Archive for the ‘3D printing’ category: Page 109
Jun 25, 2016
Brain-like computers may now be realistic
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, computing, nanotechnology, robotics/AI, transportation
Power consumption is one of the biggest reasons why you haven’t seen a brain-like computer beyond the lab: the artificial synapses you’d need tend to draw much more power than the real thing. Thankfully, realistic energy use is no longer an unattainable dream. Researchers have built nanowire synapses that consume just 1.23 femtojoules of power — for reference, a real neuron uses 10 femtojoules. They achieve that extremely low demand by using a wrap of two organic materials to release and trap ions, much like real nerve fibers.
There’s a lot of work to be done before this is practical. The scientists want to shrink their nanowires down from 200 nanometers thick to a few dozen, and they’d need new 3D printing techniques to create structures that more closely imitate real brains. Nonetheless, the concept of computers with brain-level complexity is that much more realistic — the team tells Scientific American that it could see applications in everything from smarter robots and self-driving cars through to advanced medical diagnosis.
Jun 24, 2016
Star Trek Replicators Become Reality With NASA’s New 3D Printer/Recycler
Posted by Andreas Matt in categories: 3D printing, futurism
NASA aims for a Star Trek future by transforming replicators into a real-world technology using a 3D printer/recycler! — B.J. Murphy for Serious Wonder.
Jun 23, 2016
3D-printed phones herald world of instant electronic everything
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: 3D printing, mobile phones
Circuits can now be 3D-printed directly into electronic devices – meaning factories could spit out new gadgets almost as quickly as we can think them up.
Jun 22, 2016
A Tiny House Was Built in 24 Hours, Thanks to A 3D Concrete Printer
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: 3D printing, computing, habitats
Forget pitching a tent when camping; soon (at this rate) we can have the 3D Printer print us a cabin.
A tiny house was built using Vesta, the 3D concrete printer. It took 24 hours to build the structure. The developer aims to shorten the construction time with the third version of the device.
Vesta, the 3D concrete printer, was just used to print a house. Though the word “house” may be a little suspect. Admittedly, given its size, the structure is more of a tool shed than a home, but one could theoretically live inside of it.
Continue reading “A Tiny House Was Built in 24 Hours, Thanks to A 3D Concrete Printer” »
Jun 22, 2016
Boston Children’s Hospital uses 3D printing to help baby born with brain outside his skull
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, neuroscience
3D Printing never ceases to amaze me.
Doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital used a 3D printout of a boy’s skull to prepare for the surgery that saved his life, STAT reports.
Bentley Yoder was born with encephalocele, a rare and often fatal defect in which the skull doesn’t form properly. In Bentley’s case, a significant portion of his brain grew outside of his skull, according to STAT. Despite being told he would not survive, his parents, Dustin and Sierra, continued to seek treatment that would give their son a future, eventually traveling from their home in Ohio to Boston Children’s Hospital.
Jun 22, 2016
This brilliant 10-year-old kid built a fully functional 3D printer out of Legos and K’nex
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: 3D printing, innovation
One of the latest innovations in the 3D printing world comes from a preteen who created a 3D printer using a 3D –rinting pen and a Lego Mindstorms EV3.
Jun 22, 2016
Italian Paleontologist Turns to Materialise to Help 3D Print Trilobite Fossils
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: 3D printing, bioengineering, biotech/medical
Who needs cloning or gene editing; when you have 3D printers.
Although—in the grand scheme of things—3D printing is a relatively new technology in the eyes of humanity, that certainly doesn’t mean that it can’t be used to recreate some of the most ancient artifacts and fossils scattered throughout the Earth. Over the past year, we’ve seen 3D printing technology help recreate the oldest chameleon fossil ever found, as well as a 1220-foot Titanosaur fossil. Even some of the world’s tiniest fossils have been digitally resized and 3D printed so that a paleontologist from the University of Oxford could better examine them. Now, trilobites, which are a group of extinct marine arthropods, are undergoing their own unique form of 3D printed treatment.
Dr. Gianpaolo Di Silvestro, established paleontologist and CEO of the Italian company Trilobite Design Italia, specializes in this group of extinct arthropods, and uses his company to sell both original trilobite fossils and model replicas to collectors, institutions, and museums across the globe. After realizing that a great number of museums were able to provide text information on these fossils, but not a true physical representation, Dr. Di Silvestro decided to provide these museums with palpable trilobite models that would allow visitors to actually hold the ancient past in the palms of their hands. Since traditional fossil casting and modeling proved to be much too costly and time-consuming, Dr. Di Silvestro instead collaborated with Italian architect and 3D designer Francesco Baldassare to work in tandem and design accurate 3D models of trilobites.
Continue reading “Italian Paleontologist Turns to Materialise to Help 3D Print Trilobite Fossils” »
Jun 21, 2016
Techshot accomplishes 3D bioprinting in zero gravity
Posted by Klaus Baldauf in categories: 3D printing, biotech/medical, space travel
NASA contractor Techshot have become the first to 3D print a heart structure in zero gravity using human stem cells. Together with 3D bioprinter developers nScrypt and bio-ink specialists Bioficial Organs they have successfully printed cardiac and vascular structures, and believe this could further 3D bioprinting efforts on solid ground.
Techshot have been developing technologies for NASA, SpaceX and other partners for more than 25 years. They have tech aboard the International Space Station among other places, and are also known for combining their aerospace specialism with the medical sector, having built the Bone Densitometer zero-gravity X ray machine.
NScrypt are responsible for building the world’s first 3D bioprinter back in 2003, and have been working on micro-dispensing and 3D printing systems for years. Also in the team was Bioficial Organs, which has grown out of the Cardiovascular Innovation Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, and specializes in organ 3D printing innovations.
Jun 17, 2016
Miami’s DiAmante produces synthetic diamonds for high-tech applications
Posted by Karen Hurst in categories: 3D printing, computing, quantum physics
Congrats DiAmante! Synthetic Diamond perfection for Quantum Computing and other technologies such as medical technology usage. Synthetic Diamonds (for all you startups or folks looking for something to get into) mass manufacturing is a huge demand area and it is only going to grow in demand with QC and the new medical technologies that are coming over the next 5 to 7 years. I have been researching 3D printers to see what can be done to mimic the process. Suggest HP and Intel to work hard in this space. I did locate one printer so far that is mass producing synthetic diamonds; the quality needs to be improved.
DiAmante makes synthetic diamonds for the semiconductor market.
The founder’s goal: ‘a diamond-based technology revolution’
Continue reading “Miami’s DiAmante produces synthetic diamonds for high-tech applications” »