Tech from Singularity’s Children: 3D Printing Organs in Space

3D Tissue Printing in Space is another technology I play with in my Singularity’s Children books.

The ultra-rich have found a new way to stave of a visitation from the grim-reaper by packing themselves in gelly and shooting themselves into orbit. There, cloning, cybernetics, and 3D tissue printing can fashion them new bodies.

FT – Small ‘organoids’ grown in the lab could be used to treat chronic conditions

In Space, the printer can place cells anywhere without worrying about gravity deforming the growing wet blob. Nutrients can be misted across the pulsing membranes as a new vessel for an oligarchs consciousness takes shape…

Once the body is done and ready for a freshly scooped out brain, all the fiddly neural wiring can be handled by software. Bulk connections are made in the brain-stem and dynamically mapped to sensations or actions in the synthetic body.

That’s the SciFi, this is the fact:

“In the microgravity environment, cells exhibit spatially unrestricted growth and assemble into complex 3D aggregates, in contrast to typical growth in monolayer (2D) cultures as occurs on Earth. For over two decades, investigations conducted in space and on Earth have shown that 3D culture supports the generation of tissue-like characteristics in vitro that are more biologically representative of native in vivo-like cell growth and function.” 3dprint.com

Science from Singularity’s Children: Smart Cetaceans

In my Singularity’s Children series, animals are smart, but get a raw deal because they are hampered by a lack of hands and tongues, a deficiency overcome by the BugNet, AKA: IOA, The Internet of Animals.

The more science tells us about how smart —and devious— animals really are, the more convinced I become that we have already discovered “Alien Intelligence”.

Humpback Whale Communication and the Search for Alien Intelligence, watch the video here:

“The study of animal communication challenges our ideas of intelligence and informs our search for life in the universe. Among the most fascinating of vocalizations are the songs and sounds of humpback whales.”

https://youtu.be/-CIcIZzz8B4

Tech from Singularity’s Children: Solid State Aircraft



The ‘Sky-Whales’ and floating buildings in my Singularity’s Children books use the cool futuristic technology of Electro-Hydro-Dynamics. Instead of old-fashioned propellers batting the air with their silly paddles, an Electro-Hydro-Dynamic thruster employs electric fields to move negatively charged air to produce propulsive thrust…

This small demonstrator is claimed to be the first solid-stateheavier-than-air vehicle to successfully demonstrate this technique to fly untethered.

The same techniques can also be used to change the aerodynamics of an object by smoothing the airflow or deliberately ruffling it up to make the vehicle turn without using physical control surfaces. It can also slow the air being ingested by super-, or even hyper-sonic scram-jets, allowing planes to achieve orbital velocities within the atmosphere…

Both Russia (Ayaks) and the US (Aurora) are rumoured to have this tech flying.

I first came across this technology reading and watching videos from the ‘Lifter‘ community, which are cool, but do tend to drift towards the ‘UFO conspiracy theory’ end of the intellectual spectrum

Full video of the first flight:

 

Also interesting:
https://www.netl.doe.gov/File%20Library/Events/2014/MHD/2-1-MPGW-NASA-IBlanksonPresentation10012014.pdf

Techcrunch Article here:
https://techcrunch.com/2018/11/21/with-no-moving-parts-this-plane-flies-on-the-ionic-wind/