But many of the approximately 34 million people around the world living without a natural limb don’t have access to this process at all. <div><a href="http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?iu=%2F4624%2FTheAtlanticOnline%2Fchannel_health&t=src%3Dblog%26by%3Dtravis-m-andrews%26title%3Dcan-we-really-3-d-print-limbs-for-amputees-%26cat%3Dbody%26pos%3Din-article&sz=300x185&c=95731236&tile=3" title=""><img src="http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ad?iu=%2F4624%2FTheAtlanticOnline%2Fchannel_health&t=src%3Dblog%26by%3Dtravis-m-andrews%26title%3Dcan-we-really-3-d-print-limbs-for-amputees-%26cat%3Dbody%26pos%3Din-article&sz=300x185&c=95731236&tile=3" alt="" /></a></div> The motivation to research and create more advanced prosthetic limbs is not financial. The money poured into research isn’t often recouped, simply because there aren’t enough customers. And it isn’t cheap for those customers, either.