New fabrication technique promises "human spare parts" on the cheap
Despite appearances to the contrary, there are in fact technologies other than inkjet printers that are being put to use to create or repair various human body parts, as evidenced by this latest bit of kit developed by Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre. Apparently, the contraption you see above makes use of a visible light, ultra short pulse laser to get the job done, which has the benefit of being considerably cheaper than other similar systems that rely on pricey "femtosecond titanium-sapphire pulse lasers." Despite that relative cheapness, the setup can pump out biomaterial structures as small as 700 nanometers, which can then be applied to tissue engineering scaffolds. According to the team behind it, the technology's already in the process of being commercialized, although we're guessing that it's still a ways off from coming in a home version.[Via Gizmag]
Filed under: Misc. Gadgets
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Richard Lai @ Apr 13th 2007 9:35AM
Reminds me of the movie "The Fifth Element", where they used a similar machine to rebuild Leeloo the girl.
PJK @ Apr 13th 2007 10:31AM
I saw something similar in a movie with Bruce Willis as a taxi driver, I think it was called Die Hard.
Kamokazi @ Apr 13th 2007 10:34AM
I saw this movie with a Meat Popsicle where they did something like this.
deepmisc @ Apr 13th 2007 11:09AM
I really question the fact that they are able to achieve comparable levels of power or tunability as a TI:Sapphire laser using visible light. While they may be able to get equivalent amounts of power (somehow) I have no idea how they would address the tunabiity aspect. Sounds like a pretty limited use application, whereas if you have a Ti:Sapphire, you can pull the laser out and use it to do pretty much anything...
PJK @ Apr 13th 2007 11:38AM
Could you pull the laser out to create naked chicks, like we saw in that famous Gary Oldman flick, Weird Science...
jcoctentoasten @ Apr 13th 2007 12:29PM
Maybe they can use this laser to give Deborah Winger an abortion and keep that guy from dropping out of flight training and committing suicide. I saw that once in a movie that starred Richard Gere - the hamster guy.
Joe @ Apr 13th 2007 1:51PM
I'd like to take some pictures... for the archives.
Vagrant @ Apr 13th 2007 2:06PM
I can't wait for the inevitable SPAM from Finland's VTT Technical Research Centre telling me how they can enlarge my penis.
kyle90 @ Apr 16th 2007 12:35PM
I'm pretty sure I saw one of these things print out Milla Jovovich once.