There has been a burgeoning sense of excitement over the past few
years about 3D printing. Printing an object as you would a document,
albeit slowly, layer-by-layer, has been used to prototype products for
awhile now, and 3D printing is entering the consumer marketplace
quickly.
With the opening of MakerBot's new brick-and-mortar retail store in NYC,
day-to-day use of 3D printing is starting to seem much more grounded in
reality -- especially since you can own an actual desktop 3D printer
for only a couple grand.
There are also promising applications of 3D Printing for medical
treatment. 3D printing technology has already been used to make surgical
models, prosthetic limbs, dentures, and hearing aids. Recently,
researchers at companies like Organovo have had some sucess with printing actual functional human tissue for use in medical research and regenerative therapies.
We may only be a decade or so away from the ability to print actual
human organs, which could possibly be made from cultures of a patient's
own tissue. This would be wonderful, because if a patient's own cells
can be used to make the replacement organ, it ought to really cut down
on organ rejection, and hopefully also cut down on the need for
expensive and debilitating anti-rejection drugs.
Type "Bioprinting" into the YouTube search box and you'll be amazed.
Prepare to lose an hour or two of your day. Or simply take five minutes
to check out a great quick explanation and graphical representation of
the technological possibilities in this entertaining YouTube video.
Source: zdnet.com Denise Amrich for ZDNet Health November 1, 2012
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