[ChrisBland]

I wish this was true. I've had cartilage damage in my elbow from sports and have gone through major surgery over it. This technology has always been '10 years away'; from mesh or paste with stem cells, to other 'new' technology to regrow it. It simply is not there yet. I check every year, I reach out to any doctor starting a clinical trial. Hyaline cartilage does not regenerate naturally. The best they can do is get the body to reproduce Fibro cartilage which is essentially scar tissue. For those wondering about what treatments are available, check out Microfracture (breaks bone to release bone marrow cells to generate Fibro), OATs (osteochondral autograft transfer system) which pulls cartilage out of other areas and then places them in the damaged area. If this were to ever be true, it would be the biggest breakthrough in quality of life improvements for seniors as they are the most likely to experience breakdown in cartilage in joints. It severely limits their mobility.

[Xcelerate]

I have an internal debate with myself over which will come first: nuclear fusion as society’s primary energy source, solving P vs NP, or repairing damaged cartilage. My bets are on the former two.

(Also, I had the OATS procedure 9 years ago; it didn’t really fix anything unfortunately.)

[thfuran]

I'd guess they'll occur in reverse order. Or at least fusion last. There are some serious engineering concerns to work out. And even if it were to become economical and reliable overnight, there'd still probably be a few decades before it replaced enough existing infrastructure to be the primary energy source.

[itcrowd]

> if it were to become economical and reliable overnight, there'd still probably be a few decades before it replaced enough existing infrastructure to be the primary energy source

Well, hypothetically if nuclear fusion is solved, wouldn't that be the one of these three with the largest incentive to fix overnight?

Solving climate change for the whole world, not just a problem only some niche groups are interested in would seem more pressing than the other two issues (as serious as they are!).

[thfuran]

>hypothetically if nuclear fusion is solved, wouldn't that be the one of these three with the largest incentive to fix overnight?

Maybe but it's the only one that'd take probably several trillion dollars in infrastructure spending on top of just knowing how to do it. There's a huge difference between "net positive energy fusion reactor" and "economically viable fusion energy generation" and another huge gap between that and "fusion reactors are the primary means of energy generation". The other items are achieved either by a proof or by proof of concept / trial.

[sanxiyn]

Energy use is more than electricity. Fusion does not solve climate change.

[BurningFrog]

I learned just this morning that cartilage is one of the first human "organs" that should be practical to 3d print.

A quick google gave this optimistic link: https://aabme.asme.org/posts/3d-bioprinting-grows-bone-carti...

[hangonhn]

I think we are in the same boat. Mine's in the knee and I have microfracture to "fix" it but I think if the paper is correct then it does mean hyaline naturally regrows because there is no fibrous cartilage in those joints so this result should only apply to hyaline, no?

[clvx]

I had an OAT procedure in my knee 6 months ago or so. After living with arthritis for almost 6 years I finally have no pain. Will it last for 30 years or more? I don’t think so, but for now it’s the best that happened to my knee in a long time.

[downrightmike]

What about Stem cell treatment: https://cells4life.com/2019/07/are-stem-cells-ace-for-tennis...