Tag Archives: science
3D Printing Changes the Game for Scientific Experiments [Video]
Researches are leveraging 3D printing technology to conduct new types of experiments, specifically by turning the container used in the experiment into a reactive material.
Leroy Cronin, a chemist at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, published their work in the April 15 edition of Nature Chemistry, including the method of generating custom labware made to suit individual researchers’ needs.
Looking beyond this experiment, Cronin sees 3D printing playing a pivotal role in scientific progress:
In the distant future, Cronin envisions that researchers and perhaps even ordinary consumers could download 3D printing programs similar to smart-phone applications. Such applications might instruct the printer to create a vessel that has a pre-programmed and fully tested chemical reaction built in.
The video below highlights the work of Cronin and his colleagues.
Via Nature.
Improving Education: 3D Printing Lab Equipment to Help Poor Schools
What can a school do when it does not have the budget to buy proper lab equipment for its students? The team at Tekla Labs believes they have a solution: 3D print your own.
Tekla Labs is an organization formed by students at University of California, Berkeley and has launched a PRINTmyLAB Design Challenge. They are looking for 3D printing blueprint submissions by April 30.
Some suggestions from the website:
1) DIY Alternative: A 3D printing blueprint for an item that can replace a commercial product or a specific component of a commercial product used in scientific laboratories or in scientific/engineering research. Especially helpful if this part tends to break or get lost.
2) Novel Gadget: A 3D printing blueprint for a novel item not commercially available that is of use in scientific laboratories or in scientific/engineering research. Invent! Imagine! Print!
Read more at Tekla Labs or in a feature by PC World.
Students image used under Creative Commons from lumierefl.
