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Getting closer to replicators November 10, 2007

The first affordable Desktop Factory 3D printer is just about to ship!, paving the way for even more sophisticated manufacturing in the future. Starting out with powdered plastic, it layers the plastic material so precisely that it exactly conforms to the software 3D model that serves as its guide. This home 3D printer brings us closer to the day when we’ll have replicators like those on Star Trek: The Next Generation, making entire meals at the touch of a button and creating complex objects from simple materials. In the meantime, soon you’ll be able to download spare parts for toys and build them in a few minutes, or even prototype your own designs, right in your home.

Ever since the advent of 3D printing, researchers have been trying to figure out how to replicate organs and bones for use in surgeries. Printed organs are still many years away, but researchers in Japan have already begun testing 3D-printed bones on human patients with face or skull injuries.

Someday we may be able to replicate our own skeletons on affordable 3D printers.

source: Charlie White, S.E. Kramer