ROME — A novel – and natural – way of creating new bones for humans could be just a few years away. Scientists in Italy have developed a way of turning rattan wood into bone that is almost identical to the human tissue. At the Istec laboratory of bioceramics in Faenza near Bologna, a herd of sheep have already been implanted with the bones. The process starts by cutting the long tubular rattan wood up into manageable pieces. It is then snipped into even smaller chunks, ready for the complex chemical process to begin. The pieces are put in a furnace and heated. In simple terms, carbon and calcium are added. The wood is then further heated under intense pressure in another oven-like machine and a phosphate solution is introduced. ‘Very promising’ After around 10 days, the rattan wood has been transformed into the bone-like material. The team is lead by Dr Anna Tampieri. An X-ray of the new bone fusing with the old Within months, the real and artificial bone will have fused ‘It’s proving very promising’ she says. ‘This new bone material is strong, so it […]