Broken bones take a long time to heal. In serious cases, screws, plates and complex surgical procedures are required. Scientists from Zhejiang University, China recently announced that they have created a “bone glue” that can reconnect broken bones without performing the above three procedures.
The bone glue, named Bone-02, takes only 2-3 minutes to connect broken bones even in areas of bleeding that normally make glue unusable. The idea for this glue comes from oysters that can stick even under the surface of water, which makes it difficult for adhesives to work.
In tests conducted in the laboratory, the glue only failed after being placed under a load of more than 181 kg, withstanding friction of 0.5 megapascals (MPa) and pressure of up to 10 MPa. It also biodegrades itself in the body, so follow-up surgical procedures are not required after the bone heals. Research will continue before Bone-02 can be used in the real world.