Tag Archives: ear

Cornell scientists 3D print ears with help from rat tails and cow ears

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Cornell scientists 3D print ears with help from rat tails and cow ears

Science! A team of bioengineers and physicians over at Cornell University recently detailed their work to 3D print lifelike ears that may be used to treat birth defects like microtia and assist those who have lost or damaged an ear due to an accident or cancer. The product, which is, "practically identical to the human ear," according to the school, was created using 3D printing and gels made from living cells -- collagen was gathered from rat tails and cartilage cells were taken from cow's ears. The whole process is quite quick, according to associate professor Lawrence Bonassar, who co-authored the report on the matter,

"It takes half a day to design the mold, a day or so to print it, 30 minutes to inject the gel, and we can remove the ear 15 minutes later. We trim the ear and then let it culture for several days in nourishing cell culture media before it is implanted."

The team is looking to implant the first ear in around three years, if all goes well.

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Source: Cornell Chronicle

MIT ear-powered wireless sensor sustains its charge through sound

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MIT earpowered wireless sensor sustains its charge through sound

You wouldn't immediately think of the ear's cochlea as an energy source, but MIT knows that every mammal effectively has a pair of very small power plants because of the ionized environment. School researchers are trying to harness that energy through a new sensor that exploits the whole ear canal system. As eardrum vibrations naturally create a usable voltage from brain signals, the prototype can build enough charge in a capacitor to drive a very low-power wireless transmitter that relays the electrochemical properties of the ear and potentially diagnoses balance or hearing problems. The beauty of the system is its true self-sustainability: once the transmitter has been been jumpstarted with radio waves, it powers itself through the resulting transmissions. Energy use is also sufficiently miserly that the sensor doesn't interrupt hearing. Work is still early enough that there's a long way to go before such implants are part of any treatments, but there's hope that future chip iterations could help fix inner ear maladies, not just report on them. Something tells us, however, that the doctor won't ask us to take two dubstep tracks and call back in the morning.

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MIT ear-powered wireless sensor sustains its charge through sound originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 08 Nov 2012 11:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Woman Grows Replacement Ear on Her Arm: Still Easier than Growing a Child in Her Belly

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Even though we still don’t have a cure for the common cold, modern medicine does have a lot of achievements under its belt. Most of them creepy. We’ve heard of doctors restoring motion to a paralyzed man, transplant a face and now replace an ear. An ear which they grew on the patient’s arm.

johns hopkins sherrie walters ear replacement surgery

The bizarre procedure was led by Johns Hopkins surgeon Dr. Patrick Byrne. It was performed on Sherrie Walters, who had previously lost her left ear – as well as part of her skull – in a previous operation to help her fight her basal cell cancer. Dr. Byrne “used cartilage from Walters’ ribs to stitch together a new ear matching her right ear.” The cartilage was then implanted in Walters’ left forearm, where it grew for “months”, no doubt the weirdest months of her life.

You’ve probably heard of lab grown outer ears before: it was performed on a mouse in the late 90s, and in 2007 a performance artist had one grown on his arm as well. But seeing how it helps and uplifts people makes it significantly less creepy.

Those of you who can bear the graphic images can head to CBS Baltimore’s website. You can browse more pictures of Walters’ operation from a PowerPoint slide made by Johns Hopkins at the bottom of the source article.

[via Boing Boing]


Live Spider Found in Woman’s Ear: Nightmares for All of You Tonight

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Well this is exactly the type of story that is going to burrow deep into my brain tonight and manifest itself in some sort of horrific, vivid nightmare. Apparently a woman living in South-Central China turned up at a hospital with a live spider living in her ear. Eeesh!

She came to the hospital complaining of an itching sensation in her ear, and when the doctor took a look, out peeped a nasty, creepy, crawly arachnid. The spider had been living in her ear for at least three days before she went to the hospital.

ear spider

While the doctor considered yanking the spider out of the woman’s ear, there was concern it would only dig in deeper and set up shelter inside her ear canal for the winter. So in a stroke of genius, the doctor poured saline solution into her ear, and the water caused the spider to float out and scurry away.

On a related note, Amazon has plenty of earplugs on sale today.

[via ChinaDaily via M.I.C. Gadget]


An Ear Within an Ear: Earception

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We’ve all heard about the third eye; but have you ever heard of the third ear? And the fourth ear that follows? If you haven’t, then you’re about it. And let me just say, they’re probably not what you expected.

Ear EarringIt’s not some weird ability or anything. It’s basically a pair of earrings fashioned in the shape, color, and form of a human ear. They’re made from Super Sculpey clay attached to stainless steel earring studs.

These are the unique creations of London-based artist Percy Lau, who has put these quirky and somewhat creepy earrings up for sale on her Etsy shop. Aside from ears, she’s got all sorts of jewelry like necklaces and rings featuring ears other human body parts, like mouths and men’s wieners (for lack of a better word), up for grabs.

Ear Earring1

The Little Third Ear earrings retail for £26 (~$41 USD) a pair.

[via LikeCool]


Fake Ear Earphone Tidy: Store Your Buds in Someone Else’s Ears

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I’m not sure about these things, on top of creeping me out, these fake ears double as an earphone caddy. They will allow you to store your earbuds without getting the cords all tangled up, which is good since that shortens the life of your wires.

earphone fake ear tidy cord

The aptly named Ear Tidy is made out of two realistic-looking silicone ears, mounted back to back. To store your earbuds, simply stick them into these fake ears. Then, wrap the cord around the middle part.

earphone fake ear tidy cord side

There’s no word yet one when they will be available and how much this thing will cost, but I’m guessing that it won’t be that expensive. Regardless, it’ll still be creepy.

earphone fake ear tidy no cord

[via DVice]