Top TechTop Tech #121: Multi-Material 3D Prints, Book Filters Water, Monitor The Weather
Important innovations in science and technology
By Paul Worthington
Monday’s Top Tech:
• Printing glass and other materials
• “Drinkable Book” filters dirty water
• Backyard weather station
Printing glass and other materials
Additive manufacturing generally uses pliable plastics. Working with other materials is the needed next step in the advancement and widespread use of “3D printing.”
Now the Mediated Matter Group at the MIT Media Lab in collaboration with the Glass Lab at MIT say its developed additive manufacturing of optically transparent glass.
The process is called G3DP and its “tunability,” enabled by geometrical and optical variation to limit or control light transmission, reflection and refraction “carries significant implications for all things glass,” MIT says here.
And here is a hypnotically beautiful video of the process.
But wait, there’s more:
Another group at MIT, the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, claims it can print not just glass, but 10 different materials — and all at once.
“We have developed a multi-material 3D printing platform that is high-resolution, low-cost, and extensible,” the researchers report here. “Our platform dramatically expands the range of parts that can be 3D printed by simultaneously supporting up to 10 different materials that can interact optically and mechanically.”
The MultiFab platform is “an integrated machine vision system,” they add. “This system allows for self-calibration of print heads, 3D scanning, and a closed-feedback loop to enable print corrections.” It will cost less than $7,000 “since it is built exclusively from off-the-shelf components.”
“Drinkable Book” filters dirty water
The pages in this book are actually disposable water filters that contain silver nanoparticles that remove sludge and kill bacteria.
First conceived at Carnegie Mellon University and now offered through the non-profit Water Is Life organization, one page can potentially filter up to 100 liters of drinking water, “and may provide a cheap, sustainable solution for communities suffering from severe sanitation problems,” Scientific America reports. Waterborne diseases kill 1.5 million people a year globally.
Backyard weather station
Want to keep tabs on our rapidly changing weather yourself?
The BloomSky has a fish-eye camera, and sensors for temperature, pressure, UV, rain and humidity. The data is sent to your mobile where the app presents it in an understandable manner.
The BloomSky Weather Station Kit comes with a Solar Panel for power for $269.
