Fresh Science

Bones, rather than cartilage, may be the silent sufferers in joint injuries of young people – joint injuries that can become painful and stiff in later years. “I’ve found that micro-trauma – or small injuries caused by sudden impact loads – is located mainly in the bone, not just in the cartilage,” reveals Fatemeh Malekipour,…

Galaxies fuel their enormous growth by stopping for gas from space, a Victorian astronomer has found. Dr Alan Duffy, of The University of Melbourne, has discovered how galaxies grow hundreds of times bigger without a decrease in the gas they use to form stars, an inverse relationship that had previously remained a mystery. “I could…

Australia may be losing more animals to extinction than previously thought, with the discovery of new fungi-foraging mammal sub-species, a Sydney zoologist says. Greta Frankham, of the Australian Museum and The University of Melbourne, has discovered new sub-species of long-nosed potoroos across Australia, raising concerns over the wider impact of mammal extinction in a country…

A Sydney scientist has created the world’s smallest metallic wire, which is 100,000 times shorter than the width of a hair. Dr Alex Donald, of the University of New South Wales, manipulated five silver atoms into a zigzag-shaped metal wire, overcoming previous difficulties of creating anything smaller than one-billionth of a metre. “Scientists can already…