Lifeboat Foundation

A new method can now fabricate entire 3D shapes in seconds using holographic light fields. Fast digital manufacturing could have a big impact in the future.

Advances in regenerative medicine, particularly stem cells and 3D-bioprinted organs, could soon make heart transplantation an obsolete medical procedure.

3D printing has come a long way. In a new study, scientists explore the potential of using bacteria-laced ink to print living materials.

From pizza to urine-based space plastic and even blood vessels, it seems there’s no limit to what can be 3D printed. A new 3D printing platform, created by ETH researchers led by Professor André Studart, head of the Laboratory for Complex Materials, is advancing the process by working with living materials. The specially designed material is actually an ink infused with bacteria. The machine is then able to print living biochemical designs for a wide variety of purposes, which vary depending on the bacteria used. Their research has been published in Science Advances.

A team at MIT has genetically modified bacteria cells and developed a new 3D printing technique to create a “living tattoo” that can respond to a variety of stimuli.

Electronic tattoos and smart ink technologies are showing exciting potential for reframing how we think of wearable sensor devices. While many engineers are experimenting with a variety of responsive materials the MIT team wondered if live cells could be co-opted into a functional use.

Continue reading “3D-printed live bacteria creates world’s first ‘living tattoo’” »

Other uses include biosensors and wound patches.

The soft artificial heart was created from silicone using a 3D-printing, lost-wax casting technique; it weighs 390 grams and has a volume of 679 cm3. “It is a silicone monoblock with complex inner structure,” explains Cohrs. This artificial heart has a right and a left ventricle, just like a real human heart, though they are not separated by a septum but by an additional chamber. This chamber is in- and deflated by pressurized air and is required to pump fluid from the blood chambers, thus replacing the muscle contraction of the human heart.

MIT engineers have developed a new desktop 3D printer that performs up to 10 times faster than existing commercial counterparts. Whereas the most common printers may fabricate a few Lego-sized bricks in one hour, the new design can print similarly sized objects in just a few minutes.

The key to the team’s nimble design lies in the printer’s compact printhead, which incorporates two new, speed-enhancing components: a screw mechanism that feeds polymer material through a nozzle at high force; and a laser, built into the printhead, that rapidly heats and melts the material, enabling it to flow faster through the nozzle.

The team demonstrated its new design by printing various detailed, handheld 3D objects, including small eyeglasses frames, a bevel gear, and a miniature replica of the MIT dome—each, from start to finish, within several minutes.

Panellists debate about using technology to enhance human life.

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Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary, Senior Reporter.

Continue reading “Will 3D printing replicate human life?” »

Picture retrieved from @ADPoliceHQ/Twitter

Among the mind-boggling new targets envisioned by the Abu Dhabi Police are sending police officers to Mars on a UAE-built spaceship and setting up the first ever police centre on Mars, among the long-term goals.

Other targets include creating the first ever cadre of astronaut officers to police outer space; foresight future police who will work to prevent crimes; 3D-printed police patrol vehicles and even a police centre; robot cops that speak every language on earth; replacing 50 per cent of the police force with robots, and carrying out half of all policing and security decisions based on data mining and analysis.

Continue reading “Abu Dhabi Police to set up police centre on Mars” »