A company called SynDaver develops synthetic human bodies for medical students to practice surgeries and other procedures on. The bodies have their own automatic nervous system so that the patient can move its limbs, has a beating heart, dilating pupils, a warm body and and a chest that rises and falls as it breathes. Students can cut into the synthetic human tissues using surgical knives and lasers to see the layers of skin, fat, muscles, tendons and bones - great for anatomy training, as shown on Gizmag. The whole process is controlled by a central computer which can be configured to simulate different medical conditions. The SynDaver Patient is designed as a replacement for human cadavers, which are hard to come by - not enough people donate their bodies to science - and expensive to store and dispose of. The fake patients, which cost up to $85,000 (£54,000), can also be used for practising ultrasound, X-ray and CT scanning. The company also makes individual organs including lungs, livers, kidneys, brains and intestines - all for between $100 and $4,000 depending on the level of complexity. Source
