A cracking discovery

Scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, have made a startling discovery about the properties of human bone.

The scientists describe their results, finding a sort of "glue" in human bone, in the cover story of the August issue of Nature Materials. It describes how healthy bone resists fracture and how unhealthy bone fractures at the molecular level.

The glue appears to contain "springs" that uncoil when the bone is stressed, helping the bone to absorb shock. When the stress is relaxed, they coil back to their original structure.

The possible implications for human health are important, explained Georg E. Fantner, a UCSB doctoral student in physics and first author of the report. "The findings may lead to therapy for bone fracture, or even to prevention," he said.

Working in the physics laboratory of Professor Paul K. Hansma, in collaboration with the UCSB labs of Professors Daniel E. Morse and Galen D. Stucky, the interdisciplinary group of scientists spent several years tracking down where the glue was located in bone, and how it worked.