Pupae Purge | Printed Vision | Gold-in Eye

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Pupae Purge

Even ant pupae are willing to sacrifice themselves for the colony. But younglings of the Lasius neglectus ant species need help in saving the queen.

• Sick pupae release odor, telling workers they’re ill

• Workers isolate the infected and inject their poison

• Killing and disinfecting the pupae

Adult ants with similar infections practice social distancing and self-exile to preserve the colony. Queen pupae however, are born with an advanced immune system that fights off diseases their subordinates self-sacrifice for. So metal.

Maybe the queen should share some ANTivirus software — learn more here

Printed Vision

Human vision is now printable. A (formerly) legally blind person can see after receiving a 3D-printed corneal implant.

• Implant grown from human corneal cells

• 1 donor cornea generated 300 implants

• Tech can also print cardiac tissue, liver, and kidney cells

This breakthrough application is the long-term result of the first 3D-printed cornea developed in 2018. Paving the way to address a global shortage of donor corneas. I see, I see.

st3v is currently working on 2D-printed corneas — See more of the real thing

Gold-in Eye

Injecting gold into your eye could protect your vision. Researchers are developing a nanoparticle to shield light-induced damage.

• Act as micro-filters to shield photoreceptor cells

• Compatible w/ eye tissue thanks to silica coating

• Reduced light exposure-vision loss in mice

Stabbing your eye with gold may seem drastic, but researchers compare the procedure to gene therapies which can be harder to scale. Before you update your ID to reflect your new “gold” eye color, human trials are not yet in sight.

See what eye did there??? — Go for gold

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st3v on site

2D-Vision

2D-printing an eye was relatively simple. No one told st3v it needed to be able to see anything 🤦.

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