flatreader

Dead mosquito beaks make surprisingly good 3D printing nozzles

Puma, J., Yang, Z., Johnston, E., Zhang, Z., Lan, X., Zhang, L., Hou, H., He, Z., Afify, A., Creighton, M. A., Li, J., & Cao, C. (2025). 3D necroprinting: Leveraging biotic material as the nozzle for 3D printing. Science Advances. https://doi.org/adw9953

A dead mosquito's feeding tube costs about 80 cents. A commercial glass nozzle for high-resolution 3D printing runs around $80. Researchers at McGill University and Drexel University went with the mosquito.

Their technique, published in Science Advances in January 2026, is called "3D necroprinting" — using the proboscis from a deceased female mosquito as the nozzle on a 3D printer. — Read the rest

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