WHAT IS THIS?

The picture shows the prototype of a new, customised pacemaker on the surface of a model of the heart of a rabbit. By means of MRI and CT scans, scientists have produced a 3D computer model of a rabbit heart, 3D printing it in plastic. A thin membrane with 30 electrodes connected to a network of flexible cords is customised using the plastic heart as a guide. The network of electrodes is a pacemaker, which is placed on the rabbit’s real heart. The pacemaker records the heart’s electric signals and mechanical work. Based on this data, scientists calculate which electrodes are to affect the heart by a weak shock.