Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: 3D printing

Very promising. I imagine 3D Printers being able to create synthesize diamonds will be a very profitable business to get in to because of the stabilizing benefits that the nanodiamonds bring to Quantum Computing and nanotechnology in general.

Nanomaterials have the potential to improve many next-generation technologies. They promise to speed up computer chips, increase the resolution of medical imaging devices and make electronics more energy efficient. But imbuing nanomaterials with the right properties can be time consuming and costly. A new, quick and inexpensive method for constructing diamond-based hybrid nanomaterials could soon launch the field forward.

University of Maryland researchers developed a method to build diamond-based hybrid nanoparticles in large quantities from the ground up, thereby circumventing many of the problems with current methods. The technique is described in the June 8, 2016 issue of the journal Nature Communications (“Nanostructures for Coupling Nitrogen-Vacancy Centers to Metal Nanoparticles and Semiconductor Quantum Dots”).

electron microscope image shows a hybrid nanoparticle consisting of a nanodiamond (roughly 50 nanometers wide) covered in smaller silver nanoparticles

This electron microscope image shows a hybrid nanoparticle consisting of a nanodiamond (roughly 50 nanometers wide) covered in smaller silver nanoparticles that enhance the diamond’s optical properties. (Image: Min Ouyang)

Read more

Medical/ Biocomputing will only continue to grow and advance as a result of the demand for more improved experiences by consumers and business in communications and entertainment, food, home life, travel, business, etc.

Today, we have seen early opportunities and benefits with 3D printing, BMI, early stage Gene/ Cell circuitry and computing. In the future, we will see these technologies more and more replaced by even more advance Biocomputing and gene circuitry technology that will ultimately transform the human experiences and quality of life that many like to call Singularity.

Printing technology has come a long way from screechy dot-matrix printers to 3D printers which can print real life objects from metals, plastics, chemicals and concrete. While, at first, 3D printers were being used to create just basic shapes with different materials, more recently, they have been used to create advanced electronics, bio-medical devices and even houses.

Aircraft manufacturer Airbus recently showcased the world’s first 3D-printed mini aircraft, Thor, at the International Aerospace Exhibition and Air Show in Berlin. Although Airbus and its competitor have been using 3D-printed parts for their bigger assemblies, recent attempt shows that aviation may be ready for a new future with much lighter and cheaper planes given 3D printing not only cuts down the costs with less wastage, it also makes the plane lighter, thereby making them faster and more fuel efficient. But planes and toys is not what 3D printing might be restricted to; though in the elementary stage at the moment, the technology is being used for creating complex electronics like phones and wearables and may be able to reduce costs for manufacturers like Samsung and Apple.

One of the most important uses for the technology comes in the field of medical sciences. While pharma companies have been working on producing medicines from 3D printers, with one winning approval from the US’s Food and Drug Administration earlier this year, the technology is also being used to create bones, cartilages and customisable prosthetic limbs. But the real test for the technology lies in bioprinting—creating living cells via a 3D printer. Doctors have been using 3D printed organs to practice on, but scientists at research institutes have been experimenting with printing stem cells, skin tissue, organs and DNA. Though this is still decades from being a reality, printing of regenerative tissues can help cure heart ailments. 3D printing is also helping in construction, with a printer being used to create the first office space in Dubai using concrete blocks. The city aims that 25% of its buildings will be 3D printed by 2030.

Read more

Airbus introduces the aviation world to a mini-plane called THOR (Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality). It is the first aircraft to be produced using 3D printing technology.

Airbus, a leading aircraft manufacturer, has just unleashed THOR—Test of High-tech Objectives in Reality—a miniature aircraft constructed from 3D printing technology. The windowless, pilotless, and propeller-driven THOR weighs in at 21 kg, and measures less than 4 m long.

Though it is much smaller than a regular jet, THOR is capable of stable flight and even promises to save on time, fuel and money.

Read more

When you think about the headliners at a music festival, it’s unlikely that the first person to pop into your head would be Martine Rothblatt—the founder of Sirius XM, the one-time highest-paid female CEO in the world who made a robot clone of her wife, and the founder of the Terasem religion, which believes we’ll live forever by uploading our consciousness to the cloud. But Moogfest, a four-day citywide festival of music and technology in Durham, North Carolina, was not the average music festival. Unlike other festivals that make cursory overtures to technology, Moogfest dedicated as much time to explaining how technology influences creativity as to the creative output itself, even listing headline ‘technologists’ alongside its top-billed musical acts.

On the festival’s second day, Friday 20 May, Rothblatt took the stage to talk to a packed house at Durham’s Carolina Theater, in an atmosphere that felt far more like a TED talk than a music fest. Rothblatt, who is transgender, discussed the contentious North Carolina HB2 law, which bans transgender people from using public bathrooms of the gender they identify with; the idea that creativity would be better encouraged by free college tuition; and how she got to a point where she and her company, United Therapeutics, can actually think about 3D printing new body parts, and leaving our bodies behind—if we want. “You want to win more than you want to live,” she told the rapt crowd. “You yell ‘Geronimo’ as you jump crazily into monopolistic opposition.”

Quartz sat down with Rothblatt after her talk to chat more about her thoughts on AI, living forever, free education, and what happens to the soul once we’ve made digital copies of ourselves.

Read more

3D printing is proving to be a must in combat training for troops.

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C.—Marines are learning to use 3D printers.

Marines from 2nd Maintenance Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group are being trained to use the 3D printers that could come in handy on deployments.

“Basically anything that’s a 3D object or 3D image we can take, slice up and print on these printers,” said Francis Marion University Assistant Professor Justin Yates.

Read more

I need one of these; 3D Printed Houses made to go.

architecture firm WATG has won first prize in a competition to conceive the world’s first freeform 3D printed house. the challenge invited architects, designers, engineers, and artists from around the world to participate in an investigation of how 3D printing technologies can improve the built environment. commissioned by branch technology, the brief called for a 600–800 square-foot single-family home that reconsiders traditional architectural aesthetics, ergonomics, construction, and building systems.

WATG-the-world's-first-freeform-3D-printed-house-branch-technology-designboom-02

Read more

A feel good story on 3D printers.

This lil’ kitty named Sonic is now bionic.

The black-and-white cat, who was surrendered to Denver Animal Shelter over three months ago, had been born with a leg deformity called radial agenesis, according to Meghan Hughes, communications director for Denver Environmental Health.

Because of the deformity, Sonic was forced to drag his leg on the ground to move, she told ABC News today.

Read more

Patents filed on many pre-existing 3D printing processes are about to expire. As this occurs, it will bring on a new era in 3D printing. Machinery and material costs will plummet, and the quality of prints will increase.

An important shift is occurring in the 3D printing world: patents are expiring. Patents filed on pre-existing industrial printing processes, especially those filed at the turn of the century, have already expired or are set to expire in the coming years.

Take, for example, the case of Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The patent on FDM expired in 2009. As a result, prices for FDM printers dropped from over $10,000 to less than $1,000, which caused consumer-friendly 3D printer manufacturers– like MakerBot and Ultimaker– to pop up.

Read more