back to article 3D printing for artificial blood vessels

In Pay the Printer, Philip K Dick imagined a species called “Printers” who could organically create perfect copies of complex objects. In this world, the increasingly-popular 3D printer can’t create a car, but its ability to produce simple 3D objects is being used to create blood vessels. The researchers, led by Fraunhofer’s …

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  1. jake Silver badge

    Now THAT ...

    ... is a useful technological advance!

    1. Thomas 4
      Go

      Cue moral outrage in T minus 5

      It's a good advancement but my concern would be the residual plastic left in the blood stream after an artifical cell breaks down. Until the process can use fully organic and swiftly biodegradable plastics, I wouldn't feel happy about it being used in a transfusion.

      However, if we're going to start speculating, this plastic blood could be used in things like replacement limbs, if you had some sort of membrane that could transfer oxygen from blood cells in the central body to the limb.

      Another use could be the development of organic computers as a potential power source of some description, although the complexities of it would be way beyond my understanding.

      "Science - it WORKS, bitches!" - XKCD

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        They are not creating artificial blood but the blood vessels so they can replace damaged arteries etc.

  2. Tony Paulazzo
    Big Brother

    Title

    Useful maybe but the content gate keepers want it stopped anyway:

    http://makezine.com/27/doctorow

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    why stop there?

    Go ahead and print up Gina Davis for me.

    Weird Science, here we come.

    1. Jon Double Nice

      Don't forget

      to hook up the doll!

    2. Captain TickTock
      Headmaster

      erm

      1. Maybe you mean Geena Davis

      2. Maybe you mean Kelly LeBrock

  4. sheep++;
    Coat

    All well and good until...

    ... they have to reboot you. (I think they said that to Wellington too)

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ima gonna reprap me some new arteries... these ones seemed to be a bit clogged

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