There is so much misery, hopelessness and depression in the news that when you come across a story with a bit of happiness it sticks out like a sore thumb! This is one such article…

We have all heard of magical instances where water is turned into wine or a staff suddenly becomes a snake, but you do not expect to see anything like this in the real world. Well, here is something that is actually along the very same lines… Scientists have found a way of turning wood into bone!

You don’t believe me? Check out the story yourself on the BBC News site. Some amazingly clever people in Italy have actually worked out a way to take an ordinary lump of wood and change it into a new substance that is virtually identical to the bones inside us all. The process sounds surprisingly simple (heating, reheating and extreme pressure) and it only takes around ten days to complete.

The possibilities of this breakthrough are amazing. The material has already been implanted into sheep that have arthritis and the results have been excellent. It can actually be used on load-bearing bones and the body appears to accept the substance without any problems whatsoever. Not only that, but real bones will actually fuse around the ‘pseudo’ one. Within the space of a few months, it is thought that it will be virtually impossible to see any joins!

This is the sort of research that I love to hear about. Science can perform some truly magical feats if money is invested into the right areas of research. It is expected to be ready for use on humans in around five year’s time.

I am no expert on orthopaedics, but I am sure that this new technique is going to be of enormous benefit to thousands of people in the future.

One last thing before I go that may be surprising to you all, last week it was my birthday, and my friend Abbigail gave me a skin peels as a gift. I feel I should mention, I have no idea what she was trying to convey me; but after I got over the comparative blow of how unusual the present was, I went and realized that it was actually quite lovely. I would endorse it to anyone