Spinning 3d Printing

It was only a matter of time before 3d printing technology would produce something that touches all of us every day. The Electroloom 3D printer makes seamless fabric from liquid by using a process known as electrospinning. The team came up with the idea for the Electroloom after working at California Polytechnic State University in … Read more

Color 3D Printing

Mosaic Manufacturing recently made waves with the launch of the Palette, a system for printing multi-colored 3D objects. It prints in multiple colors by cutting snippets of colored filament from different spools and then melting them together inside the device’s plain enclosure. A separate sensor can tell the current filament position and ensures that the … Read more

A 3D-Printed Jet Engine

Researchers at GE recently built a miniature, backpack-sized jet engine that they made entirely from 3D-printed parts. And not just for looks, either. They were able to fire it up and get it moving to 33,000 rpms. The engine was built over the course of several years, using a 3D printing technique that melted thin … Read more

Cultured Dairy Can Be Moo Free

“Petri dish milk will mirror the formula of the real thing — the yeast cultures will be churning out real milk proteins — it will retain the taste and nutritional benefits of cow milk,” says Perumal Gandhi, a co-founder of the synthetic dairy start-up Muufri (pronounced Moo-free) in San Francisco, California. “That will distinguish it … Read more

Biomass Fuels Breakthrough

Ethanol is but one of the products the bacterium can be taught to produce. Others include butanol and isobutanol (transportation fuels comparable to ethanol), as well as other fuels and chemicals-using biomass as an alternative to petroleum. Janet Westpheling, a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of genetics, and her team … Read more

Solar FREAKIN’ Roadways

This is probably the biggest acquisquishin’ candidate we’ve ever seen. Just think about the number of J.P Morgan wannabe’s that would like to see this initiative die a premature and speedy death. The inquest report would likely mention the usual suspects such as public utilities, the energy monopolies, even the pollution remediation industry. Talk about making … Read more

House Optimized for Ideal Solar Gain

This house on Barcelona’s waterfront, uses time-tested passive solar techniques, but it takes a high-tech leap forward using digital design and digital fabrication techniques to make it completely optimized for ideal solar gain. With its jagged cantilevers jutting out at odd angles across most of the facade (except the North corner), Solar House 2.0 looks, … Read more

Biomass Conversion to Jet Fuel

Lignocellulose, a raw material in biomass, can be converted to biofuels and is often considered a long-term alternative to the diminishing supply of fossil fuels. The conversion process involves biomass pretreatment, hydrolysis of constituent carbohydrates and catalytic conversion of platform chemicals. Proposed strategies to convert lignocellulose to aviation fuels have underused components, preventing their commercialization. … Read more

3d Printing with Carbon Fiber

Material scientists are now using the technology to create new super strong materials that may be used one day in building lightweight, yet powerful, structures. MarkForged announced that it had created a carbon fiber 3D printer. Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology revealed that is has invented a new material that’s lighter than water, yet stronger … Read more

3d Printing Threatens Retail

A report from Gartner says that 3D printing will create debate on ethics and regulation. Furthermore, analysts expect that rapid development of 3D Bioprinters will spark calls to ban the technology for human and non-human use by 2016. 3D bioprinting is the medical application of 3D printing to produce living tissue and organs. It is … Read more