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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.

Aided by 3D models of Bentley’s brain, Dr. John Meara performed the risky surgery on May 24 to save the 7-month-old’s life.

Continue reading “Boston Children’s Hospital uses 3D printing to help baby born with brain outside his skull” | >

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.

FullSizeRender-2-768x1024Although a number of 3D printing service bureaus rejected Dr. Di Silvestro’s 3D fossil models due to their design complexity, the Materialise office in Italy rose to the occasion and helped bring these trilobites back to our physical reality. For Dr. Di Silvestro and Baldassare, Materialise’s 3D printing technology has provided them with the ideal solution.

Continue reading “Italian Paleontologist Turns to Materialise to Help 3D Print Trilobite Fossils” | >

They’re calling this a 3 Axis Vector Nano Superconducting Quantum Interference Device which is pretty exciting because it enables the ability to make smaller and cheaper devices for measuring light, such as optical sensors and photodetectors which are and will grow in demand especially with some of the AI technology that is and will be developed. Optical sensors are used to read the gestures/ expressions of a face which are important in security, AI technology, etc. Just hope the cost savings is passed on.

(Phys.org)—Researchers have fabricated a silicon optical antenna that is somewhat like an extremely small, special kind of prism. This is because when a red light shines on the optical antenna, the light turns right, but when the light is another color such as orange, it turns left.

This unusual property, which is called “bidirectional color scattering,” enables the optical antenna to function effectively as a passive wavelength router for visible . The device could have applications for innovative light sensors, light-matter manipulation, and optical communication.

The new optical antenna was developed by a team of researchers, Jiaqi Li et al., at imec (Interuniversity MicroElectronics Center) and the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), both in Leuven, Belgium. Their work is published in a recent issue of Nano Letters.

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Scientists are one step closer to using CRISPR gene editing on humans, with a US federal advisory panel approving the use of the technique for a study led by the University of Pennsylvania.

The scientists are seeking to use the CRISPR-Cas9 technique to create genetically altered T cells – white blood cells that play an important role in our immune system – that are more effective at fighting cancer cells in patients with melanoma, multiple myeloma, and sarcoma.

“Our preliminary data suggests that we could improve the efficacy of these T cells if we use CRISPR,” lead researcher Carl June told the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) on Tuesday.

Continue reading “A federal panel just gave the green light to use gene editing on humans” | >

Moscow has signed an agreement with Los Angeles-based company Hyperloop One to explore building a futuristic, high-speed transportation system known as a Hyperloop in the Russian capital.

A Hyperloop involves using magnets to levitate pods inside an airless tube, creating conditions in which the floating pods can shuttle people and cargo at speeds of up to 750 mph (1,200 kph).

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The Age of Intelligent Machines was written and produced for the science museum exhibition “Robots and Beyond: The Age of Intelligent Machines” by Ray Kurzweil in 1987. This film was produced for a mainstream audience, and focuses on developments in artificial intelligence. Soundtrack features music by award winning recording artist Stevie Wonder. Film series features two parts: “Machines that Think” and “Intelligence, It’s Amazing!”

Continue reading “Ray Kurzweil — The Age of Intelligent Machines Documentary” | >