Living, 3D-printed cyborg ear: Promising, but eww

Princeton

I remember the days when "cyborg" was a science fiction term and was unlikely to turn up in a serious science paper. Happily, the old folk who attempt to stand between the seas of scientific and popular discussion are failing, and I am proud to present the cyborg ear.

That's right—researchers from Princeton and John Hopkins have come together to grow an ear. The hearing, however, is done with electronics, making this the ultimate in human-machine chimera. On the whole, though, it looks kinda gross.

So how do you go about making a fleshy electronic ear? Well, the first step is to get a 3D CAD model of an ear (they got theirs from thingiverse). The researchers then modified the model to include a radio frequency antenna and cochlea-shaped electrodes. The whole ear was then printed using a 3D printer. You can even watch a clip of the printing process.