Many have been asking what the implications of the current Covid-19 pandemic are going to be on additive manufacturing as an industry. The relationship between coronavirus and 3D printing is not entirely clear, mostly because we are very far from understanding what the long, medium and even short terms implications of the pandemic are going... Continue Reading →
The First Known Animal That Doesn’t Need To Breathe Has Been Found Inside Salmon
In a world-first a team of scientists from Tel Aviv has discovered an animal that doesn’t need to breathe to survive, putting that tired, old acronym Mrs Nergfirmly back in her box. The paper published in PNASdescribes a jellyfish-like parasite, which is the first known multicellular organism lacking a mitochondrial genome, meaning it’s perfectly capable of surviving without... Continue Reading →
3D Printing of Body Parts Is Coming Fast—but Regulations Are Not Ready
In the last few years, the use of 3D printing has exploded in medicine. Engineers and medical professionals now routinely 3D print prosthetic hands and surgical tools. But 3D printing has only just begun to transform the field. Today, a quickly emerging set of technologies known as bioprinting is poised to push the boundaries further.... Continue Reading →
Stealing Small Amounts Of Food When In Desperate Need Is Not A Crime
Stealing is not a crime, ruled Italy’s highest court this week -- when small amounts of food are taken in desperate need. The ruling was in the case a homeless man named Roman Ostriakov, who in 2011 was caught stealing a sausage and some cheese from a Genoa supermarket. Ostriakov had hidden the goods, worth... Continue Reading →
Robot priests can bless you, advise you, and even perform your funeral
AI religion is upon us. Welcome to the future. A new priest named Mindar is holding forth at Kodaiji, a 400-year-old Buddhist temple in Kyoto, Japan. Like other clergy members, this priest can deliver sermons and move around to interface with worshippers. But Mindar comes with some ... unusual traits. A body made of aluminum... Continue Reading →
World’s First ‘Living Machine’ Created Using Frog Cells and Artificial Intelligence
What happens when you take cells from frog embryos and grow them into new organisms that were "evolved" by algorithms? You get something that researchers are calling the world's first "living machine." Though the original stem cells came from frogs — the African clawed frog, Xenopus laevis — these so-called xenobots don't resemble any known amphibians. The tiny blobs... Continue Reading →
These 3 technologies will permanently change the banking sector
There’s general agreement within financial institutions that digitization is transforming their industries in fundamental ways, but many have yet to grasp the scale and depth of these changes. Today’s emerging technologies will not merely speed up transactions and reduce their cost through automation. They will also drive a significant restructuring of the entire financial sector,... Continue Reading →
World’s First Funerary Human Composting Site To Open In 2021
The world’s first funerary human composting facility is slated to open in the spring of 2021 after Washington State lawmakers legalized the posthumous process earlier this year. Seattle-based company Recompose will be the first to offer “natural organic reduction," a process that owner Katrina Spade says gently converts human remains – bones, teeth, and all... Continue Reading →
Watch these tissue-engineered spinal disks mimic the real thing
Everyone has a backstory. Chances are it’s also a back pain story, because estimates say about two-thirds of adults in the United States will suffer from back or neck pain during their lifetimes. Many instances of back pain are caused by damage or degeneration of the intervertebral disks—the squishy little hockey pucks that sit between... Continue Reading →
World’s First 3D Printed Hearts And Functional Beating Hearts Grown From Stem Cells
More than 25 million people suffer heart failure each year. In the United States, approximately 2,500 of the 4,000 people in line for heart transplants actually receive them. That means almost 50% of the people needing a new heart to keep them alive won’t get it. But now, scientists from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard... Continue Reading →