Look Inside Your Head

I came across this site the other day and thought it was pretty interesting. VisibleBody is a complete, fully interactive 3D model. In fact:

The Visible Body consists of highly detailed, anatomically accurate, 3D models of all human body systems. The models were developed by an extensively trained team with decades of experience in medical illustration and biomedical visualization. All anatomical content has been reviewed for accuracy by our panel of experts, including physicians and anatomists. The beta release includes content covered in an undergraduate-level Anatomy and Physiology course. Years of modeling and enhancement make it the most sophisticated and complete 3D model of the human body available.

Free to sign up and pretty neat to tour around, what practical applications does it have? Well, unless you work in science, not a whole lot, but it is pretty interesting to tour the various working systems inside of you to get a better idea of how, let’s say, your nervous system works. I mean this isn’t going to be your ticket to an MD or anything and probably shouldn’t be used for self-diagnosing issues you are having (especially if you are a hypochondriac), it is pretty interesting to check out though.

3D Printed Bones

Remember those articles I posted months ago about 3D printers that were able to produce small plastic parts designed on your computer (this one and this one)?

Well color me impressed- researchers from the University of Tokyo Hospital have developed a method to make “tailor-made artificial bones for use in facial reconstructive surgery.” The method is essentially the same as with the other 3D printing, the model is created in 3D on a computer and sent to a special 3D Inkjet printer:

To make an artificial bone with this technology, a 3D computer model of the bone is first created based on the patient’s X-ray and CT scan data. The computer model is then sliced into a large number of cross-sections and the data is sent to a special 3D inkjet printer, which works sort of like an ordinary inkjet printer by transferring tiny droplets of liquid onto a surface. However, unlike ordinary printers that print on paper, this one prints onto thin layers of powdered alpha-tricalcium phosphate (alpha-TCP). The “ink” is a water-based polymer adhesive that hardens the alpha-TCP it comes into contact with. By repeatedly laying down the powder and printing successive layers on top of one another, the printer is able to physically reproduce the desired bone to an accuracy of one millimeter.

It passed the Welsh Corgi test (okay, well, they tested it first on a Welsh Corgi) and then 10 human subjects over the past year and a half constituted the round of human testing. In the next few years the second round of testing will be in place for 70 more human subjects. The benefit of the 3D printed bones is that they are cheaper and easier to construct then the current artificial bone options, they are also 10 times stronger (though not quite strong enough for load-bearing bones). This is pretty awesome on a number of levels and a great example about how advances in technology can also lead to beneficial advancements in both health care and quality of life.

I totally wrote about this

Anyone remember the NY Times’ article I wrote about a little while back? The one about 3D printing? Well check this out: There is a commercial for it posted on YouTube now for the Contex Z450

I totally need to convince my boss that we need one of those around the office.

(This was the other article)

I’m Going Back… Back to the Future

Okay, there is an article in today’s NY times about being able to print 3 Dimensional objects called “Beam It Down From the Web, Scotty.” The article discusses  technology that exists for printing 3D objects and how it is becoming a cheaper and cheaper endeavor and something we may start seeing in our homes in the coming decade. Not only is this totally awesome conceptually, but it adds a whole new aspect to shopping online. That new plastic item you’ve been waiting for- ready in a few hours time… Okay, so yeah, the technology is a bit limited now to spare plastic parts and decorative pieces of plastic, but we are entering a new phase in what it can mean to shop over the internet- once we get all the kinks worked out who knows what we will be able to order online.