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3D Printed Organs From Space

It turns out that 3D printing human organs in space has special benefits - as predicted by science fiction!

Auxilium Biotechnologies used its AMP-1 bioprinter aboard the International Space Station to create living kidney, liver, and cartilage tissues, along with 28 nerve repair implants, all in a single manufacturing run. The samples returned to Earth back in June.

Microgravity solved a major Earth based problem: cells settling unevenly under gravity. In orbit, the cells distributed more uniformly through the bio ink, producing higher quality tissue constructs.

Larry Niven described the idea of creating artificial organs in space in A Gift From Earth (1968):

You already have some access to standard drugs at the medcheck stations. We can expand those... For a while your colonists will have to come up to the [orbital] Hospital to get treatment with the ramrobot symbiots, but eventually we can build culture tanks in Gamma and Delta and Eta.'

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 7/21/2026)

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