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Errors with functional living ink meant his facial skin graft photosynthesised light. Deciduous, his face casts cells in autumn, regrows each spring.

In a fascinating development in 3-D printing, researchers have created a living ink, embedded with the bacterium Acetobacter xylinum. This bacterium produces cellulose, which can be used as scaffolds for skin replacements and more. These advances are stunning and hold such hope for many. As someone who regularly struggles to get their ordinary old paper printer to work properly, Dengler’s article sent F. E. Clark off to wondering what might happen if the wrong bacterium for a skin graft was loaded into the Flink (Functional Living Ink) and the result went unnoticed until it was too late.

//F. E. Clark @feclarkart is a writer and painter from Scotland. She has had many a bad printer experience.//