The experiments for 5 weeks with various mixtures of bone meal with other substances, the research team stopped at one of them, which allows you to create a strong “details”. After that, we need only to fill the mixture into the printer and print the desired bone.

Not reported, are there plans to use similar technology in medicine, but the prospects of the method could be very interesting for the creation of artificial prostheses, for example, in dentistry.

Three-dimensional printers are used as a cheap and easy way for prototyping. In conventional 3D-printing system, which works with the powder, a thin layer of material distributed on the platform and the software controls the inkjet printer that causes binder in the appropriate places. It interacts with the powder and binds the particles together, resulting in a three-dimensional object. However, the glass powder is bad absorb liquid, therefore used in the case of ceramic technique should be reconsidered.

“The familiar process of printing led to the output of gelatinous parts when we turned to glass powder — says Grant Marchelli. — It was necessary to modify how both the powder and binder mixture are treated. By adjusting the ratio between the two components, scientists have made a solid form with a powder from Spectrum Glass. Structure held together and melted at the required temperature.

Glass can be transparent or opaque, but stands out for its inorganic form (no carbon contained), solidifying from the molten state without the formation of molecules ordered crystalline structures. Therefore, technically the glass is rather a chilled liquid than a solid material. Printed three-dimensional glass has a striking similarity with the technique of creating glass products pate de verre (“glass paste”). There, the glass powder is mixed with binding material such as egg whites or enamel, and is placed in a form for firing. The technique originated from the times of ancient Egypt, and, thanks to new technology, is getting a new life.

As is the case with ceramics, researchers see great opportunities for three-dimensional printing of glass. “Publication of descriptions without commercial conditions, we hope, will inspire further experimentation and innovation community of arts and engineers” – describes the well intentions professor of mechanical engineering at Washington University Duane Storti.

A postgraduate of Center for Digital Arts and Experimental Media at the University Meghan Trainor pioneered the new method. “With the establishment of glass objects from digital models of my ideas are immediately translated into tangible form, which is a key factor in the knowledge of digital art – Trainor said. – Moving from idea to print in such a short period of time creates an attractive process, where glass objects are part tactile feedback.”

Associate Professor of Architecture at UCLA (University of California), Berkeley, Ronald Rael collaborated with colleagues to develop his own printer. He is engaged in a new kind of ceramic blocks, which can be used to remove moisture from the cooling systems. “3D-printing of glass has great potential in the use of glass in architecture – explains the researcher. – Until now, there was no acceptable method of rapid sample preparation of this material, which led to expensive and time-consuming process for testing models.” According to him, three-dimensional printing allows for testing different types of glass, including a recycled glass wastes.

The new method enables fast and inexpensive production of electric circuits prototypes, medical diagnosis and a number of other activities that will surely find application in in electronics, photonics and other natural sciences.

Chad Mirkin, Director of the International Institute for Nanotechnology at Northwestern University, believes that the world is driven by fast transfer of large volumes of information. But the conventional micro-and nanoinstruments for manufacturing nanostructures are very expensive. “That is what we tried to change,” he says.

The main proof of the effectiveness of the method is 15 thousand silhouettes of the Chicago skyline, created in half an hour on a square centimeter.

Each “image” consists of 182 points of about 500 nanometers in diameter (like the tip of the fountain pen). Point illumination time is 20 seconds. The current method allows researchers to create “pens” of 150 nm in size, but in the near future, the resolution is likely to be reduced to 100 nm. An array of a few square centimeters including 11 million “pens” has already been built.

This is the third technology developed by Chad Mirkin. In 1999, he invented the dip-pen nanolithography, DPN, and in 2008 – polymer-pen lithography, PPL. These technologies have already taken up in 23 countries. The major difference of the new technology from the PPL is that it is uses light instead of “ink” molecules.

Each “pen” represents a pyramid, completely coated with a layer of gold except for the top. Light is shed the foundation of the pen to its top and on to a light-sensitive material. The simplicity of this approach is that nanoscale is only the top of the pyramid. This allows you to easily manage nanoprocesses without leaving the boundaries of the microworld.

In the future, technology may lead to the creation of desktop nanoprinters, who will turn nanoindustry upside-down just like ordinary printer has done with our everyday life.

American scientists have developed the concept of food printer called «Cornucopia», which operates by cooling ingredients, mixing them and making layers of  them. Using these kayers, a dish is printer on a tray. The concept was presented by two students from the Massachusetts University of Technology (MIT).

The process of food printing begins with the selection of needed refrigerated food containers, which are then mixed in a blender. After that, a dish is prepared from different layers. These layers are placed on the tray and are heated or cooled immediately after the mixing in the printhead.

Researchers say that food printing brings cooking to a new level in the digital age we live in. The concept enables creating aromas previously unknown and flavors unavailable in conventional cooking. Developers claim users will be able to control the nutritional value, quality and taste for every meal, using a touch screen and downloading new dishes from the Internet. The printer also allows you to order the ingredient, if needed one has ended, or else offers a replacement ingredient.

The researchers hope that their concept would provide a new look at the new aesthetic and cultural opportunities that can be brought to a new, digital standard.

Interesting stuff, but you won’t get by without buying food anyway.

Pantone is an international reference system for selecting, identifying, combining and control of color in variuos application ares , including printing . With the ability to achieve 98% coverage of Pantone Colors professionals who use printers Epson now have complete freedom in creating designs, color proofing and commercial printing. Ability to tightly control the color allows, for example, exactly reproduce the corporate colors and a wide spectrum of Pantone colors to create eye-catching advertising, art and photo prints.

The combination of Epson Micro Piezo TFP and 10-color set of inks Epson UltraChrome HDR (High Dynamic Range) provides the results needed for graphic designers and professional printing. In addition to cyan, light cyan, vivid magenta, vivid light magenta, yellow, black, gray and light gray inks, Epson UltraChrome HDR inks include orange and green colors, to achieve the accuracy of hues, especially in the spectra from green to yellow and from yellow to red.

The first sample is a circular saw, which case is made of plastic part of the well-known construction kit, while the disc is real with edge blunted for the safety reasons. Upon touching the disk, the rotation of the stops instantly. The authors of this masterpiece, well-known among with Lego fans, are Dave and John Xandegar from briXwerX Studio. On their personal page you can find many other interesting ideas.

Circular saw is good, but what’s the use of the device, if it does saw anyway? Much more interesting is another member of things-made-of-Lego family. It took whole three weeks (the assembly was conducted in the evenings after work), a large number of blocks design, four motors, sensors and prototyping board with a USB-interface for someone nicknamed squirrelfantasy to create this device. You can learn what this enthusiast has made, by looking the video below.

It is known from technical characteristics that the driver for the printer was written by the author, and the printing resolution, in his own words, is about 75 dots per inch. Unfortunately, we didn’t manage to find out which markers are compatible with the printer, and which aren’t.

For example, you can print document from the iPad, BlackBerry smartphone or online service (say, Google Docs) in the form of an e-mail. And, you do not need to install drivers or make some other moves with your applications.

In addition, a special support site ePrintCenter is designed to help at least 40 companies, including Crayola and Nickelodeon, develop their own projects to take full advantage of the benefits of the new printers. These advantages include an option of reformatting the pages and optimizing of certain materials printing.

At the same time, by the end of this year HP plans to open up to seven thousand public terminals to allow printing directly on the spot. In addition, new HP printers, as already mentioned, are equipped with Internet access services and mostly multi-touch user interface, and their retail price should be between $99 and $399.

A kind of solution would be to issue individual components and kits for assembling the printer, but this approach may not satisfy all consumers. By the way, according to some projections, by 2011, prices for 3D-printers should be reduced to $1000. Maybe it’s the crisis, but so far no signs of such a decline are visible.

To some extent, the situation is being changed by the products of Purple Platypus. According to the company, the BFB 3000 Panther model is the first color, three dimensional printer costing less than $4000, shipped fully assembled.

Printign area of the BFB 3000 Panther is describes the volume of 320 x 300 x 200 mm (with a single print head). Dimensions of the printer are 580 x 520 x 520 mm, weight is 31 kg. Maximum print speed is up to 15 mm³/sec. Power consumption does not exceed 90 Watt. Interestingly, the BFB 3000 Panther does not require connection to a computer — it can be used autonomously by loading the task from an SD card.

The manufacturer of the device is a British company Bits from Bytes Ltd. Among the potential customers are printer manufacturing companies, industrial designers and architects, and just amateurs modelists.

They modified a relatively old Fab@Home Model 1, having replaced the extruder with liquid feed system. To prove the efficiency of technology, the team produced a gigantic mug and a few smaller ice sculptures. The official purpose of the project is to explore alternative ways of creating complex architectural models. But why making architect models that melt? However, the tourism might be the area with a good opportunity to earn money: imagine such machines in public places, selling soft drinks, bottled in icy mugs, shape of which customer could choose. Interesting, huh?

Informations for the inquisitive minds.

Print CEO blog published a video on the history of printing that Frank Romano, Professor Emeritus, School of Print Media, Rochester Institute of Technology, created with his students a few years back. In the video, Frank walks you through major milestones in the history of printing. From Johann Gutenberg to papyrus to important contributors in the development of type to Ben Franklin to Mergenthaler to Frederic Ives.