3D-printed sculptures at the same scale as a human sperm | Hacker News Reader

3D-printed sculptures at the same scale as a human sperm

3ders.org

64 pointsColinWright17 comments

They seem computer generated, and then photoshoped over the electron microscope images. They seem too perfec for that size, and I don't see how they are supported on the surface.

Is there any other picture or article that shows the process and the results?

The images showing them stuck to various other microscopic objects are manipulated [1], but the technique is real. For example: http://www.wophotonics.com/applications/polymerization/direc...

[1] The ant's head image is exactly the same one as here, with the SEM text overlay cropped out: http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=150..., the eye of the needle is identical to the one on this page: http://www.aber.ac.uk/bioimage/image/image.htm, and the human hair is an image reversal of this one: http://www.d.umn.edu/news/2008/August/01-A.html.

> I don't see how they are supported on the surface

I can't speak for how these specifically were positioned, but in general I don't see a problem with it. It looks like they're supported by gravity, and under vacuum the surfaces are likely going to be 'sticky' anyway due to electrostatic forces. As for the positioning, micromanipulators are common in electron microscopes and should be capable of it, though they're usually used for different purposes!

Things that size aren't positioned by gravity at all.

Surfaces are sticky, but the environment is too. It's hard to imagine what those figurines could be made of to stick that well to a cell wall - and how to 3d print whatever material that is.

I also call it a hoax.

I'm not convinced either, it looks like something Intel or IBM would brag about and yet it's just some artistic venture ...

Someone just learned how to play with Maxwell Render. I call hoax.

Considering the artist says they were lost by the scientist manning the electron scanning microscope accidentally placing his thumb on the glass, and didn't mention what the scientist team that created the sculptures thought of this (or if they could make more), I'd lean towards hoax story. There are several other glaring inconsistencies in the artist's story.

He just says to trust him that they were there, and that people love to hear stories :)

Bizarrely, according to a comment on the linked article, it seems like the person responsible for this is one of the founders of Wonga? Not quite sure what to think about that. Beautiful work regardless.

http://www.jontyhurwitz.com/wonga-co-founder http://www.jontyhurwitz.com/nano/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonga.com

(For those not in the know, Wonga is a UK "payday loan" company and considered by many here to be exploitative due to their loans having a ridiculously high APR and because of their marketing strategy.)

As a 3D printing enthusiast (I've built two 3D printers of my own), the scale of this blows me away. Stereolithography is an amazing technology. It uses light to solidify a liquid resin.

It kind of bothers me how he says in the video the whole thing got destroyed when the EM operator wanted to image them from another angle, while at least one of the sculptures appears in multiple angles.

It also bothers me that the sculptures have these layering artifacts, which match 'normal' 3D printing technique but I don't see how horizontal 'pixelation' should be more prominent than vertical ones in the technique used here (on micro scale).

Looking at the print inside the needle my respect for Wilard Wigan gained: http://www.willard-wigan.com/

Amazing how he can put stuff that small in a needle by hand!

But I'm not sure all pictures of those 3d prints are real. Some look more like artist impressions.

Based on the story in the video the sculptures were only recorded while on the glass (and only from one angle) before the operator accidentally destroyed them. This indicates all images with something else in it were photoshopped.

That's an awesome link. He could have been a neurosurgeon with hands that steady, incredible detail on some of those.

"I've cut slices so thin, I couldn't even see them." "How'd you know you cut it?" "Well, I guess I just assumed." - Kramer and Elaine, about his new meat slicer, in "The Slicer"

What does sperm have to do with anything?

It's in the original title, but I suspect it was intended to give us an idea of how small these sculptures are.

Later in the article, it compares the sculptures to human hair. I suspect that would've been a better benchmark since it's something we can see, but if you're already talking about something that's impossible to see with the unaided eye, the analogy works.

So now fruit flies can have their own Human action figures :-) Well I guess not action figures, the limbs cannot be repositioned.

The scale of this is pretty impressive, I'm wondering whether or not this would be useful in tissue engineering.

Not 3d printing, rather it's lithography and a very inaccessible kind.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com