Scientists Turn Wood Into Bone

Bob the Super Hamster writes "The BBC is reporting that scientists in Italy have developed a method to convert rattan wood into a bone-like substance. The bone replacement is currently being tested in sheep, where, when inserted into the area of a fracture, it joins with the existing bone and eventually fuses. Unlike other bone replacements, this one actually has load-bearing ability and also naturally fuses with the existing bone. Additionally, since it is porous like real bone, nerves and blood vessels can pass through it."

Yeah but

[Anonymous Coward]

Now you gotta watch for termites

Ninja pirates.

[Xoltri]

Now we will have pirates with non obvious wooden legs. I will call them Ninja Pirates. I wonder how this will affect global warming.

Re:

[d34dluk3]

Now we will have pirates with non obvious wooden legs. I will call them Ninja Pirates.

I'm worried that the universe will explode when the first such abomination is created.

Re:Ninja pirates or rattan sword sheep

[WillAffleckUW]

Now we will have pirates with non obvious wooden legs. I will call them Ninja Pirates. I wonder how this will affect global warming.

This will help global warming.

Because the pirates will be able to carry around sheep limbs and use them instead of swords, resulting in fewer rest stops between pirating for mutton breaks.

However, it will result in a lot more three-legged sheep due to pirate depredations.

Re:

[cntThnkofAname]

the only thing they could do make an opposing force, is to find a way to let nerves and blood cells pass through a porous metal... we'll call it adamantium. And we can then infuse and re build limbs out of this nearly indestructible metal... The only enemy of these sure humans: Airports.

Re:

[Mitchell314]

"Security Man, my old nemesis, we meet again!."

Re:

[blai]

No effect on global warming if you send them up the cloud.

Dupezilla strike again.

[sadness203]

http://science.slashdot.org/story/09/08/10/1840220/Scientists-Create-Artificial-Bones-From-Wood [slashdot.org]

Same editor.

Re:

[royallthefourth]

Some stories kick so much ass that I don't mind reading them twice.

Re:

[geekoid]

So> it's not god damn print. Space is effectively infinite.
I missed the first one, so this is news to me.

Re:

[IshmaelDS]

not to mention they link different articles

Re:Dupezilla strike again.

[phantomfive]

Oh, what are you complaining about?

When an artificial hip, or other load-bearing bone implant, has a higher modulus than bone (and they invariably do), they cause the load to be transmitted unevenly to the bone. The artificial hip is on a pin that goes down into the marrow on the top of the femur. In natural loading, each segment of bone (taken from top to bottom) is loaded equally in compression. With an artificial hip implanted, some of the force is transmitted directly to a deeper part of the femur. The top of the bone is loaded less heavily than it would have been under natural circumstances.

There. I've just become automatically plus five insightful, thanks to this guy [slashdot.org]. Free karma, THAT is how you do it.

Re:

[Hurricane78]

It’s always impressive, how finely tuned, balanced and efficient nature is...

Re:

[cgenman]

For the record, being moderated Funny doesn't help your Karma. [slashdot.org]

Re:

[fm6]

No free karma for you: funny upmods don't count. Next time, be less entertaining!

Re:

[shabtai87]

People, please let's stop clogging the tubes with redundant stories! What if I need to sent an internet later?

Re:

[badkarmadayaccount]

</fail type='grammar'>

Pirate Technology has come a long way

[decipher_saint]

Pirate Technology has come a long way since the peg leg.

Wood vs Bone

[mooingyak]

I always thought that wood and bone pretty much referred to the same thing.

Re:Wood vs Bone

[betterunixthanunix]

"Boned" != "Wooded"

Re:Wood vs Bone

[mooingyak]

"Boned" != "Wooded"

True enough, but in order for someone to be boned, the bone goes where it's wooded.

Re:

[xonar]

Pure genious

Re:

[Dishevel]

No. The bone goes where it is Bushy not wooded.

Re:

[betterunixthanunix]

Heteronormative?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frot [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[derGoldstein]

Damn it man, place an "NSFW" before that!!

Re:

[mooingyak]

The difference between bushy and wooded is the depth of the foliage.

Re:

[derGoldstein]

No. The bone goes where it is Bushy not wooded.

That depends. Grooming habits vary.

Re:

[ZigiSamblak]

Wooded does not equal boned would be more accurate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baculum [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[haruchai]

Says who? Boner = Woody ( = means equals, you programming language nazis)

Re:

[derGoldstein]

Says_who ? Boner = Woody : Boner = 0; // ( = means equals, you programming language nazis)

There, that's better.

Re:

[haruchai]

I stand corrected

Re:

[bobdotorg]

I always thought that wood and bone pretty much referred to the same thing.

There's one crucial difference: I'm not wooding your mom right now.

Re:

[derGoldstein]

There's one crucial difference: I'm not wooding your mom right now.

Look up the time and day of the week. Then look at what you're doing right now. You're not wooding *anyone* anytime soon.

Re:

[fahrbot-bot]

I always thought that wood and bone pretty much referred to the same thing.

"Wood" is a noun, while "bone" is a verb.

Re:

[dolphinuser]

That would explain Tiger Woods.

Re:

[Hawke666]

Nah, bone is not meat and rattan is not a tree. Though I guess it does grow on trees so there’s that.

Pfeh

[Godji]

I do that every time I get an erection.

Re:

[betterunixthanunix]

Now if only they would find a way to un-erect parts of the skeleton; that would be Fantastic.

Re:

[gandhi_2]

Done. [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[betterunixthanunix]

Yeah well, why didn't this guy need any of those:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Fantastic [wikipedia.org]

Re:Pfeh

[ArsonSmith]

are you doing trials in sheep?

Re:

[Kell Bengal]

I too have wood for sheep.

Re:

[Sanat]

would you or wood ewe

Re:

[apoc.famine]

You play Settler's of Catan too, eh?

Re:

[treeves]

-1, TMI.

Re:

[BJ_Covert_Action]

.....Informative mod.....you actually managed to talk about your penis on the internet and have it modded informative. Wow. This kind of thing is going to be what makes up stories for our grandchildren when we get older.

Re:

[Chris Burke]

You don't turn wood into bone... Cus it's not wood unless it's also bone. What you do is turn a limp noodle into bone and/or wood, which isn't the same.

Walk on the Ocean

[Anonymous Coward]

step on the stoooones...

Flesh becomes water...

[weston]

Everybody sing [youtube.com] along [lyricsfreak.com] now...

Re:

[grolschie]

You guys beat me to it.

This is just wrong!

[dwiget001]

Giving sheep "a bone".

This is supposed to be Italy, not Montana. Geesh!

Re:

[betterunixthanunix]

Well, you know...Italy does have an ancient heritage of strange sexual practices, some of which included animals...

Re:

[dwiget001]

Hmm, you are correct.

I forgot the whole "Romulus and Remus" thing.

Oh, and Caligula -- never mind.

Finally...

[MojoRilla]

Finally, they have discovered a decent use for rattan. Just promise to stop using it on chairs.

"You said 'wood'."

[ClioCJS]

Huh uhuhuhuhuhu huu huh huh huh huh huh huh huhuhuh huh.... You said "wood".

Yeah.. Heh heh M heh he.... And then you said "bone". Hehehehehehemehh.

Re:

[nebaz]

Settle down Beavis. Take your meds or something.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

I, Meatbag

[SoundGuyNoise]

Good news! Professor Farnsworth did it first in "Anthology of Interest II"

Replacements already exist

[BlueBoxSW.com]

Replacements already exist that have "load-bearing ability and also naturally fuses with the existing bone"

Although the use of wood instead of demineralized bone sounds new.

Bio-Scaffording....

[jameskojiro]

So this is just a "Cellulose based bio compatible organic bone replacement material" Bin freeking whoop dee do.....

I for one welcome our partially wood legged overlords....

Interesting...

[Asgerix]

Well that's very interesting, because I am in fact made entirely of wood.

You're right

[Errol backfiring]

I don't see your nose getting longer...

Re:

[Plunky]

It only does that when he tells lies...

lame

[smellsofbikes]

No bulletproofing. Less specific modulus than titanium. Lame.

Re:

[pclminion]

Once you put a huge chunk of conductor, like titanium, into your body, you can never set foot anywhere near a MRI machine. That might be a bummer years down the road.

Re:

[Hypoon]

Now, I'm not entirely up on my E&M, but this ought to be somewhat informative to some people reading it. There are only three metallic elements (not including Rare Earth Metals) that can be magnetized: Iron, Nickel, and Cobalt. Titanium is not one of them, thus it won't be sucked toward a simple magnet. Note: Steel has Iron in it, that's why it is attracted to magnets and can be magnetized, etc...

Therefore, the reason why everyone uses titanium implants may be because they CAN in fact be near (or in)

Re:

[haruchai]

So what happens if you have a conductor MOVING through a static magnetic field? Will that induce an electric current?

Re:

[Hypoon]

If the conductor follows a path that keeps the strength of the magnetic field constant, there will be no induced electric current. Without knowing much about MRI machines (specifically the shape of their field), I can't say whether it's likely or not to move along such a path. If the conductor moves such that the strength of the magnetic field at the conductor barely changes, there would be barely any current induced.

One case where no current would be produced would be if a conductor is moved parallel to

Re:

[demonlapin]

MRIs are, magnetically, giant solenoids.

Re:

[pclminion]

If the conductor follows a path that keeps the strength of the magnetic field constant, there will be no induced electric current.

Actually, there will be. Any charge moving in a magnetic field, whether that field is constant or not, will experience a force perpendicular to the velocity and the magnetic field. I understand where you might get this idea, because on the surface it makes sense -- if the field is constant, how could an electron "know" that it is moving vs. stationary, since the field doesn't c

Re:

[pclminion]

You hit the key point yourself. An MRI has a huge, static magnetic field. But it also bombards the target with radio frequency radiation. Normally, the RF would simply cause the nuclei (and atoms they are a part of) to vibrate, but because of the large static field, their spin is contrained and instead the nuclei PRECESS, like a gyroscope tipped off axis will precess around the point of support without falling -- and as they do so, they give off radiation which can be detected. It is not the static magnetic

Re:

[Hypoon]

Very interesting, I don't know anything about that yet. What does such an effect depend upon? It obviously depends on the material and its metallic properties. Does it depend on the quantity of the material? Why does it apply only to metals? Would it apply to metals that do not conduct well, like Tungsten? Is your post theory, or is the effect known to be significant enough to be serious? Do you have any theories about why we are not using plastics instead of titanium then?

Sorry for all the questions, I'

Re:

[pclminion]

I looked a few things up and was surprised to find that smaller, non-ferromagnetic metal objects can be safely scanned. The thing that is disputed is whether the presence of metal interferes too much with the received image. Metal will absorb some RF but reflect a great deal more, and the RF energy bouncing around could potentially ruin the image, or bounce back into the resonant cavity and even destroy it.

I don't think anybody would ever put somebody with a LARGE metal implant, like a femur, into an MRI th

Re:

[demonlapin]

Note: I am a physician who majored in chemistry, but not a radiologist. Some of what is to follow is based on NMR, not specifically on MRI. I have, where possible, backed up my instincts with the Wikipedia article. I have made every effort not to say something incorrect, but I am human.

An MRI has its magnets arranged to produce a solenoid effect - a constant magnetic field of extraordinary strength. This flows in one direction through the bore of the magnet, producing a linear magnetic field. In this

Re:

[smellsofbikes]

As a welder and metalsmith with a background in bike racing that left me with several metal-containing surgical repairs, I'm already completely hosed with respect to MRI's, so bring on the titanium bone replacements, say I!

A friend of mine used to do IT support for a company that made NMR's. They were *very* early adopters of LCD screens because CRT's were so hideously distorted even rooms away from the machines. They had security guards whose sole job it was to pat people down if they were going to be e

Prior Art

[simonsays22]

Toad the Wet Sproket has already done that. They even walked on the ocean and turned flesh into water, too.

Re:

[BenSchuarmer]

but they don't even have pictures (just memories to hold).

Well...

[hattable]

Seems like they needed more bones for the offering.

New meaning to "he's got wooden legs"

[itsybitsy]

Avoid termites at all costs.

That's quite a load you're carrying my young sapling.

Drown him... if he floats he's a witch... burn him... if he burns he's a witch...

Wood vs Bone

[kylben]

Since when is Semantics a Slashdot category?

I hear a voice...

[asmodeus_dhoine]

Good news, everyone! I've discovered reverse fossilization!

But

[paragon1]

Turning bone into wood is fairly redundant, yes?

A joyous cry from wooden boys everywhere

[TrickFred]

Finally, Pinocchio can become a real boy!

(Brought to you by Blue Fairy Medical Inc.)

finally!

[pak9rabid]

Well, this outta be good news for Pinocchio.

Yep,

[norppalaho]

I'm sure this was invented only to see these comment's on /. Great Success.

sheep trauma?

[farble1670]

The bone replacement is currently being tested in sheep, where, when inserted into the area of a fracture,

how are all these sheep getting fractures?

Sheep with broken bones.

[bigmonachus]

I am wondering if they fracture the bones of the sheep or if they just happen to look very hard for injured sheep..

Gives "Woody" a whole new meaning

[Trip6]

Is that a replacement bone in your leg, or are you just happy to see me?

Obscene...

[mi]

Scientists change a woody into a boner. Khmm...

Shopping

[Boawk]

convert rattan wood into a bone-like substance

(Grabs man-purse). Pier-1, HERE I COME!

reality..

[Silpher]

Man Wolverine got a complete shiny adiamantium skeleton replacement, here they put wood in your bones. Man reality sucks...

Ya gotta wonder....

[wb5bbw]

if you'll start creaking as you sit down.

Obligatory PBF reference

[Alex Belits]

Yarteries [pbfcomics.com].

Wood becomes bone

[hoggoth]

I think John Mayer said it best

Walk on the ocean
Step on the stones
Flesh becomes water
Wood becomes bone

Hello? Anyone?

Re:

[hoggoth]

You were just going to post about Toad The Wet Sprocket, weren't you?

Great!

[Angst Badger]

Does this mean I can use my medical insurance to buy furniture at Pier 1 now?

Why limit the applications?

[Rich_Roast]

It occurs that there might be more applications for a lightweight, load bearing bone-like substance that is manufacturable and that can be shaped. Aeronautics, construction...?

Ask Treebeard,

[delirious.net]

The Elves started it...