Fresh Science

A 55-million-year old fossil found in rural Queensland is forcing scientists to rewrite their theories about the origin of Australia’s iconic marsupials, revealing an ancient evolutionary link between Australia and South America. The fossil, a tiny anklebone smaller than a grain of rice, is from a mouse-sized marsupial previously known only from South America. “As…

The potential for a herpes-like viral outbreak in corals may just be a bug in the system, a Queensland scientist has found. Dr Elisha Wood-Charlson, of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, revealed that previous reports of herpes-like viruses infecting coral were incorrect, with viruses more likely to infect the microbes living on the coral’s…

A native species of fast-growing and non-invasive microscopic algae could produce an alternative fuel up to 10 times more productive than existing biofuels, say scientists from The University of Queensland. Dr Evan Stephens and his research team have identified a number of algae strains that could be farmed to produce a renewable fuel that would…

Queensland astronomers have used the entire universe to weigh the smallest building blocks of nature. Dr Signe Riemer-Sorensen and a research team at The University of Queensland used a three-dimensional map of 250,000 galaxies to measure neutrinos, helping us to better understand galaxy formations, supernova explosions and the processes fuelling our sun and stars. “Neutrinos…