Can you grow gills

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SR Blackbird: Still the world's fastest plane. NASA's X is still the world's fastest manned aircraft. Vatican's Swiss Guards get new 3D-printed helmet. Artificial gills for humans could become a reality. Inspired by the gills of water-diving insects, Amphibio is a two-part 3D-printed garment consisting of a vest and a mask made of a "superhydrophobic" or extremely water-repellent material.

Simply put, the porous garment extracts oxygen from surrounding water and dissipates carbon dioxide. Visual prototype of the gill garment, designed by Jun Kamei. That said, these challenges haven't thwarted others' attempts to ditch pressurized scuba tanks. Israeli inventor Alon Bodner has been developing a battery-powered prototype that uses a high-speed centrifuge to reduce the pressure of captured seawater, which causes oxygen to bubble up and escape into a separate chamber, much the same way carbon dioxide gases are released when opening a can of soda.

The drawback is that the contraption, dubbed "LikeAFish," requires a high-capacity and likely heavy power source to function. Another more exotic approach by scientists at Nottingham Trent University in England was inspired by the great diving beetle, an insect with anatomical features that allow it to survive underwater. Tiny hairs located on its abdomen work to trap a pocket of air between its respiratory opening and the surrounding water.

This protective layer of air also acts as a filter, allowing oxygen gases locked up in the water to pass in and carbon dioxide to diffuse out. In one experiment, researchers were able to mimic this effect, to some degree, using a "super-water-repellant porous foam" material wrapped around an oxygen inhaling device.

But, any way you frame it, it looks like it will be a while before a human can be one with the fishes. Tuan C. Nguyen is a Silicon Valley-based journalist specializing in technology, health, design and innovation.