Tailor-made skin from 'ink' printer

SCIENTISTS at Manchester University have developed a printer able to produce human skin to help wounds heal.

It could be used on patients who have suffered burns and disfigurements. With more research it could even replace broken bones.

Using the same principle as an ink-jet printer, experts are able to take skin cells from a patient's body, multiply them, then print out a tailor-made strip of skin, ready to sew on to the body. The wound's dimensions are entered into the printer to ensure a perfect fit.

The printer, which takes up an area equivalent to three filing cabinets, could see the end of traditional skin and bone grafts.

Scientists at the university's School of Materials have already successfully created skin and believe they will soon be able to create bone and cartilage.

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Ready evidence of Colombian guerrilla leaders' presence in Venezuela

Steve Irwin may be heading Las Vegas (AAP)

STEVE Irwin brought his crocodile wrestling and taipan taming stage show to Los Angeles today in what could be a test run for a long-term $66 million-plus extravaganza show in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas is desperate for a showman like the khaki-clad Crocodile Hunter from Beerwah, Queensland.

A huge void was left on the strip when Roy Horn, of the famous lion taming magicians, Siegfried and Roy, was attacked and critically injured by a 270kg white tiger on stage in 2003 - forcing the show to close.

Irwin will hold two shows in Los Angeles over the next two days as part of the Australia Week festival.

The Croc Hunter said meetings with financial backers, including the big casinos, for a Vegas show were continuing.

"We're seriously thinking about Vegas," Irwin said today outside the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Centre, where he staged his first Australia Week show.

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Privacy 'risk' in national ID plan (The Australian)

James Riley
January 21, 2005 THE identity of Australians could be subjected to unprecedented scrutiny under the biggest security protection plan since the failed Australia Card.

Federal cabinet will soon see a proposal for a national "document verification service" designed to combat identity-related crimes ranging from welfare fraud to terrorism.

It would give federal and state government agencies and key businesses the right to verify the identity of clients by cross-checking birth certificates, drivers' licences and passports through a central data exchange hub.

The Attorney-General's Department is finalising the proposal for the online system.

Airlines, banks and other businesses vulnerable to welfare fraud or terrorism are keen to be part of the project.

The introduction of new-generation passports -- with so-called biometric data including fingerprints or facial features -- means the system could have extraordinary reach over the coming years.

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Airbus jumbo's not big enough for some LINK

Steve Creedy, Aviation writer
January 21, 2005 EUROPEAN manufacturer Airbus is under pressure to make the world's biggest passenger aircraft even bigger.

Airlines including Emirates and Virgin Atlantic are already lobbying for a stretch version of the plane, which could carry more than 1000 people on shorter, heavily travelled routes.

"We've been talking to them about doing a stretch version, a longer version of the current plane that you saw today," Virgin Atlantic chairman Richard Branson said at this week's A380 unveiling.

"They're looking like they may well go for that. That would be another 200 seats so you could get about 1100 people in it."

Emirates plans to use the A380 in a three-class, 489-seat configuration on routes to Australia and New Zealand but it also will have a two-class configuration carrying 644 people.

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