3-d printing

Researchers a step closer to 'printing' new blood vessels

Vascular systems -- i.e., networks of blood vessels -- are like highways for the delivery of nutrients and removal of waste; without them, cells die quickly. The ability to bioengineer new vasculature is a crucial step toward creating new replacement organs such as livers or kidneys from a patient's own cells.

Bioengineers are already working on creating and assembling single layers of cells that have direct access to nutrients and oxygen -- a process known as "bioprinting." But creating a full-fledged array of new vessels remains a major hurdle. Fluidic pressure coursing through these tiny systems … Read more

The 404 1,074: Where it's not you, it's us (podcast)

The new Apple MacBook Pro with Retina Display announced earlier this week just got an Editors' Choice review on CNET, but some die-hard tinkerers are upset about the lack of upgradeable components inside. According to iFixit.org, the latest MacBook Pro is the least reparable Apple laptop to date.

For starters, users are locked into the amount of RAM they choose at the purchase date, as the memory is actually soldered to the logic board. The proprietary solid-state hard drive is staying put as well, and watch out for a couple of booby traps concealed underneath the lithium-polymer battery! The laptop certainly remains incomparable in terms of display, I/O ports, and chassis, but keep in mind that your upgrade options down the line are severely limited if you go with this model.… Read more

MIT's web-spinning robot: Be very afraid?

Humanity seems hell bent on creating machines that will one day rise up and have no problem whatsoever hunting us all down.

If it's not some researcher conducting experiments in how robots can evolve behaviors such as cooperation and hunting (gulp), it's some misguided engineer developing spiderlike 'bots that will one day surely have no trouble outrunning humble little bipeds like ourselves.

And now we have a robot that can spin a web or a cocoon. … Read more

MakerBot's robot petting zoo ready to storm Maker Faire

BROOKLYN, N.Y.--Given that Maker Faire is being held next month at a Northern California fairgrounds, it's appropriate that one of the attractions will be a petting zoo.

But this will be unlike any you've seen before. There won't be "animals" on display, and there won't be any fur.

Welcome to the Robot Petting Zoo.

The brainchild of the geeks at MakerBot Industries, the zoo will feature a collection of 3D printed robots, each of which will do something unique. Take "Button bot," for example, a happy-looking android with a head … Read more

Pharma firms could soon use 3D printers to create drugs

Sorry, Walter White. There's about to be a new gig in town, and it doesn't involve mixing volatile compounds in sketchy trailer park drug labs.

So say researchers at the University of Glasgow, who are reporting in the journal Nature Chemistry that their novel tech, which they call "reactionware," could turn a commercially-available $2,000 3D printer into a drug lab.

The team says its reactionware uses a robotically-controlled syringe to build objects out of a polymer-based gel that sets at room temperature. So instead of putting chemicals and catalysts in glassware to get a desired … Read more

New 3D printing firm takes shape with Objet-Stratasys merger

You'll be forgiven if you haven't previously heard of Stratasys Inc or Objet Ltd. Stratasys, formerly a Nasdaq-traded company from Eden Prairie, Minn., has a multi-pronged business selling industrial-quality 3D printers and on-demand object printing services. Objet, of Rehovot, Israel, is a 3D printer manufacturer notable for its "polyjet matrix" technology, which can print an object using multiple different materials.

Here's why you might care that the two companies announced their intention to merge: the new company, Stratasys, Ltd. could become a third major competitor in the consumer 3D printing market.… Read more

Why Hollywood loves 3D printing

If you've seen "Iron Man 2," you've seen 3D printing in action at a very high level.

When director Jon Favreau and Paramount Pictures were making the hit 2010 film, they needed to find the best way to put together a physical Iron Man suit for certain scenes in the movie that couldn't be computer generated.

Rather than build models by hand, as was long the practice in Hollywood, the filmmakers turned to 3D printing, one of the hottest technologies around.

Indeed, in the film's scenes that were done in live-action -- as opposed to CGI (computer-generated imagery) -- its star, Robert Downey, Jr., can be seen wearing a suit that was first digitally modeled, then produced in pieces on a sophisticated 3D printer, and then painted. … Read more

3D printing pioneer 3D Systems buys My Robot Nation

3D Systems, the company that says it pioneered 3D printing 26 years ago, announced today that it has acquired My Robot Nation, a California startup that gives buyers a set of simple Web-based tools for designing their own small, collectible 3D-printed droid figures.

During the last couple of years, 3D Systems has been on a buying spree, snatching up 24 3D printing companies. And Cathy Lewis, the company's vice president of global marketing, explained that the idea has been to add many new technologies and applications to 3D Systems' portfolio with a special emphasis on the consumer marketplace.

That'… Read more

Crave 100: The Final Chapter (podcast)

For their final episode, the Crave team does... well, exactly what they always do. Donald goes nuts for a free toy adapter that can create an unholy union between Legos and Tinker Toys. Bonnie recounts her dramatic day of technology detox. And in Geek News, Eric gives his 2 cents on "The Hunger Games" movie.

Subscribe in iTunes SD Video | Subscribe in RSS SD Video … Read more

3D-print your own Raspberry Pi case at home

If you're one of the lucky thousands who snagged a $35 Raspberry Pi pocket Linux system before the first run of 10,000 sold out in just a few minutes, there's almost certainly one question on your mind--where am I going to put this thing?

The Raspberry Pi is a full system with all the needed ports that's about the size of a credit card. It's definitely cheap, but it's not exactly pretty. That's likely because its nonprofit designers are mainly focused on their mission of getting the systems into the hands of kids across the developed and developing world to get them excited about programming.

Fortunately, another emerging technology makes it easy to put some clothes on that tiny naked system.… Read more