8 Crazy Futuristic Science Experiments Happening Right Now

2. 3D Printing Organs

If you told a passing alien that we regularly cut the organs out of dead people and sew them into our living bodies, they'd probably think you were a total psychopath.

With life-expectancy on the up, the need for people to be able to replace or upgrade their organs more often is also growing. The other problem with this is that not enough people are dying to provide sufficient donor organs.

Prosthetic implants can work for simple parts like heart valves and hip joints, but there's no real substitute for the real thing, is there? This is where producing fully functional, biological material in the lab comes in.

Using the 21st century's technology darling, the 3D printer, early-stage experiments are hoping to solve the organ donor problem by printing functioning organs using living cells. What's more, using the patient's own cells to produce a new organ eliminates the need for the patient to take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of their lives.