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Injectable Artificial Bone Developed
An anonymous reader writes in with the news that British scientists have invented artificial "injectable bone" that flows like toothpaste and hardens in the body. This new regenerative medicine technology provides a scaffold for the formation of blood vessels and bone tissue, then biodegrades. The injectable bone can also deliver stem cells directly to the site of bone repair, the researchers say. "Not only does the technique reduce the need for dangerous surgery, it also avoids damaging neighboring areas, said [the inventor]. The technology's superiority over existing alternatives is the novel hardening process and strength of the bond... Older products heat up as they harden, killing surrounding cells, whereas 'injectable bone' hardens at body temperature — without generating heat — making a very porous, biodegradable structure."
Apart from the typical 'viagra for your bones' innuendo gags this is actually a pretty amazing feat...
I just wonder what it 'biodegrades' into... and if you really want that in your bloodstream.
Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself. -- Leo Tolstoy
Just about everything from this to a piece of string could be used as a grisly murder weapon, although this seems a like a novel discovery thats a lot has interesting practical uses.
Wouldn't killing the host cause the degradation to cease?
Plus, it wouldn't exactly "leave no trace". If it caused organs to fail, there would have to be enough to detect, and the dead person wouldn't excrete anything, so it would all be there.
If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
TFA is light in details, but no surgery? How do you make the paste take the shape you want it to, then? You can't possibly let it flow just like that, can you? A little quirk (pun intended), and the patient ends up with a deformed body.
Figure out a way to use it to make a person taller, I might have a reason to go find a plastic surgeon. Being 5'10 as a guy sucks.
If you manage to get tissue forming in, say, a vital artery, who's to say that they won't drop dead long after the tissue is formed? Take a look at today's obese 15-year-olds with the arteries of 45-year-olds. They'll die earlier, but it's not directly traceable to which of the 50 Big Macs a month they're eating today.