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Today we can print human skin. Soon we may be able to print human organs. A new item has just been added to the list of things that can be 3D printed: human skin. This is what researchers from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) in Spain have recently demonstrated. With a 3D printer that uses special ink composed of human cells, they were able to create human skin that looks and behaves like real skin — with a dermis and an epidermis, able to produce collagen and react like real skin does to tests done. This artificially created...

Through studying the geometry of strong structures, MIT researchers are now one step closer to 3D printing graphene. By comparison, 2D graphene is better at conducting electricity than copper wires, ten times stronger than steel, and lighter and certainly more transparent than both of them. The problem is that these properties as are all theoretical and scaling the nanomaterial has proved challenging. Furthermore, in order to compete with copper and steel, graphene has to be 3D. 3D graphene – here’s the deal The challenges of making a 3D structure out of a 2D material is that the material’s atomic structure,...

As 3D printing continues to develop and evolve, we’ve begun to see it branch off quite a bit from the typical image of a machine depositing layers onto a flat build platform. 3D printing has been adapted to print onto preexisting objects, onto fabric, and in multiple directions. Machines capable of doing these fancy tricks are still rare and expensive, though, and not quite accessible to the average maker, but that may not be the case forever. A group of UK researchers recently published a paper about their efforts to develop an affordable system that can 3D print onto uneven,...

The four mega-trends shaping the global auto industry over the next 15-odd years are undoubtedly vehicles with lower emissions, new powertrain technologies, autonomous automobiles and vehicle digitalization. Reflecting these mega-trends, one can anticipate more developments in lightweighting, drivetrain optimization, car computerization, infotainment and driverless transportation in 2017. Here PlasticsToday gives its take on some of the key developments expected in 2017. Staying connected, and entertained Rather than being interested in the size of the engine and the shape of the car, consumers are now more interested in “infotainment” systems, being connected, autonomous driving and diverse mobility, notes consultant McKinsey. Traditionally,...

As 3D printers shrink in size and price and make their way into more homes, they're starting to bring more of the higher-end functions, like the ability to print objects with multiple materials, down to the consumer level. German startup Next Dynamics has now unveiled the NexD1, a multi-color, multi-material 3D printer for the home that can use a conductive resin to create custom electronic circuit boards. Everything from paper sculptures to candies can be printed from devices small enough to fit on the counter at home, but the NexD1 (which the team pronounces like "next-one") does things a little...

Competition to produce the most effective method of 3D glass printing is running high as Israeli Micron3DP announce plans to deliver its 3D printer for alpha testing at the end of 2017. Technique old as time With over 5,000 years of history, glassmaking has been refined into countless styles all across the inhabited world. The process, however, even when it comes to naturally occurring obsidian glass, still remains much the same: sand and minerals are combined at high temperatures up to 1500°C, and, in manufacturing at least, it is either blown, e.g. for vases, or floated on top of metal,...

Meat could be used in 3D printing to produce a soft food with specific nutrients and suitable for people who have problems with chewing or swallowing. By using a meat extract as ink, layer-by-layer, a food could be created that is as soft as butter and like meat, packed with nutrients. Meat and Livestock Australia was alerted to the possibility of red meat three-dimensional printing after seeing it done with chicken meat in Germany. The research, development and marketing body has investigated a way to turn every last bit of meat from the bone into a high value product and...

Chris Kelsey is a high school dropout. He’s also a millionaire and a serial entrepreneur. “Growing up as a teenager, I didn’t have any money,” he tells Tech in Asia. “And when I started Appsitude, I finally did, and I was thinking, what is something that we can do to change the world?” Chris is the co-founder and CEO of Cazza, a construction automation company. Before that, he was the CEO of Appsitude, a mobile app development and marketing startup that he founded when he was 17. In October, Appsitude was acquired by Indian entrepreneur and investor Deepansh Jain, giving...

The demand for body organs to be used for transplantation is undoubtedly very high. In fact, US Department of Health and Human Services statistics show that in the U.S., there are currently 119,966 people that need an organ transplant to live. However, there only have been 11,777 organ donors as of October 2016. Another morbid fact that society faces today is that more and more evidence of organ trafficking is being exposed, with reports that some of these body organs like kidneys and livers sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars in the black market. There is a need obviously...

"[Three-dimensional] printing brings something to magnet design which we could previously only dream of," said researcher Dieter Süss. VIENNA, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- From a technological perspective, making a powerful magnet is no problem. Precisely controlling the shape of magnet's magnetic field, however, has proven difficult -- until now. Engineers at TU Wien have for the first time designed and produced magnets using a 3D printer. The method offers scientists newfound control over the size and shape of the magnetic field, allowing them to produce magnets that better meet the needs of a range of technologies. "The strength of a...

Remember the Trinus 3D printer? While 3D printing startups have previously been responsible for some huge crowdfunding successes on Kickstarter, Kodama and their Trinus 3D printer showed the world how it’s done by raising more than $1.64 million USD during their extremely successful campaign. That achievement grew out of the appeal of the all-metal Trinus 3D printer, the first all-metal 3D printer to dip below the $500 price point. In fact, early bird pledgers picked one up for just $199. While huge Kickstarter successes sometimes create equally huge logistic challenges, Kodama seems to have thought of everything and the first...

In 2014, a small start-up shook SOLIDWORKS World with a game-changing technology capable of reinforcing nylon 3D-printed parts with continuous carbon fiber. Markforged, out of Cambridge, Mass., demonstrated that for about $5,000, any machine shop, manufacturing facility or lab could produce carbon fiber–reinforced parts on-demand. The company has since upgraded its system with the Mark Two 3D printer and released a number of new materials, including Kevlar reinforcement and a chopped carbon fiber-nylon composite. Now, however, Markforged aims to change the 3D printing game once again with a new printer dubbed the Mark X. ENGINEERING.com spoke to Markforged CEO and...

A newly qualified architect turned her back on the construction industry to spend her days building ornate cakes with the help of a 3D printer. Dinara Kasko was determined to be an architect and design landmark buildings, so she attended Kharkov University Architecture School in her home country. But, as soon as she started working in the industry, she just knew it wasn’t for her. So the 27-year-old Ukrainian looked for a way to apply her skills to another arena. She worked as a designer, a photographer and then a 3D visualizer. She started baking in the background, as a...

For Perumal Gandhi and Ryan Pandya, the impetus to start their company in 2014 really came down to cheese. Gandhi, now 25, was trying to cut back on meat and dairy for sustainability and animal welfare reasons, but he desperately missed pizza. Pandya, 24, was experimenting with veganism but one incident in particular gave him pause: He bought a bagel slathered with dairy-free cream cheese that was so sad and soppy that it dripped all over his leg. “It’s asking a lot of someone to become vegan,” says Pandya. Cheese is only the beginning. As he puts it, “you have...

We recently reported on an alliance between four companies that has 3D printed heart structures in a weightless environment. As the first installment of our regular new feature where we put one big question to one really smart person, we asked Euguene D. Boland, the chief scientist of Techshot — one of the companies involved in the research — what the single biggest impediment is to having lab-grown organs available right now. The single biggest impediment is one familiar to many other engineers in their disciplines as well, it's transport. In our case, we are not moving people or cars...

The face of an ancient female Egyptian mummy has been reconstructed with the help of 3D printing and forensic science techniques, an important step to better understand who she was. Other crucial details about her health have also been gathered, completing the picture. This reconstruction was only made possible due to the work of a multi-disciplinary team led by scientists at Melbourne University, combining medical research, forensic science, computerised tomographic (CT) scanning, 3D printing, Egyptology and art. It all started when Dr Ryan Jefferies, curator at the University's Harry Brookes Allen Museum of Anatomy and Pathology, stumbled across the skull...

In cooperation with the Sinapore University of Technology and Design, the MIT researchers found a way to print tiny features on a micron scale, and then bent them — causing them to spring back into their original shape afterwards after being heated to a certain temperatures, according to an MIT statement. There are so many potential important applications for the discovery, including actuators that would turn solar panels toward the sun automatically and drug capsules that act on their own. It’s something that goes beyond 3D printing into what researchers would call 4D printing, as the structures cross into the...

Lockheed Martin, the aerospace company, have filed a patent for a new kind of 3D printer. The patent, filed on April 4 by inventor David G. Findley, describes a new way of 3D printing which would use a pre-ceramic polymer and nanoparticle filler to create synthetic diamond objects of pretty much any shape you can dream up. “[The] method includes depositing alternating layers of a ceramic powder and a pre-ceramic polymer dissolved in a solvent. Each layer of the pre-ceramic polymer is deposited in a shape corresponding to a cross section of an object. The alternating layers of the ceramic...

Just how strong is strong? When browsing the web for new and exciting material solutions, you are often bombarded with terms like ‘very high toughness’ and ‘excellent material properties’, but that means little until you see a filament in action. US developer of engineering-grade filaments Avante Technology must have been all too aware of that, because they just exposed their recently released FilaOne Gray Carbon Nanotube filled 3D printer filament to a grueling strength test during which it supported 1,000 times its own weight and easily withstood 90 degree bends. Now that’s strong. This remarkable FilaOne Gray filament was released...

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is a method of creating almost anything you can think of by using a computer-controlled printer. 3D printing takes digital files and transforms them into real, three-dimensional, solid products. With a 3D printer, you are able to design and manufacture everyday items such as shoes, jewelry, auto parts, medical equipment, homes, and even artificial organs right in your own home or office! The process begins with creating a virtual design of the object you want to make. This design is made in a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) file, using a 3D modeling program which...