Yes.
You'll have to change your name to 3-D Printer Dean...
3-D Printer Ping!
Posted on 05/25/2014 7:42:45 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but scientists have now printed, not picked, fresh fruit. Researchers working at a company in Cambridge, England, have used a new process to enable the 3D printing of a variety of fresh products. They recently unveiled the process and results at the TechFoodHack conference held in Cambridge, an experimental dining event that also included the unveiling of a new flavour of gelato.
3D printing was first demonstrated back in 1984, but use of the technique was not widespread until 2010 when the cost of the Additive Manufacturing machines dropped significantly in price. Since then, applications for 3D printing have grown by leaps and bounds. This technology can be used to manufacture a wide range of products using a variety of different materials, including metals, nylon, plastics, and textiles. Applications have been used in the military, in fashion and in manufacturing and repair.
These applications also extend to medicine. 3D printing machines have been used to produce medical devices such as hip replacements and jaw implants. In a famous case from earlier this year, doctors were also able to perform a successful facial reconstruction surgery on an injured motorcyclist. Scientists have also used the technology to print human tissues as well. A number of different tissues have already been produced, including human ears, vascular tissue, liver tissue, a small functioning kidney, and even a windpipe, printed from stem cells and transplanted into a two-year old patient.
This seemingly futuristic technology can be applied to food science as well. Scientists working in the food industry at Modern Meadow, a company located at the University of Missouri, want to use the new technology to create meat for human consumption. Given the substantial environmental impact of farming animals for food, this could be a welcome means of feeding a rising population while minimizing the damage to the planet. The new application of this process such that fruit can now be printed, not picked, by scientists is intended more for creative culinary experimentation than for a replacement of traditional food production methods.
The new demonstration by scientists working at Dovetailed, the Cambridge-based company, used a process called “spherification,” which was originally discovered back in the 1950’s. Spherification allows scientists to use liquid or puree from a fruit and then form small spheres containing that flavour. The 3D printer can then combine those spheres with others containing different flavours, allowing for the production of unique flavour combinations into whichever shape or form is desired.
The company says that this process only takes a few seconds, giving chefs the opportunity to explore novel fruit tastes. Dovetailed hopes that this will be available not only to professional chefs working in commercial kitchens, but that eventually it will be compact and cheap enough for consumers to do this in their own homes. This would open the door to unique gastronomical creations, an exciting opportunity for the courageous chefs of the world. How well this idea sits with the general public remains to be seen, but if Dovetailed can make this new technology cheap enough, it would not likely be just scientists who have their fruit printed, not picked.
Frankenfood?
I'd like one of those please. In a medium-small, left side. And a spleen, if it's available.
I miss my left kidney. We used to talk...
/johnny
1. Grow fruit
2. Harvest fruit
3. Chop fruit up
4. Dehydrate it
5. Pulverize it
6. 3-D print with it
7. Call it fruit
Yes.
You'll have to change your name to 3-D Printer Dean...
3-D Printer Ping!
What could be simpler?
That’s what struck me, too.
#1 should read...
1. God uses his “additive manufacturing, cellular self-assembly process” to make fruit
2. Harvest fruit
3. Chop fruit up
4. Dehydrate it
5. Pulverize it
6. 3-D print with it
7. Call it fruit
Doesn’t call anymore?
How sad:-(
Spleen and I never really talked. It was always there, but the left kidney... after a night of cheap beer, we'd always have a chat.
/johnny
Michelle’s School Lunch program will now include printers.
Yikes. How do you get on without your spleen?
I won’t gain weight on Frankenfood! Oh, goodie.
Fruit roll-ups??
What they are doing with 3D printing with stem cells is great. I really do look forward to having a replacement kidney, grown from my own stem cells.
/johnny
They are expecting to create a functional human heart in about 5 years.
Printing large biological parts will take place in a cold environment with the part submerged in a cold, oxygen rich liquid. Small pores will be left in the parts so that oxygen rich fluid can flow through. The pores will be sealed immediately prior to implantation using a biological glue.
In a decade or two very complex parts like a human arm will be replicated.... this tech is actually more advanced than the medical tech portrayed in most sci-fi films.
They will be able to rebuild a human eye probably by 2025 or so....it will also be possible to make a human eye from scratch and use nano-robotics to connect it to the optic nerve.
It will be possible using nano-tech and bio-tech to completely rejuvenate a human by 2035 or so. 90yrs old back to 25.
It will be possible to create new eggs so that older women can give birth after their bodies are rebuilt. It will also be possible for genetic males to give birth since actual wombs, ovaries and eggs can be built using 3D biological assemblers.
A lot of really strange stuff is just around the corner.
Advancements in computer science are what is making all this possible and the rate of change gets greater every day.
This tech advancement is not a linear process. The ability of computers to manipulate biological tissue at the molecular level is the game changer...it will mean physical immortality.
The day approaches when to save a human life all that need be done is to save the brain itself... everything else can be rebuilt.... I doubt Obamacare will cover this though :-)
that nut kid out in Santa Barbara shoulda just 3D printed himself up a girlfriend...
For starters. Then something new called “Soylent Green”.
s/running amok
Ah, we see the scientific illiteracy of the author on full display. Where does he think the material used to stock the printer comes from?
Print anything you want,as long as it’s a stalk of celery.
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