Annotated Bibliography #1

Hessam

Atala, Anthony. "Anthony Atala: Printing A Human Kidney." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. TED, 20 Dec. 2011. Web. 08 Jan. 2012. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/20/printing-organs_n_1160307.html?1324396773.

 

This video is pretty much talking about the fact that we have a higher life expectancy now because of medicine but as we get older, our organs begin to stop working properly. The problem with living longer is that there aren't enough organs to save everyone because there is a shortage. Scientists have been experimenting with growing cells but were having difficultly with it because they didn't know how to successfully grow a cell outside the human body. However, now they have figured out how to grow them. They also can successfully put atificial organs, which is called biomaterial, in your body to replace your failed ones. Scientists sometimes handmake these biomaterials but they can also be printed. To print an articial organ, they use human cells intead of ink. They are developing a new technology where they can actually print on a person. This machine would scan the wound and then fill in the cells necessary. Recently, scientists have created a machine that scans your kidney, layer by layer, and sends the info to a computer where it then begins to contruct a new one. This new kidney will be made only for you because the scanner determines the size and shape of it so it fits perfectly.

1. Where will medical technology be 50 years from now?
2. How many cells are needed to construct a heart valve?
3. How are these 'printing' machines even made to do the amazing things they do?
4. Why can't some cells, such as liver cells, be grown outside the body?
5. When growing cells, what steps do scientists take to begin the process?
6. Has the world become too dependent on medicine?
7. Since medicine is the reason for us living longer and also the reason for the shortage of organs, is the use of medicine helping or hurting us?