Resistance Is Fertile: 3D Printed Spermbots

Your run of the mill sperm just doesn’t cut it anymore, now that German researchers from the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at IFW Dresden have begun 3D printing “spermbots”

In the increasingly popular nanotech trend of using 3D printing to create tiny medical devices, the German research team has created micromotors to give poorly swimming sperm the chance to get to the egg for fertilization.

With about one-third of fertility issues tied to the male partner, low motility of sperm can be a crucial factor.

To tackle this issue, the IFW Dresden team theorized the invention of spermbots that could carry the sperm to the oocyte with greater speed. Then, to turn the theory into a physical reality, they had to rely on one of the few machines capable of printing at the nanoscale.

Using Nanoscribe’s Photonic Professional GT System, the team 3D printed small metal helix shapes which can be controlled with a rotating magnetic field and, when magnetically slipped around a poorly swimming sperm, can carry a sperm to its destination.

Nanoscribe’s two photon polymerization process 3D prints objects at the nano- and micro-scale by focusing the dual-photon laser at a resin bath.  First creating the helices from this photopolymer, the team was then able to coat the prints in a thin metal layer, to enable magnetic control.

The research, published in ACS Journal Nano Letters, has proven successful in the lab.  Just watch the bionic sperm in action below:

Spermbot could help solve male infertility – Headline Science – YouTube

While the printed motors worked well in the lab, the researchers have their sights set on use in humans, though it may be some time before we see actual human trials.

Once we do see this technique practiced with humans, though, not only could the spermbots help those with poor sperm motility in creating offspring, but it could aid the processes of in vitro fertilization and artificial insemination.

This study is just one among a growing number of looking into the fabrication of small for medical treatments, many of which use similar 3D printing methods. An experiment by ETH Zurich, for instance, saw researchers 3D print helix shapes that could be used to deliver doses of medicine to a targeted location within the human body.

And, at the University of Sheffield, scientists have developed a different approach for 3D printing devices for guiding nerve repairs. This latest report proves that the devices may be getting smaller, but the nanoprinting industry is only getting bigger.

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Comments (7)

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    I, Grampa

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    Assuming this works, even for a small percentage of time, combine it along with the infertility that is reported as a result from the JAB. We now have a perfect way to control the world populations. Creating the future leaders by selecting the donors from the elite’s few. even they would be culled to provide the best of the best. a foolish premise because even they will produce an offspring that appear normal but with defects that show up decades later. many defects often skilling many generations.
    To be sure we must have the working class to perform and provide the mechanical , menial tasks that are beneath the tasks performed by the elite. I am sure many have heard about the slaves created by the gods when they came to earth to obtain the gold.. this would be the way the elite provided the mechanical control for procreation. selecting the physically strong and mentally compliant creatures to do their bidding. That is until , like the gods a few thinks with the little head and produces the undesired who will resist, starting the process that nature will balance everything out. As smart as the elite believe they are they seem to screw things up. everyone wants to be top boss, as inept as they are. They dont know and they dont know they dont know. Nature and earth always finds its balance. The pendulum may hesitate but it always returns for the swing for the opposite, its cant be foiled because like all energy it cant be destroyed, only changed. With the entire force of mankind it isnt enough to alter the path of the earth and its path. My suggestion!!! enjoy the ride. I, Grampa

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    VVV

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    Survival of the fittest should probably be applied to sperm for the betterment of humanity.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Doc Farmer

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    Uh, if it’s slowly swimming, it means it’s NOT up to the task of fertilization.

    Which is what NATURE intends.

    Please, stop all this perverted, anything-but-progressive “science”. These idiots have already done enough damage to Humanity, and it’s time their funding is removed.

    Reply

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    Timothy Levin DC

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    The vaxx destroys sperm motility so I find the new Spermbots rather convenient.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Chesterlab

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    As a woman, I can say I wouldn’t want micromotors inside my body. This is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, with the exception of the Covid “vax.”

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Chris Weldon

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    The poor will still have to rely on turkey basters.

    Reply

  • Avatar

    Chris Weldon

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    No matter how much you assist the troops, some will never find the tunnel.

    Reply

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