In the Marvel Universe, Adamantium is a metal that provides Wolverine with superstructeral strength, that we can only dream of here in Reality. Yet the marvels of the fantasy realm have been drawn a little closer to the real world this past week, with an announcement that a Titanium foam has been developed to reinforce skeletal bone in a way never before possible. This breakthrough comes from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials Research in Dresden, Germany, and Dr. Peter Quadbeck is eager to see this exciting new application approved for use in humans in the near future.

Here at EnviroNauts, we’ve already been exploring the many marvelous and widely varied applications for Titanium. Anybody who’s considered the photo-catalytic and bio-reactive properties of this metal already knows that not only is it a darling of the medical world, for it’s use in dental and orthopedic implants and it’s strong anti-microbial properties, but that it holds enormous potential for producing solar energy as well!

Previously over at ThumbShift.com, we touched on the value of beer as a great bio-available source of bone building Silica. Yet rather than looking at how existing bone cells can be nutritionally fortified, this new application for Titanium is even more dramatic because it can be applied surgically. Resulting in skeletal strength that far surpasses even the most superbly formed bone structures.

So what’s so great about Titanium?

Since the surface oxides (TiO2) on Titanium promote superb (osteo) integration with bone cells, and the titanium mesh/foam will actually flex and accommodate new bone growth within it, this allows the matrix of osteoblasts (bone cells) to be stimulated by this added flexure.

In fact, this flexing is of critical importance, since it is the kinetic pressure allowed by flexing that promotes bone density, and which is the current drawback of rigid implants. This highly adaptable and well accepted material will literally encourage bone growth to osteo-integrate into a new matrix never seen before in naturally formed bones!

Nano What?

Titanium is also deeply implicated in emerging NanoTech applications ranging from biological to quantum computing. So it doesn’t take too much imagination to consider how these early forms of Ti-based ‘foams’ could evolve at an even more micro-biological (molecular?) level in the Future…

Here’s a dramatic view from a CT Scan that shows how impants developed via Canada’s National Research Council (NRC) can demonstrate dramatic ‘osteo-integration, where bone-cells grows within the implant to become even stronger than natural bone.

So what else can Titanium do for us?

For now though, if you’d like to start learning more about the many and surprisingly varied current applications for Titanium you can CLICK HERE. Or move on to the astounding new applications that are already emerging for this incredibly useful element in fields like energy production, pollution control, and even revolutionary new forms of nano-electronic storage and processing that could antiquate current transistors and micro-electronics within a decade…

Thanks to Titanium, the Future is now approaching faster than ever!