Posted on 08/19/2013 7:59:01 AM PDT by Kaslin
Science marches on at a blistering pace. The star-trek "replicator" that seemed preposterously far-fetched is now here.
For example: Accidentally cut your ear off? Just 3D print a new one
This week, researchers at Hangzhou Dianzi University in China unveiled their Regenovo 3D printer. Unlike more familiar 3D printers, which work with plastic or metal dust, Regenovo prints living tissue – such as these little ears.
The Hangzhou team aren't the only ones 3D-printing spare parts for people. Earlier this year, a team at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, also demonstrated an ear printer, and Organovo in San Diego, California, are on the way to building fresh human livers
3D Printer Provides Woman with a Brand New Jaw
Last year, New Scientist reported 3D Printer Provides Woman with a Brand New JawAn 83-year-old Belgian woman is able to chew, speak and breathe normally again after a machine printed her a new jawbone. Made from a fine titanium powder sculpted by a precision laser beam, her replacement jaw has proven as functional as her own used to be before a potent infection, called osteomyelitis, all but destroyed it.Need an Organ? Just Print It
The medics behind the feat say it is a first. "This is a world premiere, the first time a patient-specific implant has replaced the entire lower jaw," says Jules Poukens, the researcher who led the operation at Biomed, the biomedical research department of the University of Hasselt, in Belgium. "It's a cautious, but firm step."
In this operation, a 3D printed titanium scaffold was steeped in stem cells and allowed to grow biocompatible tissue inside the abdomen of the recipient. Then, in 2009, researchers reported successfully printing copies of whole thumb bones - opening the way for the replacement of smashed digits using information from MRI scans.
By using an MRI scan of their patient's ailing jawbone to get the shape right, they fed it to a laser sintering 3D printer which fused tiny titanium particles layer by layer until the shape of her jawbone was recreated. It was then coated in a biocompatible ceramic layer. No detail was spared: it even had dimples and cavities that promoted muscle attachment, and sleeves that allowed mandibular nerves to pass through - plus support structures for dental implants the patient might need in future.
The team were astonished at the success of the four-hour jaw implant operation, which took place in June 2011 but which has only just been revealed.
Please consider Scientists 3-D Print With Human Embryonic Stem Cells3-D printers can produce gun parts, aircraft wings, food and a lot more, but this new 3-D printed product may be the craziest thing yet: human embryonic stem cells.Fascinating and remarkable do not remotely describe this technology. Unbelievable comes close, yet here we are. I cannot imagine advancements in the next 20 years let alone 100 years from now.
Using stem cells as the “ink” in a 3-D printer, researchers in Scotland hope to eventually build 3-D printed organs and tissues. A team at Heriot-Watt University used a specially designed valve-based technique to deposit whole, live cells onto a surface in a specific pattern.
The cells were floating in a “bio-ink,” to use the terminology of the researchers who developed this technique. They were able to squeeze out tiny droplets, containing five cells or fewer per droplet, in a variety of shapes and sizes. To produce clumps of cells, the team printed out cells first and then overlaid those with cell-free bio-ink, resulting in larger droplets or spheroids of cells. The cells would group together inside these spheroids. Spheroid size is key, because stem cells need certain conditions to work properly. This is why very precisely controlled 3-D printing could be so valuable for stem cell research.
After being squeezed out of a thin valve, the cells were still alive and viable, and able to transform into any other cell in the body, the researchers say. It’s the first time anyone has printed human embyronic stem cells, said lead researcher Will Wenmiao Shu, a professor at Heriot-Watt.
Well, once the economy collapses under an orgy of global governance failures, and the power grid goes down for good, the global supply chains disintegrate and Western civilization is but a distant memory (or no memory at all), I'm thinking technological advancements in a hundred years will maybe be on the level of rediscovering how to fashion bronze tools.
This week, researchers at Hangzhou Dianzi University in China unveiled their Regenovo 3D printer. Unlike more familiar 3D printers, which work with plastic or metal dust, Regenovo prints living tissue – such as these little ears.
Of course, china is going to outpace us eventually because we have to fill out an environmental impact statement when we decide to build a 3-D printer...
I love the march of technology. Hope they can figure out how to fax me to Fiji for a long vacation. Is that a billion dollar idea, or what?
I really hope this is a misquote, and that they are actually working with adult stem cells.
There is a guy who’s vacations actually cost that much.
3D printed organs surgically attached by Obamacare affirmative action surgeons; What could go wrong?
Report to the transporter room and don’t wear red.
Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.
"Paging patient Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, McConnell...Paging patient Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, McConnell..."
democrats don't want individuals empowered but dependent on government. that is socialism and it is their only goal
democrats don't want individuals empowered but dependent on government. that is socialism and it is their only goal
democrats don't want individuals empowered but dependent on government. that is socialism and it is their only goal
democrats don't want individuals empowered but dependent on government. that is socialism and it is their only goal
democrats don't want individuals empowered but dependent on government. that is socialism and it is their only goal
I think your comment addresses the real problems facing us. And it may be on the optimistic side, i.e., there may be no humans to work on bronze tools.
I’ll just take a tea, earl grey, hot.
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