According to a recent discovery, a deceased female mosquito’s blood sucking proboscis makes for a great high-resolution 3D printer nozzle. A team of researchers at McGill University in Montréal was looking for ideas to create an ultra-fine, low-cost, and sustainable 3D printing nozzle, and this mosquito body part seems to be almost perfect for the job. TechXplore reports that these nozzles can be used for 3D printing extremely fine objects, with smooth surfaces – ideal for aerospace, dentistry, and biomedical research.
3D necroprinting: using mosquito proboscis as high-resolution nozzle – YouTube
High-precision 3D printing nozzles, like the ones this mosquito proboscis has the potential to replace, usually come at a prohibitively high cost. The source suggests they are typically priced at around $80 per tip. Moreover, current commercial tips that fit this spec are made of either non-biodegradable plastic or metal.
Necroprinting
We’ve seen plenty of interesting bio-inspired technologies ahead of this innovation from McGill. But this new ‘necroprinting’ method is less bio-inspired and more like bio-looting, as it essentially reuses dead insect body parts.
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The researchers investigated other biological donors before settling on the mosquito. “Insect stingers, snake fangs, and plant xylem vessels” were rival high-resolution 3D printing nozzle candidates, but the female mosquito’s proboscis won the day. Millennia of evolution have made this complex, multipart feeding tube ideal for super-fine 3D printing with thick bio-inks.