Everyman to become Aquaman: 3-D Printed Wearable Human Gill

Biomimicry has arrived. Or is arriving as art and science, form and function unite.

The new human gill is called Amphibio. But you won’t be able to buy it anytime soon. The technology is miraculous, but it’s not ready for use just yet. At the current level of efficiency the average person would need 344-foot gills just to get enough oxygen to breathe comfortably underwater.

Made by the RCA-IIS Tokyo Design Lab, the Amphibio is made of a new porous, ultra water repellent material.

“In the sea water, you have dissolved oxygen molecules due to constant mixing by waves. The gill is able to replenish itself with oxygen whenever the oxygen in the gill is consumed, as it is porous and lets the oxygen molecules in the water travel across its membrane,” says the inventor, a student at Tokyo’s Royal College of Art Jun Kamei.

Although it won’t be ready for the market for some time, it’s definitely a start. The body hugging gill might even win a fashion award.