Free Republic

One of the great challenges in molecular biology is to determine the three-dimensional structure of large biomolecules such as proteins. But this is a famously difficult and time-consuming task. The standard technique is x-ray crystallography, which involves analyzing the x-ray diffraction pattern from a crystal of the molecule under investigation. That works well for molecules that form crystals easily. But many proteins, perhaps most, do not form crystals easily. And even when they do, they often take on unnatural configurations that do not resemble their natural shape. So finding another reliable way of determining the 3-D structure of large biomolecules...

Another dimension: Professor Marc in het Panhuis and PhD student Shannon Bakarich are building objects using 4-D printing, where time is the fourth dimension. 4D printing is unfolding as technology that takes 3D printing to an entirely new level. The fourth dimension is time, shape shifting in fact, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science (ACES) at the University of Wollongong is helping to set the pace in the next revolution in additive manufacturing. Just as the extraordinary capabilities of 3D printing have begun to infiltrate industry and the family home, researchers have started to develop 3D...

Faith’s left forearm and hand were amputated when she was 9 months old, according to Build It Workspace, where her new limb was printed in 24 hours. It took less than a month to design and plan for the hand, and the final pieces were printed Tuesday morning. The family was put in touch with Build It Workspace President Mark Lengsfeld through the Lucky Fin Project, a nonprofit devoted to children with different abilities related to their limbs. Lengsfeld authorized full use of the facility to make Faith’s hand. “It’s just an amazing opportunity to be here just to help...

A 3D printing technology developed by Silicon Valley startup, Carbon3D Inc., enables objects to rise from a liquid media continuously rather than being built layer by layer as they have been for the past 25 years, representing a fundamentally new approach to 3D printing. The technology, to appear as the cover article in the March 20 print issue of Science, allows ready-to-use products to be made 25 to 100 times faster than other methods and creates previously unachievable geometries that open opportunities for innovation not only in health care and medicine, but also in other major industries such as automotive...

Way before 3-D printers were around, gun bans have been circumvented by the slapping-together of crude-yet-effective weapons. Yet another reason 'gun control' will never control anything, except perhaps the innocent citizenry made to be sitting ducks by unjustified obstacles to legitimate firearm ownership/supply. Even if too stoopid to make weapons themselves, all street criminals will surely find a HUGE black market in the wake of any US gun grabs or bans instituted by the vile, lawless Obama regime. The Left loves to preach how 'we could never deport 30M Mexicans'... I'd like to hear how they plan to corral 300M guns. And...

Explanation: Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this awesome stereo view of another world. The scene was recorded by Apollo 17 mission commander Eugene Cernan on December 11, 1972, one orbit before descending to land on the Moon. The stereo anaglyph was assembled from two photographs (AS17-147-22465, AS17-147-22466) captured from his vantage point on board the Lunar Module Challenger as he and Dr. Harrison Schmitt flew over Apollo 17's landing site in the Taurus-Littrow Valley. The broad, sunlit face of the mountain dubbed South Massif rises near the center of the frame, above the dark floor of Taurus-Littrow...

With the increasing popularity of certain movies, books, video games, and other technologies, comes the increasing awareness of new groups of individuals who relate to each other by a common interest which they share. We see this with Apple iPhone owners, Android smartphone users and the like. We also see this with fans of movies and TV shows; i.e. Star Trek (Trekkies). With the increasing awareness of 3D printing, comes a new group of people who are keen on learning all they can about the futuristic technology, and while they like it or not, they may just be becoming part...

Last May, I covered the work of Defense Distributed with regard to its building of tools for individuals to 3D-print their own firearms in the post. Meet “The Liberator”: The World’s First Fully 3D-Printed Firearm, In it, I noted: 3D-printing, like decentralized crypto currencies, have the potential to change the world in which we live in extraordinary ways. Ways that are almost inconceivable at this point given we are so early in the game. More than anything else, these technologies can empower the individual like never before, and I think that is generally a very good thing. While all sixteen...

An innovative 3D printed hybrid revolver design is being worked on as tribute to 3D printings first martyr,  Yoshito Imura.  Imura was arrested for 3D printing some plastic, blank firing guns in Japan.  The development would fire from the bottom of the cylinder, as did the original blank firing plastic gun.   The new design has hybrid features, including steel chamber sleeves and barrel liner.  As seen in this computer image of the developing design, the revolver is meant to be double action; that is, one pull of the trigger will rotate the cylinder, cock the striker, and release it,...

This homemade revolving shotgun design seems well suited for a 3D printed/hybrid metal version.    While the version pictured uses cut off chambers from cast off 12 gauge barrels, the same effect could be accomplished by using sections of the appropriately sized water/gas pipe or tubing.  The same tubing/pipe could be used for the barrel.  The concept would be that the 3D printed parts would comprise the cylinder into which the chambers would be fitted and glued, and which would have the more difficult mechanical details to revolve the cylinder.   Perhaps a modification of the zig-zag revolver design by Yoshitomo...

3D-printing add-on for printing food [video at source] An added feature for Structure 3D-printing has been developed allowing for Nutella-connoisseurs to fulfill their cravings and wildest chocolate-laden dreams. This add-on will enable 3D-printing of edible paste filaments, specifically useful when adding cool designs to delicious treats. Discov3ry’s 3D-printer compatible extruder device connects to your printing apparatus and is capable of printing a variety of food like cookie dough, melted chocolate, meringue, fondant, icing, and Nutella. You can also print inedible objects like wood filler, silicone, polyurethane, ceramics, clay, and conductive paint if needed. Working with virtually any 3D-printer, the process...

Another first, from LivingScience: To his list of firsts, Barack Obama can add that he was the first U.S. President to have himself scanned and 3D printed.Obama's 3D-printed bust and mold of his face were on display Wednesday (June 18) at the first-ever White House Maker Faire, a celebration of students and entrepreneurs who are using technology to create new products and businesses, according to the Smithsonian Institution. Unfortunately the 3D version of our first Black President appears to be all white, obviously a racist right wing plot. It did seem to accurately capture his likeness otherwise, right down to...

Grace Choi was at Harvard Business School when she decided to disrupt the beauty industry. "They charge a huge premium on something that tech provides for free color."color printers are available to everyone, and the ink they have is the same as the ink that makeup companies use in their products. the ink is FDA-approved. This is the Mink printer. It uses regular printer ink. First, find a color you want to print. Use the color picker to copy the hex code of the color you've chosen. paste the hex code into a new document. Print the color just...

The Popular Mechanics article shows that it understands technology much better than the New York Times or the Washington Post.  This isn't too surprising, given the politics of the the two prominent newspapers, but it was not always so. The Article sums it up nicely: So, should we be afraid to live in a world where anyone can afford the equipment to manufacture a gun in his or her basement? I hope not—because that's the world we live in now. Guns are comparatively simple devices. In fact, plenty of custom firearms are manufactured today using equipment that wouldn't be...

video linkA kayak has been 3D-printed. Taking on a similarly colorful appearance to the storybook character Elmer the Elephant, this kayak’s pieces were 3D-printed then assembled.  Jim Smith from Grass Roots Engineering has been actualizing, developing, and modifying the design of his large 3D printer since 2008. As an engineer at 3D Systems, Smith was inspired to print out this  kayak with a similar design based from Bryan Hansel’s Siskiwit Bay kayak.   The panels for the kayak were printed from the custom build large scale 3D printer that Smith built himself. When the kayak parts started being created, they were heated...

Louisville Kentucky cardiothoracic surgeon Erle Austin has performed successful heart repair surgery on a 14 month old infant named Roland Lian Cung Bawi — heart surgery on such a young patient is not unheard of, of course, what's new is that Austin was able to map out his surgical approach using a nearly exact model of the patients heart—it had been printed on a 3D printer. Young Roland had been born with four congenital heart defects—doctors had known since before he was born that his heart had problems. Fixing them all would prove to be a challenge. When it came...

Technology to bring 3D printing closer to the mass market is accelerating, though most 3D printed items tend to be rather small in size. To help demonstrate the effectiveness of printing larger items, BigRep, a company founded in 2014, opens the door to printing items such as furniture. The device is launching worldwide at large trade shows, and begins shipping in two months, with a $39,000 MSRP.The BigRep One can print full-scale objects in sizes up to 45x39x47 inches, and has the ability to print plastics, nylons, Laywood (wood fibers mixed with polymers), and Laybrick (something similar to sandstone-type of...

Nice collection of 3D Aircraft nearly pointless to watch without the 3D glasses.

The essence of levitation technology is the countervailing of gravity. It is known that an ultrasound standing wave is capable of suspending small particles at its sound pressure nodes and, so far, this method has been used to levitate lightweight particles, small creatures, and water droplets. The acoustic axis of the ultrasound beam in these previous studies was parallel to the gravitational force, and the levitated objects were manipulated along the fixed axis (i.e. one-dimensionally) by controlling the phases or frequencies of bolted Langevin-type transducers. In the present study, we considered extended acoustic manipulation whereby millimetre-sized particles were levitated and...

Gun rights groups are rallying to try to stop any extension of a federal law to ban undetectable plastic guns, saying that if the House GOP passes something then Senate Democrats will turn it into a broader gun control push. But with the rise of 3-D printers, some lawmakers want to go further. “The House bill is better than nothing, but it’s not good enough. We absolutely must close the loophole that allows anyone to legally make a gun that could be rendered invisible by the easy removal of its metal part,” said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a New York...