The 3-D revolution will blow you away
Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Printed eyes – Scientists are 3-D printing body parts ranging from plastic skulls to artificial eyes. Fripp Design and Research and Manchester Metropolitan University say they are able to 3-D print up to 150 prosthetic eyes an hour.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Artificial ear – Fripp Design is also 3-D printing prosthetic ears, made from pigments, starch powder and silicone.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Artificial ear – Lawrence Bonassar, of Cornell University, has created ears made from living cells, grown from 3-D printed molds.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Plastic skull – Doctors at University Medical Center Utrecht, in Holland, completely replaced a patient's skull with a 3-D printed plastic version.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Printed skin – Wake Forest School of medicine in the United States is developing a printer that will print skin straight onto the wounds of burn victims. Pictured, a researcher works on a prosthetic "burned" hand.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Robohand – South Africa's Robohand 3-D prints cheap mechanical prosthetic hands, arms and fingers.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Project Daniel – Robohand has collaborated with American Mike Ebeling to provide affordable printed arms to war amputees in Sudan.
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Photos: Artificial eyes, plastic skulls: 3-D printing the human body
Bones – Washington State University has 3-D printed structures from layers of bio-compatible calcium phosphate, including a hip stem (left) and bone scaffolds.
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