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Inside the Weird World of 3D Printed Body Parts

Posted by samzenpus on from the pick-a-spleen-any-spleen dept.

An anonymous reader writes Last November a news report in Russia Today sent a shudder of excitement through the tech blogs that cover 3D printing: an eccentric Russian provocateur claimed he would this month start printing functioning thyroids. Tech reporter Andrew Leonard set out to fact-check that claim, and along the way discovered an unlikely relationship between a Russian mad scientist and the U.S.'s most advanced, most respected 3d bioprinting companies—TeVido, which aims to 3D print custom nipples, and Organovo, which sells samples of 3D printed liver tissue. In the field of 3D printing, the line between science fiction and peer-reviewed research is very, very thin.

5 of 61 comments (clear)

  1. Once again on the 3d printing bandwagon. by Rei · · Score: 5, Funny

    "3d printing" is the latest fad for Slashdotters to obsess over; meanwhile, in the real world, people are just going to use more established solutions. For example, where I work we're making great progress towards CNC-milling a pancreas.

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    You know when it's okay to shout fire in a crowded theatre? When it's on fire.
    1. Re:Once again on the 3d printing bandwagon. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

      1. Where do you get your pancreas stock? I didn't even see it in the McMaster catalog.
      2. How do you fixture THAT?
      3. The crystalline structure of cast pancreas is far superior than billet pancreas.

  2. Re:WWW by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 5, Funny

    Within the weird world of weplicated wetware widgets.

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    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  3. Re:Custom ... nipples? Actual custom nipples? by OzPeter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    TeVido, which aims to 3D print custom nipples

    Hmmm ... apparently I am unversed in the realm of custom nipples, as I've never conceived of it before. Is this a thing I've been missing?

    Why don't you find a breast cancer survivor who has had a mastectomy and ask her about the subject?

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    I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
  4. Re:Researchers create a 3d printed bandwagon! by jeffmeden · · Score: 4, Funny

    progress towards CNC-milling a pancreas.

    That's interesting. Where I work we're making progress on human transplants of a web-scale ficas using nothing but red staplers crowd funded via a new meta-material crypto currency based on a Bitcoin NoSQL kernel which solves the pressing problem of laser mounted sharks doxing bio-hackers via Twitter's NSA paper trail.

    Ohh, so close. You were "SSL exploit" away from Bingo.