The National Science Foundation is funding a remarkable array of biomedical technology solutions to help patients from mere hours after birth to days before death. Innovations include a protein-based implant for restoring vision, a method for 3-D printing with human tissue and a man-made material that mimics bone.
3D printer
July 19, 2016
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) engineers have achieved unprecedented scalability in 3-D printed architectures of arbitrary geometry, opening the door to super-strong, ultra-lightweight and flexible metallic materials for aerospace, the military and the automotive industry, according to a published announcement.
June 1, 2016
The common battery may not keep going and going and going after all. A recent scientific advance—the first successfully 3-D printed supercapacitors using an ultralightweight graphene aerogel—could lead to the end of the ubiquitous power source. The breakthrough also could allow greater flexibility in the design of electronics and provide the juice for high-powered military systems.
August 19, 2015
Under an 18-month Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA), Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories will use state-of-the-art software for generative design from San Rafael-based Autodesk Inc. as it studies how new material microstructures, arranged in complex configurations and printed with additive manufacturing techniques, will produce objects with physical properties that were never before possible. LLNL researchers will bring to bear several key technologies, such as additive manufacturing, material modeling and architected design (arranging materials at the micro and nanoscale through computational design).
August 23, 2012
A group of architects at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia have created a solar-powered, eco-friendly, robotic, 3D printer capable of building bridges and other structures from soil and a liquid binder. Known as the Stone Spray Project, the endeavor pushes the boundaries of digitial manufacturing and on-site fabrication machines.
November 6, 2014
If it’s said good things come in small packages, imagine the edible delights that might come from a 3-D printer.
One day, it might not be left to the imagination as scientists from the U.S. Army’s Natick Research Center are studying just that—printed food. (We wonder if the heated toner smell will be optional.)
The Army has not begun printing food; in fact, it does not yet have a printer. But it has the idea and the funding for next year to research the potential capabilities of 3-D food printers.
