The Cutting Edge: Week 5

The first 3-D printed face bones The FDA has now approved a 3-D printer, which can be used as an implant for skull bone replacement. The implant, called the OsteoFab Patient-Specific Facial Device (OPSFD), is a specialised hard plastic that is similar to bone. The plastic is printed to mimic the bone structure and function that it is replacing. So if for whatever reason a bone in your face was shattered beyond repair, you’d be able to get an implant which replaces the bone and lets you function just as well as you did before. The 3-D printing field has went from a novel technology to being used for mission critical parts in rockets, or in this case bone replacement. Read more about the technology here. Cyborg moths Some people are afraid of moths, but they could be used to save people’s lives in a disaster zone or for surveillance. Scientists from the North Carolina State University have promised to accelerate the development of cybernetically modified “biobot” moths. The idea being to create remote controlled moths which can be deployed as a flying sensor network. The research aims to literally merge the biological bug with electronics, in order to gain control of them. The circuitry embedded in the moths allows remote control and can also be equipped with various monitors and transmitters. Find out more about the robo-moths! Fully autonomous robot military missions Lockheed Martin have collaborated with the U.S Army Tank Automotive Research, Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC), to orchestrate a fully autonomous resupply, reconnaissance, surveillance and target-acquisition demonstration using it’s unmanned ground vehicle, K-MAX unmanned helicopter and Gyrocam optical sensor. It was used to conduct an autonomous resupply mission for soldiers defending a village as part of a capability assessment. The Squad Mission Support System as it’s known as, proceeded to an observation point where the Gyrocam was used to scan the area for enemy sources. The remote operator would use this information to notify the commander on ground, who would assess the threat and determine which method would be appropriate for neutralisation. Learn more about it here. Bioengineers create functional 3-D brain-like tissue Bioengineers at the Tissue Engineering Resource Center at Tufts University, Boston, have created a three-dimensional brain-like tissue, which has similar structural features and functions of that in a rat brain. Impressively, this tissue can be kept alive in the lab for more than two months. The research studied the chemical and electrical changes that occur after a traumatic brain injury, and in separate experiments, changes that occur in response to a drug. This could lead to further advancements for studying normal brain function as well as assisting in the development of new treatments for brain dysfunction. - See more at: http://www.rymote.com/news/cutting-edge-week-5/#sthash.0vdXRaRT.dpuf