When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
Looks like there are bacteria out in the ocean that consider plastic bags to be fine dining. Science writer Gwyneth Dickey Zaikab reports in a recent Nature article that scientists at the 5th International Marine Debris Conference in Honolulu, Hawaii, have discovered microbes that gather on plastic debris in the Sargasso Sea.
Marine microbiologist Tracy Mincer and his colleagues at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts examined objects like a plastic bag and fishing line yanked out of the Sargasso Sea where ocean currents cause tons of debris — literally — to accumulate.
Images taken on the micro scale showed bacteria-like cells living in nooks and crannies of the plastic. It appeared they were breaking it down.
Mincer collaborated with microbiologist Linda Amaral-Zettler of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, to do genetic analysis on the bacteria. They found that the plastic-loving critters were different from those in the surrounding seawater or on seaweed fronds found nearby.
The researchers also found also signs of more complicated organisms than bacteria on the plastic. This finding hints that there may be a whole new world of single-cell creatures evolving on those pieces of plastics that float away into our oceans.
But as Dickey Zaikab explains,
Plastic-eating bacteria might help explain why the amount of debris in the ocean has levelled off, despite continued pollution. But researchers don’t yet know whether the digestion produces harmless by-products, or whether it might introduce toxins into the food chain.
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