Copy of Rio trophy that you can buy on eBay.
It appears instead of flowers, Olympians on the medal stand got a 3D printed sculpture. This was said to be less wasteful than flowers and I suppose more of a long term keepsake. You can read more about it here and even buy your own version on eBay like the picture above. I suppose it beats the old Isthmian games in ancient Corinth, there if you won you got a crown made out of celery!
Components of the Spongesuit bikini. Illustration credit: Eray Carbajo
Would you wear a bikini to help clean the environment? Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have developed a special material called Sponge to clean the water as a person swims. Continue reading
We’ve talked in the past about ways 3D printing can be Earth friendly and reduce CO2, so we’ll just say Happy Earth Day!
The first 3D-printed drug has received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Aprecia Pharmaceuticals has made a drug called Spritam (levetiracetam) that is used to treat epilepsy. By 3D printing the tablet can be made of layers of the powdered drug for rapid dissolution in what they call the ZipDose® platform. Cool to see another serious medical use of 3D printing!
No doubt you’ve heard of the potential of self driving cars and what they could potentially mean to safety and reduced traffic. With thousands killed in accidents due to driver error one wonders if 100 years from now we’ll wonder why a human was ever allowed to pilot such a dangerous machine. Self driving cars can even let the blind drive! Continue reading
It becoming apparent scientifically that in terms of long term health it’s not always just about weight, but percentage of body fat and it’s location. Recent movies like Fed Up talk of the fact that people can have normal weight, but have it distributed in all the wrong places due to poor diet. This has some organizations talking about using 3D scanning to switch from BMI (Body Mass Index) to BVI (Body Volume Index). We’ve talked before about 3D scanning for clothes sizing as all size 6’s or “mediums” aren’t created equal and this is the same for people who may have identical weight and height, but radically different bodies. Continue reading
In last week’s episode of Scorpion on CBS, 3D scanning and printing was at the center of the plot. In the episode called “Djibouti Call“, the characters used 3D printing to try to take down a group of bad guys by disrupting their funding which came through selling artifacts. By switching the real thing for a 3D printed fake they could wreck the groups reputation in antiquities Continue reading
