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Biomedical engineers from the University of Melbourne have invented a 3D printing system, or bioprinter, capable of fabricating structures that closely mimic the diverse tissues in the human body, from soft brain tissue to harder materials like cartilage and bone.

This cutting-edge technology offers cancer researchers an advanced tool for replicating specific organs and tissues, significantly improving the potential to predict and develop new pharmaceutical therapies. This would pave the way for more advanced and ethical drug discovery by reducing the need for animal testing.

Head of the Collins BioMicrosystems Laboratory at the University of Melbourne, Associate Professor David Collins said: In addition to drastically improving print speed, our approach enables a degree of cell positioning within printed tissues. Incorrect cell positioning is a big reason most 3D bioprinters fail to produce structures that accurately represent human tissue.

Caltech’s new optical devices, evolved by algorithms and crafted via precise 3D printing, offer advanced light-manipulation for applications like augmented reality and cameras.

Researchers at Caltech have developed a groundbreaking technology that “evolves” optical devices and fabricates them using a specialized 3D printer. These devices, composed of optical metamaterials, gain their unique properties from nanometer-scale structures. This innovation could enable cameras and sensors to detect and manipulate light in ways previously impossible at such small scales.

The research was conducted in the lab of Andrei Faraon, the William L. Valentine Professor of Applied Physics and Electrical Engineering and was published in the journal Nature Communications.

A team of materials scientists, medical researchers and engineers affiliated with a large number of institutions across Australia has developed a new way to conduct digital light manufacturing that overcomes problems with current methods. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the group describes their new technique, how it works and ways it might be used.

A pioneering technique shows how sound can be used to create entire objects quickly and at once. Researchers at Concordia have developed a novel method of 3D printing that uses acoustic holograms. And they say it’s quicker than existing methods and capable of making more complex objects.

The process, called holographic direct sound printing (HDSP), is described in a recent article in the journal Nature Communications. It builds on a method introduced in 2022 that described how sonochemical reactions in microscopic cavitations regions — tiny bubbles — create extremely high temperatures and pressure for trillionths of a second to harden resin into complex patterns.

Now, by embedding the technique in acoustic holograms that contain cross-sectional images of a particular design, polymerization occurs much more quickly. It can create objects simultaneously rather than voxel-by-voxel.

Researchers at MIT have unexpectedly stumbled upon a way to 3D print active electronics – meaning transistors and components for controlling electrical signals – without the use of semiconductors or even special fabrication technology.

That goes far beyond what we can currently do with 3D printers. And if perfected, this method could eventually spell the beginning of a new wave in prototyping, experimentation, and even DIY projects for tinkerers at home.

With 3D printing, any of a range of materials including thermoplastic filaments, resin, ceramic, and metal, are laid down in successive thin layers to form a three-dimensional object. That means you can print all kinds of things, from action figures to jewelry to furniture to buildings.