Compound fractures (where a bone shatters into many pieces) are difficult to deal with, least of all for the patient, but also for the clinicians managing their care.  They're also a big driver of Orthopaedic PMI claims, particularly during the skiing season, so new ways of treating them are good news.

Some compound fracture are traditionally treated with metal screws and pins, bones are re-attached and re-set, hopefully healing well.  However, smaller bone fragments cannot be pinned, so clinicians have sought a glue good enough to fix bones in tbe body for a long time.

Researchers at the University of Utah may have found one in the secretions of a marine worm "the sandcastle worm".  The worm lives in a mineral shell, rather than one it grows itself.  However, uniquely, it uses a protein-based glue to stick bits of sand together to form its shell.  That glue works underwater and, as the worm lives in strongly tidal areas, it's also incredibly strong too.

The team of researchers have discovered out how the glue works (there's some complicated stuff with calcium and magnesium ions, as well as managing acidity levels somewhere in the process) and managed to replicate the process using synthetic polymers instead of proteins.  That means the glue can be manufactured.

The results, as reported to the American Chemical Society, show a glue that's liquid at room temperatures, solid at body temperatues and very strong.  The glue seems to be able to cement bone fragments together in watery environments (the human body) and that makes it ideal from a medical perspective - it should also be easy to apply.

The research also suggested that the glue is non-toxic and should degrade naturally in the body, which means the glue disappears as the bone heals, which should significantly improve the treatment of compound fractures.