Advances in regenerative medicine, particularly stem cells and 3D-bioprinted organs, could soon make heart transplantation an obsolete medical procedure.
Category: 3D printing – Page 94
Researchers Created a Platform That Prints With Living Matter
3D printing has come a long way. In a new study, scientists explore the potential of using bacteria-laced ink to print living materials.
From pizza to urine-based space plastic and even blood vessels, it seems there’s no limit to what can be 3D printed. A new 3D printing platform, created by ETH researchers led by Professor André Studart, head of the Laboratory for Complex Materials, is advancing the process by working with living materials. The specially designed material is actually an ink infused with bacteria. The machine is then able to print living biochemical designs for a wide variety of purposes, which vary depending on the bacteria used. Their research has been published in Science Advances.
3D-printed live bacteria creates world’s first “living tattoo”
A team at MIT has genetically modified bacteria cells and developed a new 3D printing technique to create a “living tattoo” that can respond to a variety of stimuli.
Electronic tattoos and smart ink technologies are showing exciting potential for reframing how we think of wearable sensor devices. While many engineers are experimenting with a variety of responsive materials the MIT team wondered if live cells could be co-opted into a functional use.
The first step was to look at what organic cells could be utilized, and it turned out that the strong cell walls of bacteria were the best target for use as they could survive the force of a 3D printer’s nozzle. Bacteria also proved to be perfectly compatible with the hydrogels needed for accurate 3D printing.
Scientists have created a silicon beating heart
The soft artificial heart was created from silicone using a 3D-printing, lost-wax casting technique; it weighs 390 grams and has a volume of 679 cm3. “It is a silicone monoblock with complex inner structure,” explains Cohrs. This artificial heart has a right and a left ventricle, just like a real human heart, though they are not separated by a septum but by an additional chamber. This chamber is in- and deflated by pressurized air and is required to pump fluid from the blood chambers, thus replacing the muscle contraction of the human heart.
New 3D printer is ten times faster than commercial counterparts
MIT engineers have developed a new desktop 3D printer that performs up to 10 times faster than existing commercial counterparts. Whereas the most common printers may fabricate a few Lego-sized bricks in one hour, the new design can print similarly sized objects in just a few minutes.
The key to the team’s nimble design lies in the printer’s compact printhead, which incorporates two new, speed-enhancing components: a screw mechanism that feeds polymer material through a nozzle at high force; and a laser, built into the printhead, that rapidly heats and melts the material, enabling it to flow faster through the nozzle.
The team demonstrated its new design by printing various detailed, handheld 3D objects, including small eyeglasses frames, a bevel gear, and a miniature replica of the MIT dome—each, from start to finish, within several minutes.
Abu Dhabi Police to set up police centre on Mars
Picture retrieved from @ADPoliceHQ/Twitter
Among the mind-boggling new targets envisioned by the Abu Dhabi Police are sending police officers to Mars on a UAE-built spaceship and setting up the first ever police centre on Mars, among the long-term goals.
Other targets include creating the first ever cadre of astronaut officers to police outer space; foresight future police who will work to prevent crimes; 3D-printed police patrol vehicles and even a police centre; robot cops that speak every language on earth; replacing 50 per cent of the police force with robots, and carrying out half of all policing and security decisions based on data mining and analysis.
Nottingham’s 3D printed helmet ushers in a new era of natural brain scans
“Room temperature quantum sensors can be mounted directly on the scalp of any subject. This will give us a projected four-fold increase in sensitivity for adults, but the sensitivity could potentially be up to a 15 or 20 fold increase for children or babies.”
A £1.6 million collaborative project between scientists at the University of Nottingham and University College London (UCL) is looking to improve the way we map the human brain. Focusing on the development of magnetoencephalography (MEG), researchers have 3D printed a prototype helmet that may yield quadruple the sensitivity of current MEG devices.
Reading at room temperature
In MEG, sensors capable of detecting the most sensitive magnetic fields emitted by the brain are added close to the scalp. Traditionally, these sensors would require cryogenic cooling (down to – 269 degrees) for operation. Nottingham and UCL’s MEG device uses the newly invented SERF sensors meaning that they can operate at room temperature and be placed directly on the skin.
3D printer that turns nano-cellulose into nutritious meals could be part of your kitchen in 5 years
Two researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem claim to have developed food 3D printing technology capable of printing entire meals from nano-cellulose, a naturally occurring fiber that contains no calories.
3D printed food. Do you need it? No. Do you want it? Not especially. Are companies going to continue exploiting the highly novel concept in order to make money? Of course they are. And since it’s going to happen anyway, why not just get on board? From 3D printed pizza to 3D printed candy, these complex treats are here to stay. Yum!