

3D-printed sculptures at the same scale as a human sperm - ColinWright
http://www.3ders.org/articles/20141115-jonty-hurwitz-3d-printed-nano-sculptures-at-the-same-scale-as-a-human-sperm.html

======
omegant
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?

~~~
Osmium
> 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!

~~~
marcosdumay
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.

------
Osmium
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/wonga-co-founder)
[http://www.jontyhurwitz.com/nano/](http://www.jontyhurwitz.com/nano/)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonga.com](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.)

------
jdiez17
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.

------
icoder
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).

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

~~~
icoder
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.

------
briandiesel
"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"

------
thisjepisje
What does sperm have to do with anything?

~~~
Zancarius
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.

------
ChuckMcM
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.

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

