Free Republic

Yes, that's right. Scientists actually outfitted the odd insects with tiny 3D glasses to confirm that they actually see and hunt in 3D vision. I've been staring at the below picture for a while now of the green and blue lenses affixed to a praying mantis' head with beeswax and I still can't decide if it's cute or creepy. Researchers have suspected for years that mantises see in 3D, but scientists from Newcastle University in the U.K. finally hit on the right design of glasses for the insects. The idea is the same as the old-school red and blue polarized...

The Obama administration is using the International Traffic in Arms Regulations to censor publication of information on the Internet.   The department ordered Defense Distributed to take down files for 3D printing of a simple single shot handgun on a website  owned by Defense Distributed.   Cody Wilson is widely considered to have been the inventor of the 3D printed pistol. Defense Distributed joined with the Second Amendment Foundation to file a lawsuit against the Obama administration State Department for violation of their First, Second, and Fifth Amendment rights.    The case is Defense Distributed v. U.S. Department of State.  The...

Republican members of Congress have taken aim at the Obama administration with their latest move involving a highly-contentious fight between gun rights advocates and the State Department. Filing an amicus brief on behalf of Defense Distributed Thursday, congressional Republicans came to the defense of a non-profit firearms manufacturing company currently entangled in a legal battle with the State Department. In Defense Distributed v. U.S. Department of State, the Obama administration is citing the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) in an effort to curb Defense Distributed’s effort to publicly post online blueprints of 3D printable firearms. Noting that "it could...

Mechanical engineering student James Patrick recently uploaded a video to his YouTube channel showing off the fully functional PM522 Washbear .22LR revolver that he designed and 3D printed. With the exception of the firing pin, a few elastic bands that act as springs and the legally required amount of detectable metal, the entire gun including the body and cylinder is completely 3D printed. This is, to my knowledge, the very first functional repeating firearm ever made entirely (This doesn’t count, it has metal barrel inserts) on a desktop 3D printer. The optional 8 barrel revolver needs metal tubing inserts for...

Hungry for some pizza? Just print it out with a click of the mouse! Taiwan’s XYZ 3D printer layers the ingredients before the food can be baked in the oven and gives space-age chefs the ability to choose their own shapes and upload files of their snacks. The printer can currently accommodate up to three tubes of printing ingredients — for example, a cookie dough-like mixture, chocolate for decorating biscuits,

A lot has been made about the 3D printing of firearms. Whether you are for or against the rights to own and operate a gun, there is no denying that 3D printing has created a bit of problem for those interested in controlling the distribution and availability of these potential weapons. WeÂ’ve seen several versions of 3D printed firearms come about over the past couple of years, most notably the Liberator gun from Defense DistributedÂ’s creator Cody Wilson. The great thing (or perhaps not so greatÂ… depending on which side of the political fence you stand on), is that 3D...

As we have expected to happen for some time, and as the initial Cody Wilson “Liberator” first demonstrated, 3D-printed firearms made of common addititive-manufacturing plastics like ABS or PLA inevitably had to diverge from common steel firearms practice to take advantage of those plastics’ strength — and overcome their weaknesses. That means that, while early prints were nothing but, for example, a plastic version of an AR lower dimensionally identical to its aluminum forbear, but destined for a short life (especially in PLA), more and more designs are innovating in different directions. This series of videos shows the Shuty, a...

Peter Alaric built a 3D-printed dart gun to make a point about proposed State Department laws banning weapon blueprints on the internet. Calling President Obama "our Fuehrer," he said "this gesture of protest further proves the obvious futility of attempting to regulate speech and ban simple mechanical objects." His creation fires 40mm blowgun darts via a piston and rubber bands, and can even hold accessories like laser sights. He claims that thanks to an air-gun exemption, his weapon is legal, though it's hardly as dangerous as a real 3D-printed gun (especially to the user). Nevertheless, it could still be lethal,...

Today, we learn that two felons in Oregon were arrested and charged with illegally possessing firearms, one of which deputies believe was 3D printed. Nolan DeBell, 42, and Joshua Holloway, 27, were arrested three weeks ago on June 9 when deputies found a large number of illegally-modified and stolen firearms at their house in Chiloquin, Oregon. One of the weapons that was seized was an AR-15 assault rifle, which included a lower receiver that investigators now believe had been 3D printed. The lower receiver is of course a part of the gun that contains the firing mechanism, and is basically...

A team of researchers from the University of Twente has found a way to 3D print structures of copper and gold, by stacking microscopically small metal droplets. These droplets are made by melting a thin metal film using a pulsed laser. Their work is published on Advanced Materials. 3D printing is a rapidly advancing field, that is sometimes referred to as the 'new cornerstone of the manufacturing industry'. However, at present, 3D printing is mostly limited to plastics. If metals could be used for 3D printing as well, this would open a wide new range of possibilities. Metals conduct electricity...

An Imura revolver, 2.0 has been designed by that intrepid 3D engineering designer, Wayfairy.   He had to redesign the system, but the prints have been done and the prototype has passed the basic, non-firing function tests.  From 3dprint.com: One particular member of the community, known as ‘Wayfairy,’ has taken a particular interest in the Imura story. In fact he has set out to create a 3D printable gun honoring the incarcerated gun manufacturer, called the ‘Imura Pistol.’ Basically what he has done is take the original .38-caliber Zig-Zag revolver that had led to Imura’s arrest and revised it, making...

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,...