Why sensationalism does not have medicine’s best interests at heart

Cathal O'Connell
3D heart

I work in the field of bioprinting, where the aim is to build biological tissues by printing living cells into 3D structures.

Last month, I found my Facebook news feed plastered with an amazing story about “the first 3D-printed heart using a patient’s own cells”.

A video showed a beautiful, healthy-looking heart apparently materialising inside a vat of pinkish liquid (pictured).

Unfortunately, many of these media reports didn’t match up well with the original science.