Slashdot Mirror


3-D Printable Food Gets Funding From NASA

cervesaebraciator writes "According to Quartz, '[Anjan Contractor's] Systems & Materials Research Corporation just got a six month, $125,000 grant from NASA to create a prototype of his universal food synthesizer. But Contractor, a mechanical engineer with a background in 3-D printing, envisions a much more mundane — and ultimately more important — use for the technology. He sees a day when every kitchen has a 3-D printer, and the earth's 12 billion people feed themselves customized, nutritionally-appropriate meals synthesized one layer at a time, from cartridges of powder and oils they buy at the corner grocery store. Contractor's vision would mean the end of food waste, because the powder his system will use is shelf-stable for up to 30 years, so that each cartridge, whether it contains sugars, complex carbohydrates, protein or some other basic building block, would be fully exhausted before being returned to the store.' No word yet on whether anyone other than the guy trying to sell the technology thinks it'll make palatable food."

6 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. Tea Earl Grey Hot by Hsien-Ko · · Score: 4, Funny

    The replicator!!!

  2. Almost there by ArcadeMan · · Score: 4, Funny

    We already eat foods that could be stored for years.

    But I still prefer to dry-freeze them in blocks and then cut them up on my CNC into regular food shapes.

  3. Re:H2G2G by Intrepid+imaginaut · · Score: 4, Funny

    Taste Tester: It tastes...familiar.
    Linda: Like beef?
    Taste Tester: No...
    Ted: Or chicken? We'll take chicken.
    Taste Tester: No, it tastes like...despair?

  4. Re:No More Food Waste? My Ass. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    that's PC LOAD LETTUCE you insensitive clod!!!

  5. pink slime or cheetos? by Thud457 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tea, Earl Grey, Hot!

    the Nutri-Matic machine provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.

    --

    the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

  6. Re:Rendezvous with Rama by oPless · · Score: 4, Funny

    Surely you mean his little known novella Rendezvous with Ramen?