10 Ridiculously Illegal Things You Can Make With A 3-D Printer

2. A Human Being

OK, even I admit to slightly over-egging the pudding here, but there are good reasons for the Promethean myth hanging around so persistently. Humanity has always hankered after the ability to impart that Divine spark of life traditionally reserved to deities on the one hand and random chance on the other, depending upon your world view. The question is, how unreasonable an expectation could it be? One group of scientists reckons that of all the human organs the heart is probably the easiest to replicate using 3-D printing technology. The 3-D printed bionic ear, made from calf cells and silver, and reckoned to be capable of hearing, already exists. Most criminals, of course, would find a better use for a 3-D biological printer than production of human beings. The three most lucrative illegal industries worldwide are guns, drugs and exotic species. If we get to the stage where exotic species can be reproduced then the risks to biodiversity are extraordinary. One idea behind organ replication assumes that someone with a malfunctioning liver can donate a piece of his or her own organ and have the fully grown version reproduced. This is probably one of the most ethically certain uses of the technology, but if samples of someone's blood, or other tissue were stolen then we begin to enter the realms of lucrative criminal activity on a grand scale. The breathtaking possibilities are almost sci-fi-esque in scope.