Bones Grow on Trees

It’s true that money doesn’t grow on trees, but now bones may. Italian scientists have come across a way to convert rattan, the wood material used to make wicker furniture, into synthetic bone material. As it turns out, rattan matches human bone structure very closely, more closely in fact than anything that is currently known. By heating rattan wood at high pressure while adding calcium and phosphate, a synthetic bone can be created that is durable and structured so similarly to real bone that blood and tissue cells recognize it as if it were a continuation of the actual bone. So far this synthetic bone has been tested in sheep and this study revealed that the synthetic bone was so well accepted by the body of the sheep, that it became difficult to tell where the synthetic bone ended and the real bone began. Also, unlike metal or ceramic materials, which are currently used for bone replacements, this rattan material never needs to be replaced. This technology could be potentially life changing for anyone, from cancer patients to people hurt in accidents, but it will probably be another five years until this technology is available for human use.