So we’ve been talking a little bit about carbon nanotubes in some of the stories below. If you remember, scientists are finding lots of different ways these nanotubes can be useful, because they are very light but also very strong. One more way scientists have found to use carbon nanotubes is in healing broken bones. Doctors often use something called a scaffold to help the body’s natural healing process when a bone is broken, because the scaffold helps provide a strong support to make sure the new bone tissue grows in correctly. The trouble is, keeping these scaffolds in place can often involve the patient needing to wear complicated and uncomfortable supports while the bone is healing. Now, scientists are hopeful that carbon nanotubes can be used in place of these mechanical scaffolds. They’ve shown that nanotubes do a very good job acting like collagen, which is one of the most important materials in your bones. Instead of needing to implant synthetic scaffolds, scientists may one day be able to inject a small amount of the nanotubes into a broken bone and simply wait for it to heal. This would make healing a broken bone a lot easier for both the patient and for doctors, but it won’t make breaking a bone hurt any less!

Source: Nanotubes inspire new technique for healing broken bones