Immortality and 3D printing

Do you know someone who needs a heart? Not, the makeshift one you outline around your SO’s name but a tangible, living, beating organ. What about an ear? A leg? Jaw bone? Fingers? A spare blood vessel or two?

If you’ve never heard of the term “3D Printing” then I need you to stop what you’re doing, right now; find the nearest desktop, laptop, iPad, smartphone, or android tablet and search the term.

3D Printer In Work

In short, 3­Dimensional printing allows a digital file to be sculpted into a physical product. This digital file is a 3D model of almost any object you can think of. Literally. You can print a pair of shades, a clock for your dorm room, a case for your smartphone, toys, board games, jewelry, home accessories, sculptures, and even articles of clothing.

Just check out this website where you buy 3D printed anything: http://www.shapeways.com/

Sounds amazing, right? This innovative technology which recreates objects as efficiently and effectively as the ones we spend hundreds of dollars on is all in our capable hands. For the first time in history we consumers have been given the means to becoming our own producers.

But 3D printing doesn’t stop at replicating consumer goods. You’d think it would be cool if we could print out a six inch heels or figurines from your favorite anime? What if we could print artificial organs?

3D Printed Heels

3D Printer Vase

Well, we have just moved one step closer to being able of doing just that. In June 2014, researches around the world from Stanford University to University of Sydney were able to use fibers coated with human endothelial cells to successfully create bio­printed blood vessels. Sure, blood vessels aren’t a human heart; but, how long until you’re able to walk into a hospital and have the article replica of a human heart generated for you?

Scientists have already started bio­printing human tissue, and during the 2014 3DCell Culture Conference in Freiburg, Germany Dr. Adrian Roth updated his progress on his experimentation with 3D printed liver cells named “Organovo’s 3D Liver system.”

By publicizing that the cells were able to detect certain levels of toxicity, meaning that Dr.Roth is one step closer to producing fully functioning liver cells.

Prototypes of 3D an outer ear have been developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins University and Princeton University and was presented at the April 15-17 3D printing conference in New York.

3D Printed Ear

What the 3D printer is now, and what it is currently capable of doesn’t compare to what it will become. Its future capabilities are endless. Could we perfect DNA replication?

Could we build an artificial self? If we could do these things, would we still be humans?

Regardless of how you look at it 3D printing is our future. This technique will be used to create new cities, new technologies, and new identities. And, even if immortality evades us and we are unable to completely reverse aging with bio­printing, I have no doubt in my mind, that once our bodies adapt to these new devices we can significantly slow the aging process down.

Not to mention the other things the 3D printing of organs can accomplish. Think of the shortage of organ donors we have – that issue will be resolved. 3D printed limbs can give people the ability to walk again or move their arms, fingers, hands. The possibilities are endless and advancements in 3D printing happen every day.

Stylistic 3D Printed Leg Designed By William Root

I know that 3D printing isn’t magic. But making synthetic organs is not longer science fiction. It’s a tool that will change the face of healthcare.