From the ‘how cool is that?’ file, bone from rattan?

Source:  BBC News

Okay before you get all grossed out a little information for all of you, bone used for transplant currently is either your own (taken from a portion of your leg or spine) or from a cadaver donor (yes, that’s from a dead person.  “That’s Frankensteen.”)  So wood isn’t looking so bad now, huh?

Italian scientists, having completed their new tanning and hair products for the Jersey Shore, (I kid) have turned their attention to replacing bones with pieces of rattan, yes the same as in your wicker furniture.  Well, not entirely the same.

After cutting the rattan they add carbon (for all you counting your carbon credits, bear in mind we are carbon-based life forms) and calcium under intense heat and pressure to create…bone.  The rattan has a similar structure to bone allowing blood vessels and nerves to create pathways through it to keep it nice and healthy.

So far the product has been used on sheep (no shepherd jokes please) with promising results.  Apparently with months it becomes difficult to distinguish the faux bone from the real.   So with advance apologies to environmental groups and PETA, this really is an impressive and potentially helpful advance in human medical science.

~Posted by D.M. Schwadron, Esquire