3D Printing Hype

[JTsyo]

This is pretty fun:

http://news.msn.com/science-technology/print-yourself-a-house

There was a TED talk with printing buildings with concrete. The goal was to make cheap houses/apartments for multiple families not fancy ones like in this video.

 

[frobenius]

There is an awful lot of hype about it, and at this point it's only good for artists and prototyping,etc, but I think it will be a game changer in several years. I looked up how much it would be to print a model I made of a cup, nothing complex, and it was still 30-40$ just for something the size of an espresso cup. Material price was for ceramic, which has to be a certain thickness (3mm) to print for structural integrity. But this quoted bit of the article seems to be nonsense.

 

[uclaLabrat]

3D printed organs and food are probably the most awesome things ever invented. For those needing a new organ(s), it is a literal lifesaver. If they can eventually make 3D printed food a reality to the level an average person will eat it, we can end the slaughter of millions of animals because they happen to be tasty. Obviously we'll have to wait decades for this to hit acceptable quality levels, but between 3D printing and genetic engineering (where perhaps we just grow new organs and food?) the future holds some really exciting possibilities...

Chuck

Printed organ tissues would be amazing for drug development, you can get an idea of how your drug behaves in vivo before ever getting to clinical trials...success rates could skyrocket, and costs would plummet.

 

[chucky2]

Yep, same same for medical training. Imagine having an actual live organ(s) to practice on rather than a cadaver or live patient? Between growing organs and/or printing them, the future holds amazing advances...