3D printed bionic ear

[DaveChase]

http://mashable.com/2013/05/24/3d-printed-ear-princeton/

Scientists at Princeton University have designed a bionic ear that can hear better than human ears. And get this: It was printed using an off-the-shelf 3D printer.

Dave Chase

 

[CosmicGamer]

A bunch of media hype sensationalism to me. Just speculation on my part, but I think somebody wanted to get published or enhance their chances of getting a bigger grant.

Buried in a reference document is a line "our approach suggests a means to". From my understanding of what I read, no "bionic ears" were printed. The technology for producing "bionic ears" without a 3D printer has been around for decades, maybe even half a century?

EDIT: US Patent 2,017,358 Issued October 15, 1935 "Hearing Aid Apparatus and Amplifier" by Samual Gordon Taylor

 

[Lycanorukke]

A bunch of media hype sensationalism to me. Just speculation on my part, but I think somebody wanted to get published or enhance their chances of getting a bigger grant.

The article is definetly sensationalist and mangled. It's a radio reciever inside a 'printed' ear so "hear beyond human ability" makes a much sense as "a bionic eye can smell beyond human ability"

But the core purpose (from the actual paper) is that they have sucessfully printed the organic tissue around a rigid electronic structure and the device functions - meaning the electronics can have the organic matrix built around them as opposed to being implanted later. This become interesting the the case of prosthetics linked to nerves and the like. A useful discovery, but what the journalist makes it out to be.

 

[DaveChase]

I posted for two reasons even though I did not state them

One, I thought it was an interesting development
two, I thought about the posting of Traveller new articles (like TAS reports) might make some interesting talks, if they were posted as sensational instead of just factual.


Dave Chase

 

[Spinward Scout]

It's coming.

Although it was the Bionic Woman who had the Bionic Ear.

 

[Fritz_Brown]

I also saw an article today about circuitry (specifically RF powered) that will dissolve in the human body. So, they can put a small heater into the entry spot for a surgery, close it up, and kill off any infection without using antibiotics. After a couple of weeks, it just dissolves away into safe constituent minerals and such.

Combine that with the dissolving faces of Roland in Mission: Impossible, and printing stuff with a 3D printer............