12/30/2025
Scientists Turned a Mosquito’s Bloodsucking Mouth Into a Tiny High Resolution 3D Printer!
Cao’s group had been working on high-resolution 3D printing for biomedical applications, trying to build delicate scaffolds that could one day host living cells. But even the finest commercially available nozzles—at 35 micrometers wide and about $80 each—were too large, too fragile, and too expensive.
The female Aedes aegypti, in particular, relies on a remarkably fine proboscis to pierce skin and draw blood. It’s narrow—about 20 micrometers in diameter, nearly twice as thin as the best man-made nozzles—and surprisingly robust, able to withstand pressures up to 60 kilopascals:
https://www.zmescience.com/ecology/animals-ecology/mosquito-proboscis-3d-printing/
