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Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio, Hey

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Speaker 1: brain Stuff Lauren boglebam here. In two thousand nine, a

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Speaker 1: sea turtle suffered damage to her shell after being struck

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Speaker 1: by a boat. The turtle, now known as Seymour spelled

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Speaker 1: s e E m O r E, was sent to

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Speaker 1: live out her life at Sea Life Minnesota Aquarium from

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Speaker 1: a turtle hospital in Florida, but her injury caused what's

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Speaker 1: been called positive buoyancy disorder, or more colloquially bubble butt syndrome,

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Speaker 1: which traps air between her body and shell. It made

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Speaker 1: it hard for her to dive, float, and swim. Enter

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Speaker 1: the genius team of undergrads from University of Minnesota who

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Speaker 1: printed a three D prosthesis called an exo shell to

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Speaker 1: correct Seymour's buoyancy problem. Today, Seymour swims with her two

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Speaker 1: pound backpack that's a little under a kilo, just like

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Speaker 1: a regular sea turtle. Seymour's story is thanks to the

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Speaker 1: miracle of three D printing, and it's becoming more common

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Speaker 1: in veterinary medicine to repair injuries to animals, both domesticated

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Speaker 1: and wild. These days, veterinarians and wildlife conservationists are Following

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Speaker 1: the lead of physicians treating human patients by using three

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Speaker 1: D printing to create prostheses for injuries to limbs, fins, beaks, bones,

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Speaker 1: and yes shells. This technology is being used to create

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Speaker 1: everything from prosthetic legs for kittens and puppies to replacement

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Speaker 1: beaks for two cans, and while off the shelf, implants

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Speaker 1: and prostheses are available and can be adapted. Often it's

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Speaker 1: just as simple to create a custom made three D

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Speaker 1: implant part or prosthesis. Just as in human medicine, veterinarians

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Speaker 1: use technology like CT scans and mri I to create

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Speaker 1: images of an animal's body. The scans provide physicians and

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Speaker 1: conservationists with a three D image of what the damaged

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Speaker 1: part looks like an exact representation of what the new

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Speaker 1: part needs to look like. Three D printing is used

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Speaker 1: for prototyping the damaged part and the replacement. The image

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Speaker 1: creates a app that's uploaded into the computer controlling the printer.

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Speaker 1: Following the map, the printer puts down layer after layer

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Speaker 1: of material until the new part is formed. A variety

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Speaker 1: of materials can be used for three D printing, including

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Speaker 1: different types of plastics, ceramic, metals and even living cells.

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Speaker 1: But just because an animal might seem like a potential

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Speaker 1: candidate for a pros thesis doesn't mean it will get one.

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Speaker 1: For example, size does matter. Very large or very small

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Speaker 1: dogs are more difficult to fit. The residual limb also

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Speaker 1: has to be healthy. The animals shouldn't have any issues

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Speaker 1: with gait or range of motion, and animals with prostheses

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Speaker 1: have to go through rehab just like their human counterparts,

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Speaker 1: so they can build up their strength and learn how

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Speaker 1: to use their new limb properly. Today's episode was written

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Speaker 1: by Patty res Mussin and produced by Tyler Clang. Brain

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Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works.

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Speaker 1: For more in this amounts of other individualized topics, visit

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Speaker 1: our home planet, how stuff Works dot com. And for

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit thy heart Radio app,

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Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

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Speaker 1: H