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Category: 3D printing – Page 64

3D Printed Human Corneas To Cure Blindness Are Here

Scientists at Newcastle University, in the United Kingdom, have 3D printed the world’s first real human corneas. This is unbelievable news since today, there is a significant shortage of corneas available for transplant. In the future, this printing technique could be used to ensure an unlimited supply of corneas.

The cornea is the outermost layer of the human eye and it has an important role in focusing vision. Statistics show that there are currently 10 million people worldwide requiring surgery to prevent corneal blindness as a result of diseases such as trachoma, an infectious eye disorder. On top of that, there are an additional 5 million people who suffer total blindness due to corneal scarring caused by burns, lacerations, abrasion or disease.

3D Printed Heads Can Unlock Phones. What Does that Mean for Biometric Security?

Facial recognition technology is likely not as safe as you may have thought. This was illustrated by a recent test where 3D printed busts of peoples’ heads were used to unlock smartphones.

Out of five tested phones, only one refused to open when presented with the fake head.

Other biometric security measures are also showing less resilience to hacking than you might expect. A group of Japanese researchers recently showed it was possible to copy a person’s fingerprints from pictures like the ones many of us post on social media.

Researchers Turn Old Cooking Oil from McDonald’s into Resin for 3D Printing

Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough transformed used cooking oil from deep fryers at McDonald’s into a biodegradable resin.

Turns out that leftover cooking oil in McDonald’s deep fryers is actually good for 3D printing.

Researchers at the University of Toronto Scarborough were able to turn it into a biodegradable resin, they announced in a press release.

Cloning musical heritage in the key of 3D

When Mina Jang played the same melodious tune on two different flutes behind a screen, she said the examiners grading her couldn’t tell the difference.

Yet the two instruments were made in dramatically different ways.

One was a handmade version of an original early 18th-century crafted in 2001, while the other was made of white plastic and “cloned” using a 3D printer in 2019.

Coalition of states sue over rules governing 3D-printed guns

Attorneys general in 20 states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a federal regulation that could allow blueprints for making guns on 3D printers to be posted on the internet.

New York Attorney General Tish James, who helped lead the coalition of state attorneys general, argued that posting the blueprints would allow anyone to go online and use the downloadable files to create unregistered and untraceable assault-style weapons that could be difficult to detect.

The lawsuit, joined by California, Washington and 17 other states, was filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle. It is likely to reignite a fierce debate over the use of 3D-printed firearms and is the latest in a series of attempts by state law enforcement officials to block the Trump administration from easing the accessibility of the blueprints.

Mum No More: 3D Printed Vocal Tract Lets Mummy Speak

The coffin that holds the mummified body of the ancient Egyptian Nesyamun, who lived around 1100 B.C., expresses the man’s desire for his voice to live on. Now, 3,000 years after his death, that wish has come true. Using a 3D-printed replica of Nesyamun’s vocal tract and an electronic larynx, researchers in the UK have synthesized the dead man’s voice. Listen to it here:

How 3D Printing, Vertical Farming, and Materials Science Are Overhauling Food

Within the next 10 years, what we eat and how it’s grown will be fundamentally transformed.

And converging exponential technologies—from materials science to AI-driven digital agriculture—are not slowing down. Today’s breakthroughs will soon allow our planet to boost its food production by nearly 70 percent, using a fraction of the real estate and resources, to feed 9 billion by mid-century.

What you consume, how it was grown, and how it will end up in your stomach will all ride the wave of converging exponentials, revolutionizing the most basic of human needs.

[Note: This article is an excerpt from my next book The Future Is Faster Than You Think, co-authored with Steven Kotler, to be released January 28th, 2020.]

Printing Food

3D Bioprinted Organ Just Took Its First “Breath”

3D bio-printed Lung tissue.

Rice University researcher’s bioprinting method could be scaled up to one day construct an entire organ and allow organs to be made using some of a patient’s own cells to prevent organ rejection. Researcher’s long term goals are to bioprint fully functioning organs. Synthetic organs can extend the waiting period of an average 3.6 years for a real organ.

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