Slashdot Mirror
Produce Organs...From Printer
Gavinsblog writes "New Scientist reports that researchers
have modified desktop printers and filled them with suspensions of cells
instead of ink. Apparently the work is a first step towards printing complex
tissues or even entire organs. Amazing technology. " Well, I guess this could give a whole new meaning to "watermarking".
So how long till I can print out a nice fillet steak?..........
G4 Hackintosh
So does this mean that cloning for organs becomes obsolete?
i'd print myself a girl.
Scientists today reported methods on how to store small quantities of ink in feathers (that they have named "quills") in order for writing. They claim this is the first step to mass producing multi-colour documents and distributing them over the internet.
i.e. a nice first step, but -- to be frank -- an unfeasible distance from their lofty goals.
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
fingerprinting?
Here [eurakalert.org] is an article about the gel they use to print the tissue.
"refill toner cartridges! Print yourself a new 12 inch organ, guaranteed!"
and ye, a new paradoxical quandry is born:
which came first, the printer repairman or the printer?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
So, I should have my Natalie Portman pictures on stand by then??
Now we dont get antrax filled envelopes, but they'll print some sort of organic killer stamp on the envelope that will come off the moment you touch it and will make the kill... omg... am i dreaming again ;/
Check my site: http://pixel.pagina.nl
Does this mean we'll be able to get generic cartridges? Or will we be able to select different cartridges for what we want?
Mind you this does mean they can combine the "Get Larger Genitalia" and "Cheap Ink" spam mails now.
You thought that printer cartridges were expensive beforehand! Imagine what they'll be like with black, 3 colours and a "cell" cartridge.
Mexican Scientists Perfect Copying
Print out a girl for yourself?
If this technology goes anything like every other technology we make, you might as well buy a RealDoll; it will probably be smarter.
> Apparently the work is a first step towards printing complex tissues or even entire organs.
Imagine clearing out the jams in your flesh jet...
Combine this with that electronic device printing and we could whip up an army of Epson cyborgs in no time!
I didn't think most tissue would be 'printable' it's to complex. so don't expect a new set of lungs any time soon.
The process may be usefull for skin cultures or other simple single cell types. I beleive there are already other quite efficient techniques out there though.
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
Ahggg! Paper Jam! Literally!
Sorry, Mrs. Smith, we were attempting to give Timmy a new spleen, but he apparently slipped in a few pages from his Winnie-the-Pooh coloring book...
Vincent J. Murphy
Spandex Justice
Moof!
... it was called weird sience.
--
You know it makes sense, a little reminder from jointm1k.
In a land-mark case Lexmark are invoking the DMCA against the pregnant women.
"We produce organs, so apparently do pregnant women, clearly they have reverse engineered our technology in breach of the DMCA. As normally with copyright violations this is biggest in China, India and other countries with large populations"
Pregnant Women have filed a class-action countersuit claiming prior art, but are not expect to win as they didn't give any cash to elected officials.
Senator Joe Bung(R) said "I know my mother doesn't agree with this case but the fact is she broke the DMCA when she had me, I'd much of prefered to have been printed out and it would have been easier for ma, women must realise that this is a natural thing and we must let the market decide."
An Eye for an Eye will make the whole world blind - Gandhi
humanity weeps...
Just what we need, another technology that prevents a geek from having a girlfriend:
They now will not only print pictures of nice girls, they now also start stuffing them...
Four winged dinosaurs, printed livers...
I know that these stories are relevant, but Slashdot this morning is looking ominously like the copy of metro (free subway "news"paper) that I was reading on the tube today.
Just don't let the next story be about Britney Spears and that lame Limp Bizkit singer splitting up, or getting together, or whatever it is they are up to.
now that would be a cool invention. or you could use them to produce steaks. Star Trek geeks rejoice.
Funny maybe but informative, I don't think so.
N
Isn't this how they made Lulu?
The worst is, I misread and thought for a second you wanted to print orgasms....
Does this mean that in the near future, I can print not just images, but clones of pornstars for my own *user*? ;)
Take-off every
I'm not such a bad pilot myself
This is just one of those weird
inventions that will be locked away
to the Pentagons storages..
Too soon for this kind of technology..
When you pull the pin out from Mr. Granade he's no longer your friend.
Now I can put away the sewing machine I was using to stitch myself up a new liver *hiccup*.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those with loaded guns, and those who dig.
the new paradox is not born, but printed
Our compatible celljet and flesh-toner cartridges are designed specifically for your printer allowing you to produce organs equivalent to those produced by the manufacturer's cartridges at a fraction of their cost.
Don't forget... Free Shipping on all orders! That includes our discounted value packs!
HMOs, Hospitals, Medical Schools and Government Agencies - Talk to an Account Representative now! Please call our Sales Department to receive a special pricing quote: Tel: 1-800-555-0006
Click here if you do not wish to receive further 'Deal of the Week' promotions.
Refills don't have to cost an arm and a leg!
Well, not your arms and legs personally...
It's funny that at the top of the article it reads "Exclusive from New Scientist Print Edition"
So if you want a new one that'll be $250k for a single user licence.
Licence agreement:
No licence transplants allowed.
Separate work and recreational licence required.
This design is not tested for mission critical applications, any usage in mission critiacal applications is at the licencee's own risk.
Was I the only one that read: Produce orgasms...From Printer?
dirty me
# ssh -l neo the_matrix; killall -9 agent_smith
The REAL story is linked under the "Related Stories" header. Could ink-jet technology also one day make possible the long-awaited penis transplant? Imagine the spamming possibilities!
Karma: Excellent (In Soviet Russia, karma pimps YOU)
Let me troll for a while.
:-)
wait the goatse guy to come, and probably we should print them the giver .
Why is it that all the responses to this story are Funny and there are no Insightful or Interesting responses ?
/. mentality ?
Does this show the
Can I print an organ that is disproportional (no I am not thinking about penises) to what normally comes out?
like, say, would I be able to print a sphere of kidney cells?
how about a longer stretch of arm-muscles?
attached to a printed, longer leg-bone?
can I print a new layer of skin, or new hair folicles? (can you imagine rogain all up on this stuff?)
how about a third leg?
in fact, how about a beak?
a gill so I can swim underwater? (i mean, as long as the blood circulates through it)
the possibilities are endless, marvellous, and scary.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
...the standard photocopier is no stranger to human flesh at most Christmas parties.
ah, organs ist it, as in wetware?
...and I already thought somebody
made a fugue for laser-printers as
a follow-up project to the
symphony for dot matrix printers
`
She'd be paper thin, she'd be so flat the wall would be jealous, litterally.
The canon corporation wishes to announce the immediate availability of the latest version of the 'starter kit 03'. We now encompass all faculties of life and offer a uncompromising value for money. After several years of research we are pleased to make available the total customisation kit for all unborn modifications needs responsible citizens require. Choose the physical characteristics beyond our rivals products. The unexpected is no longer a worry that mounts woe upon the expectant pregnant women. The pain and anguish and complexities of child birth are finally confirmed to be consigned to history. From the great day in 2009 when Cannon Corporation announced the first public showing of a newborn child, and the following scramble of IT companies to compete with a plethora of starter kits, our children are 100% guaranteed to not suffer from any genetic defects known to exist with previous technology. The subsequent embodiment of new laws and procedures has now ensured that our corporation and HP are the sole new born providers, for the world. Canon features -------------- physical preferences potential talent obiedience statis deanimation (for times when you need peace, to yourself) zodiac correlation
Why don't you love me? I only have 2 freaks. I'm really not such a bad guy.
Mail a Macro-exploit to Outlook users that causes anthrax to print out on your printer...
I don't know if this is funny or scary...
ttyl
Farrell
CAN-CON 2019 - Ottawa's only book oriented Science Fiction Convention! October 18-20, Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada h
We already get inkjet cartridge spam and penis enlargement spam. Someone will combine the two ...
ENLARGE YOUR PENIS
With our PENIS CARTRIDGE REFILL
sob.
..that they will invoke the DMCA on anyone refilling their cartriges and using them to print copies of organs.
...and he grinned, like a fox eating shit out of a wire brush.
So far they can only print organs, so no girl printing..
But you can print yourself girl organs!
hmm....
Well, I guess this could give a whole new meaning to "watermarking"
Or "paperjam"....yuck.
adventure-today.com
i'd print myself a girl.
and here i read the title as "print orgasms"...
i guess i was just a little further along in the thought process...
I'm suprised I haven't seen more penis jokes in response to this story, because in the same article they have a link to this story: Tissue engineers grow penis in the lab.
My psychology prof. just gave a lecture about how basic research is fundamentally important, but you've got to wonder why all these research dollars are being spent in the field of penis enlargeonomy...
for great justice, this sig has been moved
Sounds to me like you're trying to print orgasms instead of organisms....
$ prn < hottie.3ds
error: Printer on fire!
giel.y contains 2 shift/reduce conflicts
First of all, this is great news. It mixes stuff that is just cool with actual hope of useful results. Bravo to these people on their work.
However, why is it EVERY advance these days is compared to Gutenberg? Not to degrade the man's work, but comparing this to Gutenberg seems rather odd. I'd think there must be other breakthroughs to compare this too.
Still, I can't complain. They may have found a way to save untold lives. Let them make what comparisons they will.
"The Sage treasures Unity and measures all things by it" - Lao Tzu
^^ teh funneh!!!
Jamming the cells into the proper position works with cartilege - you can sculpt an "ear" out of cartilege and surgically implant it in someone's body, if there ear was cut off.
However, more complex tissues require cell differentiation on a microscopic level.
For example, your inner ear - the part of your ear that you use to hear - cannot be simply sculpted.
Individual cells must diversify so as to play the proper role in the function of the organ; the nerve cells attached to the little hairs all have to be wired up properly and in the correct direction. This is true of all the organs you might wish to make. Actually, I'm not certain about the liver - all hepatocytes (liver cells) are pretty much the same, IIRC.
There are cells in the kidney which exist to move salt out of the blood and into the urine (several different types of cells are involved, actually). They are epithelial cells. However, you cannot assemble a kidney out of epithelial cells; it won't work! The epithelial cells need to know - that is to say, they need to recieve chemical signals which indicate:
a) That this epithelial cell is supposed to play a given role in salt transport (most cells don't make the proteins used in this process.)
b) Which SIDE of the epithelial cell the blood is going to be traveling past and which SIDE of the cell the pre-urine is going to be on. In the living organism the blood may carry this signal (the nature of the signal is probably unknown) but you couldn't duplicate that with a printer.
Stuffing epithelial cells (or even epithelial stem cells) into the overall shape of a kidney does not produce the chemical signals that trigger these differentiation events (when a "generic" epithelial cell - a variety of stem cell - becomes a kidney epithelial cell, it is called "differentiation".) In addition to various ions (Salt,) the kidney has dedicated mechanisms for dealing with dozens of other classes of chemicals.
It is POSSIBLE that such a simulated organ might spontaneously arrange itself into a functioning kidney when blood was pumped through the correct portions.
You might be able to help it along with chemical signals from a real kidney, somehow, or synthetic signals you add yourself.
However, personally, I doubt that either of these strategies is going to work.
The good and new comes from no quarter where it is looked for, and is always something different from what is expected.
This could be one REALLY SICK way of delivering some nasty germs via the post... Just one more reason to Lysol/Chlorox/UV-treat your mail. Has anyone been keeping count?
-=fshalor
Well, I guess this could give a whole new meaning to "watermarking".
Haha, Slashdot janitors are so funny! I can't stop laughing with their jokes! Hahaha
No
lalala, stupid lameness filter.
Once upon a time in the ether...
can I play it?
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
I'd hate to have receive a transplant faxed from the organ bank. (Faxes never seem to come out well...)
What's this Submit thingy do?
Thinking of banks...Blood should be a relatively easy substance to print. (All cells are individual, and they're suspended in a liquid, instead of being stuck together.)
Anyone know what the advantages are for receiving whole blood?
What's this Submit thingy do?
Next we build us a scanner (a large knife that slices us up and examines every cell) then we can scan ouself into the computer... email yourself to your favorite holiday country and print yourself out! Shall I fax you a sandwitch? :)
Anyone have any ideas on what would go into a PostScript-like language for printing cells? (and other biologicals?) It would definately have a niche.
What's this Submit thingy do?
Egads man, when a printer used to spit out garbage, it used to be no big deal. NOW it could very well be the next Bubonic plague!
but your kidney licenses just expired. Would you like to purchase a renewall for a nominal fee?
But the concept is really interesting for doing things like creating little insulin producing nodes for diabetics.
Or perhaps little skin-graft packages with a cell mix that would attach to the substrate and then align themselves. Or perhaps producing really effective animal-testing substitutes.
A few years back I spent a little time on a manufacturing think-tank. The one thing everybody agreed was needed was a device that produced objects at their final net shape with no intermediate finishing stages. An inkjet printer basically does that already in two dimensions, and it's additive. It's surely potentially much nearer-term for all sorts of things than (say) exotic silicon micro-machining, and much more process-granular.
I wonder if - no, where - someone is trying to develop an inkjet printer that produces sintered metal shapes?
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
I think they're going to have to figure out what to do about the length of time it takes for them to print an organ(ism). Your average organ may start drying out before it's done being printed.
What's this Submit thingy do?
Just fax it over....
Where do they get the funding to create something like this? I can't get funding to purchase the software I need to program a simple web application let alone create something out of the box like this.
I think most normal people thought of printing out pr0n pics. Only helpless hacks *cough* Hemos *cough* would think about "watermarking" to say nothing of condering it as funny . . .
-- @rjamestaylor on Ello
Even without the ability to print cell structures, the technology now makes signing documents in blood much easier!
If you can't beat them, embrace and extend them.
can now spring forth from your printer.
;-)
Another reason to stop using MS LookOut...
Why does it give a new meaning to Water Marking?
I see no relevance in this statement at all
This can only rearrange cells you have grown outside. No plagues, or genemod organisms can be made from it, you can only print out what cells you stock it with. So in most cases, only vivisectomy is allowed, e.g. the assembly of some of your own cells into a functional organ. To print out another organism, you must get a new batch of cells from a similar organism, or twist and differentiate your own cells into what you're looking for. Since you're probably going to use your own cells as a stock, printing out a girlfriend would be a blatantly homosexual act, as that construct would still have your own DNA, and thus be you. (homo=same, of course)
...halfway through printing you'll run out of spleen.
Ed R.Zahurak
You know, oblivion keeps looking better every day.
>I'd print myself a girl.
:-)
Someone has been watching bad 80's movies again.
Look up "Wierd Science" on IMDB...the move where two teenagers printed up Kelly Lebrock using an old PC.
Aren't women sorta like organism printers?
Dammit Jim! Im a doctor, not a printer repair tech...
Fire in the hands of the village idiot is no tool, but a weapon of mass destruction
The very cool thing is that you can build movable solid objects within other solid objects. We got a (not very useful) but neat adjustable wrench. The screw part of it which is used to open and close the wrench (sorry I don't know tool terms) was actually built inside of the other pieces. When looking at it you realize that if you started with individual pieces, you could never have gotten the screw part inside.
I wonder if you could use stenography (not shorthand) to hide your medical history inside an organ? Or maybe a map to where you've buried your savings in your backyard. "The blueprints for the new Mach V engine are encoded in your new kidney, Speed" - Pops
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...of course. How else? :D
Informatus Technologicus
... my brain would print in technicolour and be abnormally spotted.
Best wishes,
Mike.
Hello, this is straight out of the movie "Fifth Element", where they had that crazy genetic printer unit and constructed Milla with it, the perfect being.
I don't blame them, if I had one of those printers I would be making myself a Milla as well, maybe two, always good to have a backup.
-b
And like jackasses, they didn't produce a stupid lobotomized version, or better, a version with no arms and legs, just 10 twats and 10 tight asses...
Pick a hole and start fucking till your hearts content...
Maybe they can print me a foreskin. Ive always wondered what one of those felt like.
Oh man there are sooo many good jokes here!
Hey! Don't touch my monkey, he isn't dry yet!
"Enjoy what you're doing! If it becomes drudgery, you're doing it wrong!" - Jim Butterfield
Stem cells would let you create whatever cell type you need.
What's this Submit thingy do?
Hmm.. that reminds me of the "DeskTop Engineering" in the novel Frozen Heart (which I can't seem to find a link for right now). Straight from design to finished product with all testing done on computers, and one machine which could combine any material in any form. I think something like that could be very profitable.
-VbG
On all the Porn sites....
Program to print yourself up a 12" schlong. Just $9.95
And I can see some doofus walking into the doctor's office. "I just printed this off using PartMaster 2000. Would you please attach this to me... and these to my wife?"
I guess this gives a whole new meaning to worthless editor comments and lame attempts at jokes.
One of the things that always cracked my suspension of disbelief wide open was the medical technology on Star Trek. Specifically, whenever the doctor (choose your favorite) would pass a light over someone's arm and the wound would close.
It seems to me that this could be the reality, give or take 100 years, to that dramatic device. Start with a good gash in someone's arm, something bad enough to require stitches and would leave a scar with our current technology. Doctor takes a hand held "flesh printer", that "prints" either a rejection neutral flesh cover to the wound (more Star Trek tech) or a genetically specific cover (maybe presampled and supplied in the device, or even more fancy dynamically sampled and generated).
So muscle injuries require more involved work, but a shallow tissue wound can be fixed more or less on the fly.
Real doctors: start your engines. What's stupid about this idea? It is of course more complicated than simply laying the skin over top; blood vessels and nerves would have to be reconnected, depending on the damage. I would appreciate a thoughtful critique.
If your bitterest enemies are people who hack the heads off civilians, then I would say you're doing something right.
...they would start claiming they've printed the first human being.
If you think Micheal Jackson looks odd now, wait until he gets ahold of one of these. He'll probably want a Beowulf cluster of them.
Table-ized A.I.
Now all we need is one of those deli meat-slicers and a good scanner and we can email ourselves around!
to the "enlarge to page" options... Not that I would recommand putting (certain??) body ograns through the roller mechanisms :P
http://www.teknofile.org/
these would be great for haloween.
-troy
http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns999 93238
I wonder what would happen to society when these two devices mature and perhaps merge. Of course I refer to the replicators of star trek fame.
One thing that struck me is that this work was being done on modified ink-jet printers. So it seems vary likely that we will be able to use the information from these studies to modify our own ink jet printers into our own replicators. If you think hack your Xbox is cool, wait till you see the articles on how to hack your Epson. The common man will have the manufacturing capacity of both 3 billion years of evolution and the last 200 years of the industrial revolution.
Naturally there will be businesses who will try to capitalize on these types of manufacturing. And there will be patent problems what we will have to deal with. Taking a que from the internet, where to gain a patent all one has to do is add an 'e' to a preexisting idea (ie, eauctions, ebussness). So I use the letter 'r' for replicator and add write a perl script to add 'r' to the beginning of a massive word list. Now I own the ideas for the rauctions, rebussness, resex (witch I will need a lot of to continue, nevermind).
One the replictor becomes reality it will be heavily regulated or for the free use of individuals. Because these devices will be easy to make, heavy regulation by businesses and or governments can only keep these devices from a large portion of society at first. There will still be groups of hacker biologists who will be able to create these machines using their own skills. And so long as the internet remains there will be a repository of products that can be printed out.
I don't know about you, but if I didn't have to worry about food and shelter I would not be working where I do. These replicators will provide all the material wealth that we can download off the internet. We will no longer be coerced into working for our material wealth. We'd grow it from easy to acquire substances such as "Hamster Ovaries", as the article mentions. Without the need to spend all our time working for someone else, we'll be able to educate others to do the same as we do. Given the choice of working for a company or government for food, or sitting on their ass all day, the public will be completely enticed to join our cause. With the public on our side one of two things will happen. They will vote to eliminate restrictions on replicators or will be killed by cyborg terror-minators with Texas accents. (Don't mess with Texas)
Thank you
Well, I was thinking about Skin grafts (it's not to hard to grow a sheet of skin).
But then I had an idea, you could print the cells straight onto the area you wanted extra skin, and they would then grow in place.
Still can't think of anything else it would be useful for in humans, maybe making layers of different cells for bio-electric and circuits (cybernetic implants and all that).
Bones you can already do to some extent, by mashing some bone up, forming it into the correct shape and putting it back in.
Organs are a no go so far as growing goes, and I should imagine fibrous tissues (nerves, muscle etc..) couldn't be grown in this way and be useful, except maybe hair?
thank God the internet isn't a human right.
...but thankfully you can just print replacements.
char *mySig;
"Yeah, I remember John. Poor guy. Died on the operating table when they had a paper jam."
Chris Mattern
Comment removed based on user account deletion
and some fava beans and chianti....
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
For health-motivated vegetarians, or for people who don't eat meat because it's gross, well, it's still meat.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Oops... I drank too much last night. I guess I'll just print out Liver 2.0 and have my local med tech install it.
McDonalds has known about this for years. It's how they make their burgers.
"i'd print myself a girl."
"A woman complete in every way."
"Why don't you do it now?"
"I don't know how! I wouldn't even know how to make the nose!"
"Derp de derp."
I hadn't heard of that either.
Interesting applications... here, and here.
"Aren't women sorta like organism printers?"
Yup! Just got through filling the "ink" reservoir on one, beautiful "ports" too. And the paper "feed" is a joy to behold. In about nine months, baring any "jamming" or "leaking",there will be a lot of little "fonts" to admire, as long as "backspace" isn't being used.
Funny indeed.
But what sort of geek are you using 3ds files ?
Real geeks print text based hotties
"Semper in excretum set alta variant"
Wait, are you saying this is new technology? I thought the RIAA have been using this for years to churn out new "boy-bands" every 6 months.
"All great truths begin as blasphemies." -George Bernard Shaw
Brings a new meaning to Cyber sex
i'd print myself a girl.
Can you fax her to me?
Uhmmmmm... I think it wasn't possible at all but if that would be the case, why think of a printer not other specialized machine. Printer creating organisms is great but does it serve the purpose? =)
Wow! That was a very great idea, another proof of human intelligence! If you come to create a successful one, could you please give me a bit of it? hehe ;-)
I have to read more closely. I thought it said something about printing orgasms. sadly that wasn't the subject matter of the article.
"PC Load Bladder, what the fuck does that mean?"
See this
"WINDOWS HAS EXPERIENCED A GENERAL PROTECTION FAULT AT LOCATION 0x545455:546543FEE:FU, YOUR GENETIC CLONE HAS BEEN HALTED. PLEASE RESET."
LOL! That would be interesting if someone forgot to replace the ink cartridge back to the one with the ink. You go to print out your homework and it prints cells instead.
Teacher: Where's your homework?
Student: Uh.. It evolved and revolted against me!
Crazy stuff... My teacher enjoyed it! =)
This Story belongs clearly to the "lasers-would-be-even-cooler"-dept. !
I'm a graduate student in the University of Minnesota Chemical Engineering department and I've seen some of this work demonstrated and explained in a few presentations. There is a joint project between Dr. "Skip" Scriven and Dr. M. Flickinger that seeks to imprint cells within a fluid that may be printed onto paper or other materials using standard inkjet technology.
:)
Although I don't work on the project, the goal is to maintain the viability of the cells as they are mixed with the fluid and layered onto the paper. The paper may not be completely covered in cells (called confluency), but will have enough cells adhered to the paper so that numerous applications are possible:
Biosensors: Make the cells physically respond to outside environmental stimuli, which may include pathogens, proteins, minerals, etc. Put the paper (or other material) on something that you wish to perform as a biosensor. Think super fast and cheap blood testing or a really quick and effective way to test the air for anthrax. A LOT of possibilities here.
Reactive Materials: Have the cells absorb and metabolize certain harmful chemicals or excrete other useful chemicals. The paper (or other material) is easier to handle, distribute, and install than a solution of cells. Cells imprinted onto the paper would also be in a 'dormant' state, having a lower metabolism, utilizing less nutrients, and having a longer life-span than cells in solution. The cells would be exposed to a much larger surface area, making them more effective in uptaking chemicals from the environment.
While I don't work on this project, I am working on a project that seeks to design the gene 'circuitry' that controls the metabolism of the cell and the function it performs. The biosensor part, the specific reactive function part. I'm purposely not going into details.
Salis
Favorite
humanity weeps...
....from happiness