What if you needed a new toothbrush and all you had to do was hit print? What if doctors could print out transplantable organs and pastry chefs turned to a printer, not a kitchen, for their next creation? Ira Flatow and a panel of guests discuss 3D printing technology, how far it’s come, and what a 3D-printed-future could look like.
Think you know the capabilities and limits of current 3D printing technology? Take our quiz.
In the video below, Dr. Lawrence Bonassar, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Cornell University, describes a cutting-edge process to create body parts such as ears using a 3D printer and “ink” composed of living cells.
Video courtesy of Cornell University
Segment Guests
Terry Wohlers
Terry Wohlers is the President of Wohlers Associates. He is based in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Bre Pettis
Bre Pettis is CEO and co-founder of MakerBot Industries in Brooklyn, New York.
Hod Lipson
Hod Lipson is the co-author of, Fabricated: The New World of 3D Printing (Wiley, 2012). He is also an Associate Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering with Cornell University. He is based in Ithaca, New York.
Related Links
- Economist: The printed world
- PCWorld: 3D Printing: A Technology Awaits its iPad Moment
- Guardian: Could 3D printing end our throwaway culture?
- Businessweek: Bre Pettis: 3D Printing’s First Celebrity
- Factory @ Home: The Emerging Economy of Personal Fabrication (pdf)
- Video of 3D Printing Icing and Cookie Dough by Fab@Home