This microscopic 3D printed Star Trek Voyager can move on its own


Physicists at the University of Leiden have printed a miniature version of an interpad-class starship in 3D. Star Trek (By PC gamer). The idea of ​​a small starship is probably something you may not have considered outside of the plot Star Trek Episode, but this microscopic model is actually part of a larger research experiment by physicists published in a scientific journal Soft matter.

The five-meter-long ship looks like the USS Voyager and was microprinted by physicists for their microswimmer research. Unlike the impulse engine and rap drive of its TV counterpart, this Voyager is propelled by liquids through chemical reactions between its platinum coating and the hydrogen peroxide solution put into it by physicists. His article notes that these studies typically use spherical models for tests. , So more shapes as you see here are meant to produce different purposes and push the limits of researchers ’3D-printers in the process.

Other microswimmer varieties included in the experiment.
Image: Soft Matter Journal

Microswimmers are a living scientific category used to sort organisms and substances that pass through liquids. Bacteria or your white blood cells may be considered microswimmers, but so are artificial objects created for the study, such as a miniscule Voyager or a model of a 3D bench (a tugboat, often used to test 3D-printers). Their tests include.

Studying the movements of synthetic microswimmers is thought to provide insights into their natural counterparts, but prospects have also envisioned potential futures where synthetic microswimmers could be part of targeted delivery systems for drug treatment and other therapies. For now, this journal article comes to more general conclusions: 3D-microprinted models could potentially be useful for more experiments and the unusual shapes used provide the ability to obtain more “design” type movements from microswimmers than conventional field and cylinders. .

Most importantly for me, it’s really nice to imagine small spaceships and boats like a little space out of your body. Interior space Or Osmosis Jones. Scientists may not be able to say that explicitly in their study, but I’m sure they were thinking the same thing.