Lifeboat Foundation

Researchers from North Carolina State University have demonstrated miniature soft hydraulic actuators that can be used to control the deformation and motion of soft robots that are less than a millimeter thick. The researchers have also demonstrated that this technique works with shape memory materials, allowing users to repeatedly lock the soft robots into a desired shape and return to the original shape as needed.

“Soft robotics holds promise for many applications, but it is challenging to design the actuators that drive the motion of soft robots on a small scale,” says Jie Yin, corresponding author of a paper on the work (Advanced Materials, “Fully 3D-Printed Miniature Soft Hydraulic Actuators with Shape Memory Effect for Morphing and Manipulation”) and an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at NC State. “Our approach makes use of commercially available multi-material 3D printing technologies and shape memory polymers to create soft actuators on a microscale that allow us to control very small soft robots, which allows for exceptional control and delicacy.”

The new technique relies on creating soft robots that consist of two layers. The first layer is a flexible polymer that is created using 3D printing technologies and incorporates a pattern of microfluidic channels – essentially very small tubes running through the material. The second layer is a flexible shape memory polymer. Altogether, the soft robot is only 0.8 millimeters thick.

University of Colorado at Boulder News

In the quest to develop life-like materials to replace and repair human body parts, scientists face a formidable challenge: Real tissues are often both strong and stretchable and vary in shape and size.

A CU Boulder-led team, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, has taken a critical step toward cracking that code. They’ve developed a new way to 3D print material that is at once elastic enough to withstand a heart’s persistent beating, tough enough to endure the crushing load placed on joints, and easily shapable to fit a patient’s unique defects.

Year 2023 face_with_colon_three

Scientists at Stanford University have developed a method for 3D-printing human heart tissue that could eventually be implanted into patients.

Continue reading “3D-Printing Heart Tissue With Human Stem Cells” »

Year 2018 face_with_colon_three

Pediatric Research volume 83, pages 223–231 (2018) Cite this article.

Year 2019 face_with_colon_three

The team created a cell-containing “bioink” and used it to 3D print the organ layer by layer.

Microalgae such as the diatom Odontella aurita and the green alga Tetraselmis striata are especially suitable as “biofactories” for the production of sustainable materials for 3D laser printing due to their high content in lipids and photoactive pigments. An international research team led by Prof. Dr Eva Blasco, a scientist at the Institute for Molecular Systems Engineering and Advanced Materials (IMSEAM) of Heidelberg University, has succeeded for the first time in manufacturing inks for printing complex biocompatible 3D microstructures from the raw materials extracted from the microalgae. The microalgae-based materials could be used in future as the basis for implants or scaffolds for 3D cell cultures.

The research has been published in Advanced Materials (“Printing Green: Microalgae-Based Materials for 3D Printing with Light”).

A new ink system, based on the microalgae Odontella aurita and Tetraselmis striata, enables the manufacturing of complex 3D microstructures with high quality and precision. (Image: Clara Vazquez-Martel)

I have a new essay out via the wonderful site Merion West. The article is based on some of my experimental writings at Oxford. I hope you’ll read and consider it. I’m highly worried life extension science isn’t moving forward fast enough!

“Sadly, biological humans are likely to be mortal for centuries more, unless a dramatic increase of both resources and life extension scientists are marshaled.”

Certain well-known gerontologists and longevity experts around the world believe that sometime in this century—probably in the next 15–50 years—medicine will likely overcome and cure most forms of disease, and even death itself. Billionaires such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, Alphabet’s Larry Page, and Oracle’s Larry Ellison have jumped on board, pledging billions of dollars to “conquering all disease by this century” and mortality altogether.

Continue reading “When We’re Overly Optimistic about the Pace of Life Extension Research” »

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Big thank you to all our partners who made this project possible:
JLC3DP — Professional 3D printing and machining ► https://jlc3dp.com/?from=hacksmith.
JLCPCB photosensitive resin From ► $1 https://jlc3dp.com/help/article/197-8…
Integran: Metallurgical Nano Technology ►https://www.integran.com/
Canmax Medical Imaging ► https://www.cmimri.ca/ \& @canmaxmedicalimaging on Instagram.
Dr. Kahn ► https://eterna.health/ \& @dr.akhan on Instagram.
Conestoga College ► https://www.conestogac.on.ca/
PRUSA XL 3D printer ► https://www.prusa3d.com/en/product/or…
Hustle Monster Creative — Credit for building the fantastic Wolverine Suit! ► https://www.etsy.com/shop/JimsArmor.
My favorite new 3D scanner ► https://global.revopoint3d.com/produc…

Continue reading “Making my bones UNBREAKABLE with real-life NANOTECH!” »

Imagine a crew of astronauts headed to Mars. About 140 million miles away from Earth, they discover their spacecraft has a cracked O-ring. But instead of relying on a dwindling cache of spare parts, what if they could simply fabricate any part they needed on demand?

A team of Berkeley researchers, led by Ph.D. student Taylor Waddell, may have taken a giant leap toward making this option a reality. On June 8, they sent their 3D printing technology to space for the first time as part of the Virgin Galactic 7 mission.

Their next-generation microgravity printer—dubbed SpaceCAL—spent 140 seconds in suborbital space while aboard the VSS Unity space plane. In that short time span, it autonomously printed and post-processed a total of four test parts, including space shuttles and benchy figurines from a liquid plastic called PEGDA.