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3D Printing

The Innovation Handi-hour will be held on the third floor of the Smithsonian American Art Museum on Wednesday, March 25, 2015, from 5:30-9 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door.

The Innovative Spirit - OLD

Innovation Handi-Hour Gives Creative Types the Chance to Dive-in Hands First

These artists blur boundaries between craft and manufacturing, using lasers, computers and 3D printers

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Discussion April 2015

From our readers

A Prado visitor touches a 3-D printed replica of a contemporaneous copy of the "Mona Lisa."

Please Touch the Art: 3-D Printing Helps Visually Impaired Appreciate Paintings

The new “Touching the Prado” exhibit in Madrid showcases 3-D replicas of paintings, so blind visitors can feel key works of art

Xerox founder Joe Wilson with the 914, which could make copies up to 9 by 14 inches.

How the Photocopier Changed the Way We Worked—and Played

Decades before 3-D printers brought manufacturing closer to home, copiers transformed offices, politics and art

As a kid, you may remember getting your first glimpse of paramecium in pond water or the cell structure of an onion by peering through a microscope.

Ultra-Cheap Microscopes Could Save Millions of Lives

Researchers are designing portable microscopes that cost just a few dollars to make

Trending Today

Advanced Prosthetics Help a Dog Run And a Man Move Robotic Arms With His Mind 

Two recent stories showcase the latest advances in prosthetics and the lives they have changed

The Rubbee electric drive turns your bike into an e-bike.

2014 Holiday Gift Guide

Eight Tech Gifts for Early Adopters

From a personal drone and a 3D printer to sleep and sport performance trackers, these gadgets will please the technophiles in your life

The Annie Pfeiffer Chapel on the campus of Florida Southern College

Rebuilding a Frank Lloyd Wright Classic With 3-D Printed Blocks

A 70-year-old chapel on the campus of a Florida university is being restored thanks to new, innovative technology

The hand-axe, reimagined.

Designers Remake Our Oldest Tool Using Our Newest Tool

More than a million years old, the hand axe is over due for an update

Dogfish shark denticles viewed using a scanning electron microscope.

Shark Week

Why Are Scientists Trying To Make Fake Shark Skin?

Faux marine animal skin could make swimmers faster, keep bathrooms clean and cloak underwater robots

The 3D-print surface on Orange Maker's prototype heliolithography printer.

Tech Watch

Coming in 2015: A Faster, Sharper Way to 3D Print

Orange Maker’s Helios One prints in a spiral, as opposed to layer by layer, making the entire process more efficient

New fabrication techniques and digital technologies are expanding the possibilities of the analog medium.

Forget Vinyl. Forget the Cloud. In the Future We’ll Listen to Music on UV-Cured 3D-Printed Resin

Musicians, developers, and inventors prove that there’s more to records than vinyl

Tech Watch

Fast Forward: 3D Building Blocks Are the Secret Of This Old (Digital) House

Researchers have printed 3D houses before—but this attempt, using recycled material in a classic Amsterdam style, can be rearranged for different needs.

The Smithsonian announced the first presidential portraits created using 3-D technology. The prints and the 3-D data will become part of the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

President Obama is Now the First President to be 3D Scanned and Printed

A Smithsonian-led team earlier this year scanned the president, creating a bust and life mask for the National Portrait Gallery

One 4D concept: underground pipes that change shape to help move water.

Tech Watch

Forget the 3D Printer: 4D Printing Could Change Everything

Scientists at MIT are using a new technique that could print responsive objects—from water pipes to sneakers—that adapt to their surroundings on their own.

Cool Finds

How Fast Can You Print Out a Building?

A company in China says it can print out 10 buildings a day

Adrian Sugar (seated second from left) and his surgical team during the facial rebuild operation at Morriston Hospital. The team reconstructed 29-year-old Stephen Power's face using models and implants from a 3D printer.

Tech Watch

How 3D Printing Helped Repair This Man’s Face

In a landmark procedure, surgeons used 3D printing techniques to restore a patient’s facial likeness after a horrific injury

Tadasu Ohe’s RIPPLE is inspired by the moment of water and is part of larger series that also includes WAVE and SURF.

Customized Pasta Shapes as Designed by You or Even an Architect

Coming soon to a table near you: print-on-demand pasta

Nike produced parts of its Vapor Carbon Elite (top) and Vapor Laser Talon (bottom) on a 3D printer.

Super Bowl

This Super Bowl, Players Will Be Wearing 3D Printed Cleats

Nike has designed special shoes that make athletes more explosive from a standing position

Pregnancy feels several months too long? A 3D printed fetus can give you a glimpse of how it is to actually hold your child.

Tech Watch

Expecting? Cradle Your 3D Printed Fetus In The Meantime

A startup offers to create a life-like replica of your gestating child from ultrasound images

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