Fracture Putty | Hacker News Reader

Fracture Putty

darpa.mil

20 pointsDTrejo11 comments

If this pans out, it could be revolutionary. They mention facial reconstruction in passing. I once knew a woman who was in a car crash and had to have one side of her face reconstructed a few years earlier. The surgeon did a wonderful job, but it was still a long and painful process for her.

Another use I can think of is for after heart bypass surgery, or other surgery where they have to crack the sternum. This putty could be used to fuse the sternum back together, which would probably speed healing.

This will help not only soldiers but also those civilians who are prone to fractures. I have a friend BTW who because of bone disease has experienced over 100 bone fractures.

What torture, I hope some crazy medical innovation is made that helps your friend.

More information:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090127212101.ht...

Lots of upside here and little downside.

Potential Downsides of the "Magic putty that fixes compound fractures in days rather than months, and stops you needing to have your limbs amputated".

- less hospital time, thus less time spent talking to pretty nurses

- less crippling, thus less chance of lucrative disability claims

- increased activity level, thus risking further injury to the affected limbs (and limb fragments that would otherwise have been amputated and rendered safe from further harm)

- (possibly) increased risk of some minor form of cancer due to chemical side effects of the Magic Putty That Makes It So They Don't Have To Chop Off Your Legs

As you say, it's all about measuring the risks. Nobody can make the decision for you.

So they are going to try to research something. Yea, well, let me tell you some of the things I'll research (once my multi billions of dollars of government funding roll in, like darpa).

A device that will tell you whenever you are in danger. It will be very challenging, the ultimate convergence of electronics, sensors and psyonics. When it is achieved, however, you will just have to wear a little necklace and it will beep whenever you are in danger or someone is plotting against you.

A chemical fertilizer/insecticide/fungicide/candy that when applied to crops kills all pest insects and increases growth 100000% with no harmful side effects. It is also a delicious candy for children. Also the test scores of children exposed to it will go up and they will be more polite.

Do you make fun of cancer research too? I find your comments to be in poor taste.

There is no way to communicate, over the internet, how I feel about your response here. You obviously did not understand the point of my post at all. I have just typed a very long response, trying to explain my point, but I became disgusted, because if you didn't get it the first time, you sortof aren't ever going to.

I wasn't making fun of what they were researching. I was making fun of the fact they were making these incredibly grandiose claims about what they intended to develop. Hey, anyone can make grandiose claims about what they want to develop, it isn't interesting or news.

Ah, I misunderstood your point in that case, apologies. As to what you where intending to communicate, I definitely see where you are coming from on that one. It's easy to make claims, but execution of an idea is always the rub. This particular project does seem a bit more down-to-earth than a lot of the other projects that seem to be getting defense funding these days.

According to this article shared by another HN reader, they have already been awarded the money.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090127212101.ht...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com