Advancements in 3-D printing – a machine that can layer materials to create three-dimensional objects – have skyrocketed in recent years. But while many associate the technology with pointless, plastic trinkets, researchers and scientists have been hard at work tinkering with the technology to create revolutionary products – including printing parts of the human body.
Bioprinting – as it is often referred to – combines bioengineering with 3-D printing to create living artificial organs, such as skin, and it may be the key to creating full human organs that can be used for transplants in the coming years.
While you won’t be creating a mini you with a 3-D printer anytime soon, the innovations now possible could one day bring us closer to such a thing.
Going from the top of your head down to your feet, here's the proof:
SEE ALSO: A Chinese Company 3-D Printed 10 Houses In A Day
Hair
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Inspired by the string of residue created by hot glue guns, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University’s Human-Computer Interaction Institute were able to replicate artificial strands in the form of either soft strands, fibers, or bristles and hope to one day create full wigs.
The human brain
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While not quite as complex as a real human brain, scientists are moving closer to constructing the complex tissue. Using a handheld 3D printer, researchers at ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science in Australia developed a method for constructing layered biological structures that closely resemble cerebral cortex tissue.
“We are still a long way from printing a brain but the ability to arrange cells so as they form neuronal networks is a significant step forward,” Professor Wallace said in a statement.
Skull and bones
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Though they don’t come filled with marrow, doctors, scientists, and law enforcement are finding 3-D printers useful for replicating bone.
In 2014, doctors in the Netherlands reported that they successfully replaced most of a human’s skull with a 3-D printed plastic one for the first time. The same year, a surgeon in Newcastle used 3-D printing to manufacture a new pelvis for a man who had lost half his original one to cancer.
In addition, law enforcement and forensic anthropologists have increasingly relied on 3-D scanning and printing to bring bone evidence in front of juries and to convict criminals. It has also made a great way for scientists around the world to study fossils.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
