A 3D Printer For The Zombie Apocalypse: Brains, Veins And Hearts.

3D printers can replicate hard, bony body parts for use as implants in personalized medicine. But printing soft, flexible, and functional biological materials that can support their own weight during the printing process has remained a challenge. Now, Carnegie Mellon University engineers offer a solution: hydrogels that provide structural support for the biological replicas as they're being created.