thompson: There's cappuccino Lamington, of course, which is an Australian innovation. There's Prosecco in elderberry. Um, rock four and Roast Chestnut salted caramel. This is Hamish Thompson. There's an American one called Southern Biscuits and Gravy. Belinda Smith: He runs the Museum of Crisps. A website that so far lists nearly 1,400 different chip flavours. Hamish Thompson: Yeah, one called Christmas tree, which actually does apparently taste like kind of pine needles. So, you know, there, there you go. It's a, it's a flavour sensation. Belinda Smith: Sounds like it would taste like one of those air freshness you dangle off your rear view mirror. Hard pass. Anyway, the Potato Crisp itself has a long history dating back more than 200 years. Hamish Thompson: They were originally invented back in 1817 by this guy called William Kitchener, and he was kind of like the TikTok [00:31:00] celebrity chef of his day. Um, so he wrote this book called the the Cook the Cook's Oracle, which was this international bestseller. And in it he sort of describes. Potatoes fried in slices or shavings sprinkled with very little salt. So there you've got a early reference to ready salted. Belinda Smith: There wasn't much movement on the flavor front until the mid 19 hundreds Hamish Thompson: when, you know, you start to see the emergence of new things. So you start to see things like, you know, um, salt and vinegar. Um, and then along comes, you know, prawn cocktail and there's. And onion and all those things. So, so those, those ones that we really kind of associate and barbecue. I think barbecue actually was the first innovation that was a US invention. Belinda Smith: These classic flavours rained until the 1990s when advances in food chemistry meant almost any food could be reduced to its chemical components and its essence reproduced in a lab. So let's say we wanna create BRI and cranberry flavoured chips. Yes, that's a real chip flavour. You've assembled your panel of sensory superstars. What do we do next? Dr. Gambetta? Joanna Gambetta: get them to taste something and describe it and try to tear it apart into its different components. Is it sweet? Is it salty? Is it bitter? Um, does it smell like oranges that sit smell like, like red fruits and things like that? And once we have a map of what that food. Tastes and smells like. Then we go back another step, and then that is where the, when the flavour chemists get involved and try to figure out, okay, where can we find this smells naturally to try and figure out, okay, what is the compound that might be driving this smell or flavour? Belinda Smith: Very rarely is a smell or taste created by one molecule. Take the smell of strawberry, for instance. It's created by mixing maybe half a dozen different molecules, which together create that lovely, fresh, fruity berry smell. We associate with straws, but not all flavours are so simple to build. When things get a bit complex, it's time to head into the lab, and this is where a technique called gas chromatography or GC comes in. Joanna and I stand by this boxy instrument that a meter long. Sitting on the lad bench, Joanna Gambetta: imagine you've got a 20 millilitre vial. You'll put some of your sample in there and you will heat it up so that you can liberate the aromas of it. Kind of like when, imagine you have a hot cup of coffee and then the vapours will carry the, the smell of it. That vapour is actually full of little molecules that compose the, the coffee aroma, for example. So this machine pretty much does something similar, but. To a whole range of different things. We heat it up so that we could, um, get all of the goodies out into the air. And then we have, um, a particular kind of fiber where the goodies will stick to, and then we put them into the machine, and then the machine will separate them into the all the different molecules. Belinda Smith: The vaporised molecules are pushed through a long coil pipe where they separate with each type of molecule, traveling at its own speed. At the end of the coil, the molecules hits a detector ping, which takes that signal and displays it. On a computer as a peak on a graph, a taller peak means more of that particular molecule is present. So what do, Joanna Gambetta: and then through software and databases that other people have, um, composed over the years, we can click on the, on the particular peak and it'll give us their name and their identity. Belinda Smith: And even at this stage as the machine is doing its thing, there's a person right there doing the same Dr. Gambetta points to something poking outta the side of the gas chromatography instrument. Joanna Gambetta: So for certain things, if you see here, we've got like a, a little glass cone that is sticking out. So the whole purpose of that is that you stick your nose in it. What? And then as the compounds are coming out. So the machine will perceive them, but then for example, at minute 20, you might feel an oh, an aroma, and then you just say, Hey, this smells like green grass, for example. So then we can look at the peak in the machine and have that recording of when you said it smells like green grass, and then tie both up and say, ah, this is one hno. It smells like green grass. Belinda Smith: So as the machine's running. You've got someone here sniffing away as it goes. Joanna Gambetta: Yeah, pretty much. That's it. Wow. Uhhuh and that's, and sometimes the pig might be tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, tiny, but the person might perceive it as something like super mega intense, which is what I was saying about our nose is being incredible and sometimes just being so much more powerful that any piece of equipment that we might have. Belinda Smith: This is especially true for very pungent molecules that are present in teeny tiny amounts beyond the capacity of a machine to pick up, but pack a really stinky punch to the human nose. Alright, let's, let's get out of the lab. Combining the human experience with laboratory technology means food chemists can then finally start building a chips flavour, starting with its aroma. But while you might know what molecules are in a smell, you also need to know how much of each you need, because sometimes too much of a good thing is terrible. Joanna Gambetta: So during my master's I was working with styles, which are the typical aroma of passion fruit, but this aromas while. In a very, very, very, very, very, very small concentration because they're super potent. They're lovely, and they give you this beautiful aromas. When you have too much of it, they start smelling like cat pee. And definitely that's not something that you want your food to smell like. So once we have nailed down the aromas, then we have to start modulating also what it's gonna taste like. So. Then we start playing with how sour, how sweet. And there are a lot of compounds that can be used to, to try and model it. Obviously salt is always super important. Sugar, the basic ones, but then we can start incorporating herbs and things like that that will also finish the picture. Belinda Smith: There are shortcuts, you know, smokiness could be a shortcut to ham flavour, for instance. And then there's what we see the colour. Joanna Gambetta: So when it comes to food, yes. Visual cues are super, super important because as human we are very visually driven. So colour will give you a lot of information. Belinda Smith: There's a good reason cheese flavoured snacks are bright, yellow and meaty ones are kind of orangey red. Joanna Gambetta: So if this was supposed to be a meat flavour snack and it wasn't kind of reddish, your brain would automatically go, dissonance, this doesn't make sense. This cannot be meat. Belinda Smith: All in all, there's a fair bit of trial and error to really nailing a flavour, especially a complicated one like. Oh, I don't know. Norfolk Turkey with sage and onion stuffing [00:38:00] also a real chip flavour. But Dr. Gambetta says it's not that different to perfecting a recipe in your kitchen at home. Joanna Gambetta: And yeah, that's the whole making food process, um, in the lab. Um, there's a lot of playing around at the beginning until you get it just right and once you are happy with it, then you just standardize it and replicate it. The differences that we play with way bigger toys than you would have in your kitchen, and we do have some gadgets that help us. Belinda Smith: And now we have this wild array of far out flavours. Peach Craft beer, anyone? Oh, oh, no, no. That's, that's an acquired taste. So what does the Museum of Crisps curator Hamish Thompson make of all this? Hamish Thompson: Do you know? I'm, I'm a real traditionalist, which is, this is the thing, whenever you ask somebody about their interest, they, that always kind of veer to the traditional. So I really like, um, salt and black pepper. I think one of the things that kind of fascinates me about the weirdness of it is usually, you know, well, quite often they kinda make me cringe a bit, and I think that kind of keeps me motivated to keep looking for the, for the, for the strangest and most unorthodox flavours. But yeah, I am, I'm, I'm traditional by nature on this, on this particular subject, although I have to say, you know, like if you think about, if you think about potatoes, I mean, they're like the, they're like the best supporting actor. Of the food, food market. You know, they're the sort of thing that can go with anything. Um, and I think that's, you know, so it's, they're like a canvas for, um, for creativity when it comes to flavour. Belinda Smith: That was Hamish Thompson, who runs the Museum of Crisps from his regional Tazzie home. Big thanks also to Joanna Gaeta, who is now a lecturer in food science at the University of Newcastle. And that's it for The Science Show for this week, next week, we head to the Pacific to try to solve an ancient tool making mystery. Find out why some trees seem to thrive when they're struck by lightning and uncover a few little surprises hiding in old books. Anna Welch: The hero that came out was a little oriental rat flea, which is the kind that carried the plague. And this book was in Italy during the 14th century when the black death hit. So, um, all of the plague and all its friends are in. Beautiful little petri dishes stored alongside the 19th century binding that came off in the library's collection. Belinda Smith: The Science Show is produced on the lands of the Wurundjeri and Menang Noongar people. It was produced by Fiona Pepper and Mixed by Tim James. I'm Belinda Smith. We'll catch you next week.
News.com.au
an hour ago
- News.com.au
Ex-senator Helen Kroger, Bob Hawke chief of staff Graham Evans sell
Political heavyweights including former Victorian Liberal Party president and senator Helen Kroger and Bob Hawke's chief of staff Graham Evans are in the midst of real estate moves. It was second-time lucky for Ms Kroger who sold her Hawthorn home for $2.488m recently, after an earlier attempt in spring last year. Holding off helped score a better result for the Australian senator who held office from 2008-2014, who had the three-bedroom, two-bathroom property listed for $2.2m-$2.4m last year. Marshall White's Nicholas Franzmann took over the listing from another agency earlier this year and said the property's size, single-level design, access to transport and a renovation had been key for the young couple and a professional who contested it. While he declined to comment on the vendor, Mr Franzmann said the sale had demonstrated growing buyer confidence. 'We certainly have better connections with people since the two rate drops, so while a few 0.25 per cents is not life changing, it does send a positive message,' he said. Meanwhile, Mr Evans who had a distinguished, 27-year career in the public service that included time as the secretary for the Department of Transport as well as for Department of Primary Industries and Energy, as well as a three-year stint as Mr Hawke's chief of staff. But he said his proudest achievement, which also earned him the accolade of Officer of the order of Australia, was his work in micro-economic reform especially in transport and communications — ultimately paving the way for digital radio and TV as well as for mobile phones to reach their ubiquitous use today. The former public servant is selling the Port Fairy home he's used as a regional base for 17 years. While the local golf links have convinced friends and family to join him and his partner on visits to the property over the years, it's also a convenient walk to most of the towns key features — and neighbours regularly use their private jetties for kayaking and fishing trips. Mr Evans said after growing up in Colac they had bought the Gipps St home in 2008 with past holidays to the coastal town in mind, but had come to love regular music festivals and town events. 'People probably see it as holiday place with a lot of those sort of attractions, but having lived there for a while there are a lot of things that make it a great place,' he said. He said the water views from the spacious living zones of the ground level as well as two of the bedrooms upstairs were a constant hallmark of the home's relaxed lifestyle. Charles Stewart's Penny Adamson said the home was one of only a handful in the town with a lawn stretching all the way to the water and its own jetty. Its relative rarity, open-plan lay out, 575sq m allotment and a build by locally renowned Mick Hearn have enticed interest from buyers including Melburnians looking to relocate, locals looking to downsize, and farmers looking for a town residence. It is listed for sale at $2.8m.
Sky News AU
an hour ago
- Sky News AU
President Donald Trump signs 'Big, Beautiful Bill' into law as United States celebrates Independence Day
President Donald Trump has signed his landmark 'Big, Beautiful Bill' into law on an historic Independence Day for the United States. The mega tax and spending bill cleared its last hurdle on Thursday after narrowly passing the US Congress with 218-214 votes. On Friday Trump staged an outdoor ceremony on the South Lawn of the White House, where hundreds gathered in unison including White House aides, members of Congress, and military families, to support the President's landmark moment, following a tumultuous battle. Military jets soared overhead in salute as the President rejoiced in his victory. The stealth bombers and fighter jets resembled those that took part in the recent US strikes on nuclear facilities in Iran. After a speech that included boastful claims about the ascendance of America on his watch, Trump signed the bill, posed for pictures with Republican congressional leaders and members of his cabinet, and waded through the crowd of happy supporters. The controversial bill is expected to fund Trump's immigration crackdown, make his 2017 tax cuts permanent, and is expected to knock millions of Americans off health insurance. "I've never seen people so happy in our country because of that, because so many different groups of people are being taken care of: the military, civilians of all types, jobs of all types," Trump said at the ceremony, thanking House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for leading the bill through the two houses of Congress. "So you have the biggest tax cut, the biggest spending cut, the largest border security investment in American history." The bill represents a dramatic realignment of the federal government's role in American life, shifting resources from the social safety net and investments in clean energy and reorienting them to finance trillions of dollars in spending on tax cuts. Despite concerns within Trump's party over the bill's hefty price tag and its hit to healthcare programs, in the end just two of the House's 220 Republicans voted against it, following an intense overnight standoff. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin predicted the law would cost Republicans votes in congressional elections in 2026. "Today, Donald Trump sealed the fate of the Republican Party, cementing them as the party for billionaires and special interests - not working families," Martin said in a statement. "This legislation will hang around the necks of the GOP for years to come. This was a full betrayal of the American people. Today, we are putting Republicans on notice: you will lose your majority." -With Reuters
