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Next, The Copier Will Reproduce Popsicles
4/3PI*R^3 writes "At my fellow UM System University, the University of Missouri Rolla Dr. Ming Leu, Wei Zhang, and their fellow mechanical engineers invented a device that constructs a 3-D model out of ice in a matter of hours, using a technique they call rapid-freeze prototyping. Article in Discover. At last we can finally make strawberry-banana swirl popsicles!!!!"
1) popsicles
2) MRI scan models (presumably colored with different flavors of popsicle base)
The result? Finally, an anatomically correct model of a diseased bowel that you can eat!
I suspect physicians would abuse their scanner privileges if they got to eat it themselves, so the hospitals will have to feed it to someone else. So that's one more category of surgical waste to add to cafeteria menus.
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Posted by Hemos (alias: The Copier) on Tuesday October 17, @06:45PM
from the fun-with-cut-and-paste-utilities dept.
4/3PI*R^3 writes "At my fellow UM System University, the University of Missouri Rolla Dr. Ming Leu, Wei Zhang, and their fellow mechanical engineers invented a device that constructs a 3-D model out of previous Slashdot posts in a matter of hours, using a technique they call "parametric self-plagiarism". Article in Discover. At last we can finally make the assumption that Hemos' brain is actually a strawberry-banana swirl popsicle!!!!"
Were we not able to make them before?
- I don't care if they globalize against free speech. All my best free thoughts are done in my head.
Now we're onto the next great thing. 3D solid modeling printers. Spraying water droplets could be replaced with polymers that set when exposed to air, producing soft or hard objects in the privacy of your own home.
This could give the online sex industry that next boost in revenues the whole world's economies need.
For only $39.95, you too can download a perfect copy of Nathalie Portman's breasts, to fondle as much as your immature slashdot desires can handle. For the ladies, we have a lifesize reproduction of CmdrTaco's, errr, reproduction. Also comes in 2x and 4x sizes, so you'll never be disappointed.
the AC
Hemos is like...sci-fi fans;he thinks technology is cool, but he hasn't bothered to understand the science it's based on
Won't someone please think of the ice sculptors!
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The creators claim it's faster than other methods because an exterior shell can be formed in ice, then filled with water, which then freezes. Wouldn't the freezing water expand and crack the exterior?
Very cool stuff though. How long 'till I can order an ice klein bottle?
Kevin Fox
Kevin Fox
This kind of thing's been around for a while, except using plastic.
:-P
Lasers are beamed into a special plastic whilst it's liquid, and the affected volume solidifies, giving you a solid 3D plastic model of whatever it was you 'printed'.
A bit more permanent than making an ice model...
Engineer turns up to presentation to demonstrate his new Miracle Widget, with a big wet patch in his pocket... "Um, hi. I did have a model, but it kinda melted. Honest."
Anyway, a quick link to the 3D laser printer.
I wonder if this could lead to the first home solid printers. All the other systems require expensive parts & chemicals to create a model. Water is about the cheapest thing you can buy. A refregeration unit with 3 motors, a microcontroller, and some tubing - $400 or so for a home unit.
:) Heck, you could make ice-plates, forks, knives, and spoons. Not that they would be good for real use, but at least doing the dishes can be reduced to placing them in the sink and waiting a few hours. A lazy man's dream!
If nothing else, you could have fanastic looking ice scupltures for every meal...
-- Virtual Windows Project