In medical disciplines such as surgery, it is crucial for practitioners to have hands-on experience with procedures before performing them in a clinical setting.  This is easier said than done: certain operations are difficult to replicate outside of a living subject.  It can also be difficult to access and learn on practice models outside of an educational setting, posing a problem for practicing surgeons who want to utilize techniques developed after the completion of their education.  Animal models and tissues provide one solution to this problem, allowing students and professionals to develop their skills on non-human subjects.  This article from The Annals of Thoracic Surgery describes one such simulator for the practice of thoracoscopic lobectomy.

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