Scientific Breakthroughs In Creating Body Parts I think by now many of us realize science has been trying for years to create body parts which are just as good as the ones nature gave us. They have made huge strides in some things related to this but until now they have never been able to say they have created a body part which is better than the one we were born with. I say until now because an announcement has been made which claims a bionic eye has been invented which scientists are claiming is better than our natural eye. I am not saying it will look better because I have no idea how it will look yet, what I am saying is they are claiming it will work better and give the wearer not only superior vision but also night vision. Scientists in Hong Kong who have invented the eye, claim they have tiny wires in the eye which they believe might be so sensitive uses would be able to see wavelengths no other human has been able to. They claim this bionic eye will not only be used in humans but in robots. I don’t know if I like the idea of a robot having better vision than I have, but I guess that is already the case since I don’t see robots wearing glasses. Humans have about 10,000,000 cells in their retina but the artificial eye is estimated to have 460,000,000 per square centimeter which is far more. One of the big breakthroughs affects paralyzed people who thought they would never be able to walk again, that was until a robot exoskeleton designed on a 3D printer was created. The bionic suit has more than one use. It turns out it is a great way to train stroke victims and those who had serious injuries to walk again. The suit bypasses the brain to muscle function using motors to drive the legs. In the future it may become cheap enough for private individuals to buy and who knows, it might even be covered by our health insurance someday. This is going to sound very strange but artificial arms have been created which allow the wearer’s to use their cell phone to program commands that relate to movements and grips. It turns out many of these people who try and move their arms have very minute muscle movements which are nowhere enough to accomplish the task. The patient is fitted with a computer in their hand used to detect these movements using small sensors and the movements are then translated into what they would normally be in a normal person. There are quite a few things which have been invented to deal with human extremities. Another extremity which has been invented which took ten years to develop is a bionic hand. While others were concentrating on creating a hand which had motion at least close to a human one, a company was developing one which could also feel. When you think about feeling what you touch, it may not impress an ordinary person that much, but it could change the life of someone who no longer has this ability. During a test this allowed a patient who was blindfolded to be able to identify most of the things he was picking up which is pretty incredible considering he didn’t have a real hand. One’s nervous system is actually linked to the very sensitive sensors embedded in the hand. This is quite a breakthrough. It is been my experience the medical profession cares more about solving diseases and such, and creating prosthesis than taking the pain away from what they do or taking that extra step to make a prosthesis more like every aspect of a human one and not just give it functionality. An artificial heart was developed. One might say well we’ve had these for years; we have never had one like this before. It is an entire system and no part of the natural heart’s system is needed. The heart itself was never intended for permanent use. The entire idea was to be able to keep people alive who are on the heart replacement list and so far, it is said this heart has saved almost 1300 people while they waited for a natural replacement. It doesn’t seem the company who invented it will try to make it a permanent replacement. Perhaps they understand so far it will not be able to last under the rigors of time and they would be better off trying to grow a biological heart. It is being said there are some scientists and engineers who have other criteria when they develop artificial body parts. That criteria is they don’t want the wearer to feel different than everybody else. They also don’t want the parts to be so expensive ordinary people will never be able to afford them. How many people can spend $100,000 or even far more for one of these devices? One of the things scientists are working on is the actual development of lung cells. The lung is extremely efficient and there is nothing that even comes near it on the market right now. There is a new device which can be used in hospitals which is only the size of a beer can and that device can replace carbon dioxide with oxygen in red blood cells. The machine which is most commonly used now is the ECMO which can damage those red blood cells. There has been amazing progress in one area of replacement material for the human body. That progress has been made in replacing skin. A new type of skin made from stretchable silicon polymer with goal contacts has been designed which will feel like skin and be able to send information to the brain. According to the magazine Technology Review, this current invention is the most sensitive science has developed yet because it has 400 sensors per square millimeter. This will allow it to mimic natural skin. Another area of the human body which has had a breakthrough is mimicking our bones. A woman in the Netherlands had a 3D printed jaw implanted into her, and it seems to be working fine. Another use for 3D printed bones is scanning a patient’s bones and making facsimiles so doctors can figure out how to treat the patient’s fractures and such without any invasive procedures. The more doctors can stay out of the insides of our bodies the better off we are and surgery should only be a last-ditch effort to help us. I’m sure some people who use plastic surgery will not like me saying that, since many use it to hide aging.
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