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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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This 3D-Printed Structures Mimic the Body’s Remarkable Bone-Tendon Connection

The human body has a remarkable way of connecting tissues with very different properties. One of the best examples is the bone-tendon interface—the small region where rigid bone connects to flexible tendon.

Bone is hard and designed to withstand heavy loads, while tendons are softer and flexible, allowing muscles to transfer forces to bones. Despite their differences, these tissues connect smoothly over a very short distance without creating a weak point.

Now, researchers at TU Delft have developed a new 3D-printing and design strategy that could help engineers reproduce this natural connection. Their approach combines two different types of engineered structures to create a compact and strong transition between stiff and flexible materials.

The research was published in Nature Communications in 2026.



Why Connecting Hard and Soft Tissues Is So Difficult

Creating an artificial structure that behaves like both bone and tendon is a major engineering challenge.

A direct connection between a rigid material and a flexible one can create a concentrated weak point. When forces are applied, stress can build up around this boundary, potentially causing the structure to fail.

Nature solves this problem differently. Instead of creating a sharp boundary, the body gradually changes the architecture and mechanical properties of the tissue across a small region.

Researchers want to reproduce this strategy because better connections between hard and soft tissues could eventually improve implants and tissue-engineering technologies.

“Musculoskeletal disorders are among the leading causes of disability worldwide,” explains associate professor Mohammad J. Mirzaali. Better ways of connecting hard and soft tissues could therefore become valuable for future medical technologies.

The Secret May Be in the Structure

The researchers turned to a class of engineered materials known as metamaterials.

Unlike conventional materials, metamaterials can obtain their properties from their internal structure. By carefully designing the geometry inside a material, engineers can control characteristics such as stiffness, strength and flexibility.

The team focused on two important types of lattice structures.

The first is sheet-based metamaterials, which are built from continuous surfaces. These structures can provide high stiffness and may be useful for applications involving bone.

The second is strut-based metamaterials, which consist of interconnected beams or struts. Their architecture can provide properties that are more suitable for softer, flexible tissues.

Individually, both structures can be useful. The challenge is combining them.

Why a Simple Transition Does Not Work

One obvious solution would be to gradually change one structure into the other.

However, this creates another problem.

If the transition is made too gradually, the resulting region becomes much longer than the naturally compact bone-tendon interface. Instead of producing a short and efficient connection, engineers end up with a large transition zone.

Dr. Jianxing Yang, the study's first author, explains that directly connecting the two architectures can also create weak areas where failure may occur.

The researchers therefore needed a way to connect the two very different structures without creating a large transition region or a weak boundary.

A Computer-Designed Bridge Between Two Structures

To solve this problem, the TU Delft team developed a computational algorithm.

The algorithm looks for compatible sheet-based and strut-based lattice structures and determines how their geometries can be connected.

Instead of simply placing one structure next to another, the researchers introduced a special transition cell.

This transition cell contains characteristics of both architectures. It effectively acts as a structural bridge, allowing the material to move from one type of lattice to the other over a short distance.

Dr. Vahid Moosabeiki describes the concept as a gradual change between the two structures, similar to what happens naturally at the bone-tendon interface.

This approach could give engineers much greater control over how forces travel through the connection.

Putting the Designs to the Test

The researchers didn't stop at computer simulations.

They produced several of their designs using 3D printing and then subjected the printed structures to mechanical testing.

The experiments showed that the computationally designed transition strategy could create robust connections between the two different metamaterial families.

This is important because a successful design needs to work not only mathematically but also in a physical structure.

3D printing is particularly useful for this type of research because it allows engineers to manufacture highly complex internal geometries that would be difficult or impossible to produce using traditional manufacturing methods.

The Next Challenge: Working With Living Cells

Mechanical strength is only one part of the problem.

If these structures are eventually used in medical implants or tissue engineering, they must also interact successfully with living cells.

The researchers are now studying how cells respond to their hybrid structures.

Scientists have already investigated how cells behave on sheet-based and strut-based metamaterials separately. However, much less is known about what happens when both architectures are combined within the same structure.

The team plans to culture cells on the newly developed designs and study important biological processes, including cell attachment, growth and differentiation.

Professor Amir A. Zadpoor says the researchers ultimately want to understand whether the geometry of these structures can influence cells and potentially guide the formation of different types of tissue.

Could 3D-Printed Implants Become More Like Natural Tissue?

The long-term goal is not simply to create stronger implants.

Researchers hope to develop structures that can reproduce both the mechanical behavior and biological functions of natural tissues.

The natural bone-tendon interface provides an impressive example. Within a very small region, the body manages to connect materials with dramatically different properties while maintaining mechanical performance.

The new computational approach could provide engineers with a toolbox for creating similar transitions in artificial structures.

In the future, such technology could potentially contribute to advanced implants, tissue-engineered scaffolds and other biomedical structures designed to interact more naturally with the body.

However, significant research remains before these concepts can become medical treatments. Understanding how cells respond to the structures will be particularly important.

A New Way to Think About Medical Implants

The research highlights an important idea: sometimes the key to better materials isn't discovering a completely new substance—it is designing a better structure.

By combining different lattice architectures and creating a carefully engineered transition between them, researchers are attempting to imitate one of nature's highly optimized solutions.

The work represents an early but promising step toward artificial structures that can bridge the gap between rigid and flexible tissues.

If future studies show that these structures can also guide biological responses, the technology could help move tissue engineering closer to something nature has already mastered: creating strong, seamless connections between very different types of tissue.

Reference: Yang, J., Moosabeiki, V., Bai, L. et al. Strategy for hybrid connection of porous strut and triply periodic minimal surface lattice structures. Nat Commun 17, 9699 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77560-7

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