3D printers to make human body parts? It's happening From: San Jose Mercury News - 01/28/2015 By: Steve Johnson It sounds like something from a science fiction plot: so-called three-dimensional printers are being used to fashion prosthetic arms and hands, jaw bones, spinal-cord implants - and one day perhaps even living human body parts. Washington University biomedical engineering students designed and built a robotic prosthetic arm for teenager Sydney Kendall, 13, of St. Louis, MO. Sydney requested that her new arm be pink. She lost her arm in a boating accident when she was 6 years old. Bespoke Products of San Francisco 3D-prints "fairings," which fit around prosthetic legs to make them look more natural. And a researcher for San Rafael-based software company Autodesk is helping Ugandan officials learn how to print other prosthetic leg parts for children in that country. Six-year-old Alex Pring of Groveland, FL tries out the prosthetic arm created for him by a team of engineering students at the University of Central Florida. The arm was created for a cost of around $350 using off-the-shelf electrical servo motors and custom machined components created on a 3D printer. A similar conventional prosthetic arm would cost $40,000. Read the entire article at: http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_27412983/3d-printers-make-human-body-parts-its-happening Links: Washington University students make girl prosthetic arm on 3-D printer http://fox2now.com/2014/05/05/washington-university-students-make-girl-prosthetic-arm-on-3-d-printer/ Bespoke Products http://www.bespokeinnovations.com/ 'Bionic Arm' Captivates Nation; Blueprints Now Online http://today.ucf.edu/alexs-bionic-arm-captivates-nation-blueprints-now-online/ 3D Printing Gives the Children a Helping Hand http://www.mdtmag.com/blogs/2015/01/3d-printing-gives-children-helping-hand Submitted by Arne Folkedal