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Grown bone
Put away your Skele-gro, because growing new bones might be the realm of science, not magic.
Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology and Radboud University Medical Center, in The Netherlands, have grown the most life-like piece of bone tissue to date, using human stem cells.
“With this, we present, for the first time, the full picture of early-stage bone formation,” says Sandra Hofmann of Eindhoven University of Technology.
Key research points
Bone cells were grown from human stem cells.
Organoid contained multiple cell types.
This could be used to learns the molecular process of bone growth.
Bones are very complex materials that require both a precise matrix of collagen and mineral and intricate cells and cellular processes. Together, this means that growing actual bones is a multi-faceted process.
3
–). This can then be used as an ingredient for liquid fertilizer.
“To get the conversion process started”, explains Sirui Li, researcher in the group of professor Gallucci, “the N
2 molecules first have to be ‘activated’ by introducing an electrical charge. This ensures that the bonds that hold the nitrogen atoms together are broken, creating a plasma.”
In the case of the Leap Agri mini-plant, the electricity for plasma generation is provided by solar energy, a cheap and sustainable source widely available in developing countries.
Efficient and accessible
The process is highly efficient: it produces a liquid fertilizer with a high level of nitrate that can be readily assimilated by plants. An analysis was made in Uganda by NARO researcher Stella Kabiri, who compared this fertilizer with other fertilizers on the local market. The result showed the nitrate content to be about 20 percent, which is 14, 42 and 51 percentage points higher than the solid fertilizers Am