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3D Printing

Damselfish typically live in the nooks and crannies of coral reefs. But do you have anything with more of an open concept?

If a Fish Could Build Its Own Home, What Would It Look Like?

By exposing fish to experimental constructions, scientists hope to find out if replicating coral reefs is really the way to go

Raphael's famed Uffizi self-portrait and the new facial reconstruction

3-D Facial Reconstruction Suggests Raphael Self-Portrait Presents Idealized Version of the Artist

The new model reveals the Renaissance giant’s prominent nose

“Footprints give us information about anatomy and group dynamics that you just can’t get from bones,” says the Smithsonian's Briana Pobiner.

Ancient Toes and Soles of Fossilized Footprints Now 3-D Digitized for the Ages

New research suggests that for the prehistoric foragers that walked this path, labor was divided between men and women

3-D model of Head of Amenhotep III on Sketchfab

Education During Coronavirus

You Can Now Download 1,700 Free 3-D Cultural Heritage Models

A new Sketchfab collection brings models of fossils, artwork and more into the public domain

Students and teachers can download 3-D print-ready files of the Tyrannosaurus rex and Triceratops skulls.

Holiday Gift Guide

Ten Smithsonian Artifacts You Can 3-D Print

The list includes Neil Armstrong’s spacesuit, an Abraham Lincoln life mask and a coral skeleton

How Zookeepers Built Karl, the Abyssinian Ground Hornbill, a New 3-D Beak

For this species, a beak is everything and Karl has had his old one re-tooled for hunting and communication

The original 3,000-year-old lion sculpture was destroyed during the razing of Baghdad's Mosul Museum

Lion of Mosul Statue Brought Back Through 3-D Printed Replica

The resurrected sculpture is featured in the Imperial War Museum’s ‘Culture Under Attack’ exhibition

Lead author Tal Dvir says, "Maybe, in ten years, there will be organ printers in the finest hospitals around the world, and these procedures will be conducted routinely"

Scientists Used Human Tissue to 3-D Print a Tiny Heart

The technique could eventually be adapted to create full-sized organs personalized to each patient

Experts believe the Neolithic dog is the first canine to undergo forensic facial reconstruction

Thanks to Facial Reconstruction, You Can Now Look Into the Eyes of a Neolithic Dog

The collie-sized canine was buried in a cavernous tomb on Scotland’s Orkney Islands around 2,500 B.C.

Wyatt Walker poses for a 3-D scan of the sculpture's missing right arm

Art Meets Science

College Basketball Player Lends a Limb to Armless Roman Statue

The 6-foot-9 forward for North Carolina State University posed for a 3-D reconstruction of the sculpture’s missing arm

3D printed model of Pumapunku

Archaeologist Reconstructs Ruins of Tiwanaku Temple in Bolivia Using 3-D Printing Technology

It was like an ‘elaborate lego set,’ says UC Berkeley’s Alexei Vranich

The resin-based 3D printer layers ink much like the chocolate and wafer combination seen in Kit-Kat bars

Art Meets Science

This New Technique Could Revolutionize the Future of Art Reproduction

RePaint renders reproductions in color four times closer to the original than the next-best tool

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Ingenious Minds

Could 3-D Printing Save Music Education?

D.C. chef Erik Bruner-Yang interviews Jill-of-all-trades Kaitlyn Hova about her plan to infuse STEM education with open source, 3-D printable instruments

Artist's rendering of the futuristic community, which is set for development over the next five years

Europe

Netherlands Will Welcome Its First Community of 3D-Printed Homes

Five concrete houses designed to look like “erratic blocks in a green landscape” will populate Eindhoven community

A researcher holds the skin printer

This Handheld Device Could Print New Skin Onto Burn Victims

The machine prints sheets of a skin substitute directly onto burn wounds, potentially making skin grafting faster, cheaper and easier

See Classic Sculptures Reimagined With Prosthetic Limbs

The aid organization Handicap International outfitted statues in France with prosthetic limbs to raise awareness about the global need for prostheses

A printed ring through the color-change process

These 3D-Printed Objects Can Turn Any Color You Want

MIT researchers hope a process that uses a special photochromic dye to change an object’s color in response to light will one day reduce waste

Ear prosthesis

Doctors Are 3D Printing Ear Bones To Help With Hearing Loss

By printing custom bone prostheses, researchers hope they can better fix a certain kind of hearing loss

New Research

This Giant Penguin Was the Size of a Human

The ancient mega-penguins waddled around New Zealand some 60 million years ago

Tagliavini is attracted to the time of Filippo Lippi, famously said by Robert Browning to “paint the soul.”

An Extravagant New Tribute to the Rise of Portraiture 600 Years Ago

The artist takes 21st century technology and culture to a 15th century aesthetic

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