More importantly, it remains porous and absorbent even if it's crammed into a small space. Those properties are significant, because your biological materials, such as your blood vessels, need to be able to infiltrate the materials to regrow real bones. Adam Jakus, one of the the team members from Northwestern University, said their hyperelastic bone is "purely synthetic, very cheap and very easy to make." Since it can also "be packaged, shipped and stored very nicely," he hopes it can be used even in developing nations.

That won't be anytime in the near future, though, since the material has to undergo further testing before any hospital starts using it to mend fractures and other bone injuries. The team is pushing for human trials within five years' time, but it's worth noting that the FDA has yet to approve a 3D-printed regenerative bone material for testing on actual patients.