Posted on 10/24/2017 2:53:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
3D printing technology has been used multiple times to help create drug delivery and release systems, from programmable release capsules and cancer drug-emitting implants to micro-rockets that deliver drugs inside the body and even a biomaterial sleeve that can reduce the risk of infection after a body piercing. Some researchers are working to develop 3D printed pills and vaccines that will combine multiple medications into one, and an Israeli drug delivery company will soon seek FDA approval for its 3D printed medical marijuana inhaler, which can control the doses a person inhales. But I would bet you $20 that none of these innovative systems and products have their roots in cephalopods…except for the sequential cell-opening mechanism with drug delivery applications that researchers at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) are currently developing.
Actually, the UNH research team was inspired by the color-changing mechanism in marine animals like squid, octopus, and cuttlefish; an organ called a chromatophore. Their design concept also has applications, not surprisingly, in color-altering camouflage materials. The work – using design and 3D printing to explore the mechanics of auxetic chiral metamaterials – is supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career award that assistant professor of mechanical engineering Yaning Li received in 2016.
Last year, Li told UNH Today, “3D printing has given me the opportunity to do this research, so I’m really in the right place at the right time.”
Auxetics are materials that become perpendicular to the applied force when they’re stretched; they promote growth and flexibility, and the unique phenomena has been used before to make 3D printed clothes. Chiral is an odd form of asymmetry, where the structure and its mirror image are not superimposable.....
(Excerpt) Read more at 3dprint.com ...
Exciting field of study and I know very little about it. Thanks for posting the article. While I’m happy to see this application being developed stateside, my bat radar is concerned about how some of this could be exploited and used against us. Time will tell.
That was probably said about iron near the end of the Bronze Age.
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