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Printing Replacement Body Parts

Deep Penguin sends in a piece that appeared in The Economist a couple of weeks back about a developing technology to "print" body parts for transplant. "A US and an Australian company have developed the $200,000 machine, which works by depositing stem cells and a 'sugar-based hydrogel' scaffolding material. (The stem cells are harvested from a transplant patient's own fat and bone marrow, to avoid rejection down the line.) The companies are Organovo, from San Diego, specializing in regenerative medicine, and Invetech, an engineering and automation firm in Melbourne, Australia. The initial targets are skin, muscle, and 'short stretches of blood vessels,' which they hope to have available for human implantation within five years. Down the line, they expect the technology could even print directly into the body, bypassing the in-vitro portion of the current process."

12 of 101 comments (clear)

  1. Count-down by derGoldstein · · Score: 4, Funny

    Printing penis jokes in 3, 2, 1...

    --
    Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
    1. Re:Count-down by Stormwatch · · Score: 3, Funny

      How well does it do nerves? Print me a new foreskin, please!

    2. Re:Count-down by EdIII · · Score: 4, Funny

      How well does it do nerves? Print me a new foreskin, please!

      I'm more curious about whether or not they print in letter, legal... or tabloid sizes.

  2. Sysadmin must update by Dun+Kick+The+Noob · · Score: 2, Funny

    "Surprise Her !!!, Print an enlarged Pen**, 80% off" must be blocked

  3. Science Fiction by kamochan · · Score: 4, Funny

    think 5th Element... now everyone can get their own Lee-Loo!

    1. Re:Science Fiction by derGoldstein · · Score: 3, Funny

      You're gonna need Milla Jovovich's hand first. Got that "handy"?

      --
      Entomologically speaking, the spider is not a bug, it's a feature.
  4. Obligatory. by stonedcat · · Score: 4, Funny

    PC LOAD LETTER? What the fuck does that mean?

    --
    You can't take the sky from me.
  5. Re:Invetech? by kirill.s · · Score: 3, Funny

    That's because you haven't submitted that TPS rep... bone marrow sample.

  6. But please without aliasing! by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Apart from it looking horrible, aliasing stairways are the antithesis to stability of an object. E.g. a bone with aliasing would be much less stable. And don’t even think about lying on it and not causing painful pressure points.

    No thanks. I like my body parts casted or grown.

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
    1. Re:But please without aliasing! by Krneki · · Score: 2, Funny

      Apart from it looking horrible, aliasing stairways are the antithesis to stability of an object. E.g. a bone with aliasing would be much less stable. And don’t even think about lying on it and not causing painful pressure points.

      No thanks. I like my body parts casted or grown.

      You are so 20th century.

      --
      Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
  7. Typical printer tactics by DeanLearner · · Score: 5, Funny

    No doubt if the machine is $200,000 the print cartridges will be $600,000 and still only use three quarters of its ink!

  8. Re:I bet consumables are expensive by RMH101 · · Score: 2, Funny

    it's going to cost an arm and a leg to print an arm or a leg