You read it right. A fragile 'ceramic' material can now work as a bone substitute. A team of researchers at National Polytechnic Institute (NPI) in France have found that Hydroxylapatite - medullar component of the bone - when obtained synthetically and 'giving' it some characteristics could be used as a bone substitute. 'Hydroxylapatite when obtained synthetically conserves its properties and could work as a bone substitute because according to our studies it doesn't cause toxicity in the human body' said Lucia Téllez Jurado from the laboratory of heavy materials of metallurgic engineer at Superior School of Chemical Engineering and Extractive