Yeah, it's been a while since I've posted... Oh well, this is perhaps the most profound piece of information I've shared in a while. How many times have you wanted draw up an object on your lappy you've imagined, then print it into existence? That is exactly the idea behid 3-D printers a.k.a, replicators. An object is designed by means of standard CAD software and is then "printed" into reality by bonding successive layers of material via an jet nozzle. MakerBot (pictured right), can be ordered today and is capable of replicating cupcakes among other things. Mmmm... Tasty, tasty, replicated goodness (about the most inefficient way to make a cupcake I could think of).Yet another cool project is RepRap (pictured below). This marvel can manufacture a significant fraction of its own parts and soon its own circuitry. Research is being done into engineering applications where
organs and body parts are built using inkjet techniques. Layers of living cells are deposited onto a gel medium and slowly built up to form three dimensional structures.
