The material that stops US space shuttles from burning up when they re-enter the Earth's atmosphere may soon be used to repair broken or degenerating bones. Researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California have joined forces with industrialists and academics in Texas to adapt reusable surface insulation, or RSI, for use in bones.
The ceramic insulation material is a blend of silica, aluminium fibre and borosilicate glass, and the researchers have already shown that it is not rejected when implanted in monkeys and rats. They intend to use slivers of the material as 'scaffolding' for rebuilding bones that are damaged or worn, because its mechanical properties and structure are similar to that of bone.
Casey Fox of BioMedical Enterprises, a small company in San Antonio, Texas, wants to use the material together with implants such as metal pins, wires, plates and screws to help bone fractures and breaks to ...
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