Mosquito proboscis repurposed as a fine nozzle for 3D printing

[cbabe]

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2504563-mosquito-proboscis-repurposed-as-a-fine-nozzle-for-3d-printing/

Mosquito proboscis repurposed as a fine nozzle for 3D printing

When engineers struggled to make 3D printer nozzles narrow enough for their needs, they turned to nature and found the proboscis of a female mosquito had exactly the properties they needed

By Matthew Sparkes
19 November 2025

A severed mosquito proboscis can be turned into an extremely fine nozzle for 3D printing, and this could help create replacement tissues and organs for transplants.

Changhong Cao at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, and his colleagues developed the technique, which they call 3D necroprinting, because they were unable to find nozzles thin enough for their work on manufacturing very fine structures. The narrowest commercially available nozzle they could find had an interior bore of 35 micrometres and also came with a hefty £60 ($80) price tag.

They experimented with techniques like glass-pulling, but found these nozzles also proved expensive and were very brittle.

“This made us think whether there is an alternative,” says Cao. “If Mother Nature can provide what we need with an affordable cost, why make it ourselves?”

… more …

[sorcrow]

1. Amazing

Thanks for sharing.

[WestMichRad]

2. That is hilarious!

I love science!