[null and void]

They capture finer detail than would survive recovery, pretty cool.

[null and void]

Political power grows out of the nozzle of a 3-D Printer.

[Red Badger]

[GeronL]

[Oatka]

the new technological advances of 3D printing mean the research and reproductions can be easily shared among fellow academics and the public.

I can see all kinds of areas for that - Sumerian cuneiform tablets for one. Ought to help by passing 'em around to aid/confirm translation.

[Flag_This]

"Because fossils are, by nature, fragile things, their study requires them to be carefully protected from damage, most often by encasing them in plaster “jackets.” "

Don't paleontologists typically dig up large blocks of stone containing the fossils and then wrap that block of stone with the plaster bandages for transport back to a lab? Removing the plaster shouldn't be a big deal, but a couple of hundred pounds of rock surrounding the fossil could be.

[lurk]

On a hike in the mountains recently, we came across a rather nice fossil of a dinosaur leg. It was a foot about 20” from toe to ankle, with two distinct ball and socket ankle and elbow joints, and some significant amount of bone still present. 3D technology would have some huge advantages in rendering these to workable models.

[Larry Lucido]

I’d like to see a 3-D image of those saddles they wore! (Ducking for cover)

[chargers fan]

I believe this did this, fictionally of course, in Jurassic Park III.

[dcbeall]

Didn’t this first appear in Jurassic Park 3?