Researchers Use 3D Printing to Create Helical Tubes Inspired by Shark Intestines

Additive manufacturing is increasingly being used for research discoveries by laboratories and university teams. This is because the technology makes it possible to investigate elements and details that other methods cannot reproduce. Recall, for example, the recent example of an Egyptian mummy, which, thanks to 3D technologies, was able to be studied without disturbing the artifacts. This is possible mainly because researchers can 3D scan the part that needs to be studied before obtaining a digital twin of the part and then reproducing it through 3D printing. And it continues to be done. For example, team of researchers at the University of Washington, led by physicist Ido Levin, has turned to 3D technologies to investigate the workings of the shark’s intestine in order to mimic it in a variety of applications, from developing helical tubes to developing so-called “soft robots,” or soft robots inspired by nature.

Contrary to popular belief, we don’t know much about what sharks eat or how their intestines work. The first images that led to a breakthrough on the topic were those released in 2021 by the team composed of researchers from California State University Dominguez Hills, University of Washington and University of California. The researchers used a 3-D scanner to scan dogfish shark intestines from specimens preserved at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles and create 3-D images that could be studied.