Heathers Scoop

The horrifying human cost of the Great Irish Famine is well known, but what archaeological traces has it left?

3D printing technology has helped replace 75 percent of a patient's skull with the approval of U.S. regulators. The 3D-printed implant can replace the bone in people's skulls damaged by disease or trauma, according to Oxford Performance Materials. The company announced it had received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for its skull implant on Feb. 18, 2013— a decision that led to the first U.S. surgical operation on March 4.

"We see no part of the orthopedic industry being untouched by this," said Scott DeFelice, president of Oxford Performance Materials.

DeFelice's company is already selling 3D-printed implants overseas as a contract manufacturer. But the FDA decision has opened the door for U.S. operations using the implants. [Video: A 3D Printer of Your Own]

3D printing's advantage comes from taking the digitally scanned model of a patient's skull and "printing" out a matching 3D object layer by layer. The precise manufacturing technique can even make tiny surface or edge details on the replacement part that encourage the growth of cells and allow bone to attach more easily.

 

About 300 to 500 U.S. patients could use skull bone replacements every month, according to DeFelice. The possible patients include people with cancerous bone in their skulls, as well as car accident victims and U.S. military members suffering from head trauma.

Via Dr. Stefan Gruenwald

The badass female pioneers of archaeology. From left to right, top to bottom: 1. Gertrude Bell 2. Mary Leakey 3. Amelia Edwards 4. Dorothy Garrod 5. Mary Anning 6.

A dung beetle has a brain the size of a grain of rice, and yet shows a tremendous amount of intelligence when it comes to rolling its food source -- animal excrement -- home. How? It all comes down to a dance.

Via Sakis Koukouvis, Dr. Stefan Gruenwald

A beetle hotspot on the South Devon coast has re-written the record books for the second time in six years with the discovery of an oil beetle which was last seen in 1906 and thought to have been extinct for over one hundred years.

Via BlueLizardAdventures

Dating back more than 5,000 years, the rock drawings represent the earliest depictions of royal power in Egypt.

Via David Connolly

Researchers have discovered four wooden water wells in the Greater Leipzig region in Germany, which are believed to be the oldest known timber constructions in the world.