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Researchers Build 3D Printer That Makes Tissue-Like Material
carmendrahl writes "3-D printers don't build only solid objects anymore. They also build liquid objects, thanks to a research team at the University of Oxford. The group custom crafted a 3-D printer to squirt tiny liquid droplets from its nozzles. The 3-D patterned droplets can mimic biological tissues, such as nerve fibers, and may have potential in tissue engineering applications. An expert not involved with the study is cautious about endorsing the tissue engineering applications because they're not yet demonstrated, but praises the team for extending 3-D printing to new classes of materials."
That will be one of the things I can see this do, to litterally repair any parts, might even be used for plastic surgery as a way to rebuilding a new face
Life-like texture ;_;
Imagine building building out a structure about 2 inches in diameter and about a foot or two in length. It is made up of buckyballs, made of rubber walls. Inside of the balls are filled with a magnetized fluid, some kind of polymer that reacts to magnetic field. When an electric field is applied all these polymers curl up tight and become small in volume. when it is removed they will allow themselves to be stretched out. That would be the artificial muscle, with ability to pull in and allow itself to be stretched out.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Just a few more inches is all I need
Will they be able to print muscles (meat) as well?
I know I can't be the only one to think of this movie when I heard this.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/04/05/kfc-kentucky-fried-chicken-boneless-fast-food-chicken/2011419/
... and some places are already working on nerve cells.
The news here is probably a better method than previously but the journalist probably jumped to conclusions about first steps.
The folks at Kleenex must be worried. When people can print their own tissues at home, why would they buy a box of them in the store?
print-a-girlfriend.com
blindly antisocialist = antisocial
This will, literally, revolutionize fleshlights.
So does humanity manage to destroy itself with "frog eggs" or "lord of the flies"?
Carl Sagan was a damn dirty plagiarist. Also a hypocritical pothead who was molested by a dolphin.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Please post comments in this thread about all the great ideas you have concerning the use of 3-D printing technology for biological repair. I would hate for all the good stuff to get patented and priced out of reach for the first 100 years or so (in the USA anyway)
I don't know the best way to phrase it, but I can conceive of a machine that could be threaded through an artery and used to "priint out" new structures for certain heart defects.
Finally!
Computer, one Pink please!
Get free satoshi (Bitcoin) and Dogecoins
While most folks in the synthbio research realm are preoccupied in actual biomolecular cellular / subcellular constructs, the concept of meso 3D assembly applied in this direction is entirely unique.
What I see looming ahead is combinations of both . . . and other yet to be defined processes.
But in the larger scheme of things, the definition of "lifeform" is going to become a very "50 shades of gray" zone.