Fabricated

What is 3D Printing?

Imagine waking up one morning to the smell of fresh muffins. You already know that they are organic, low in sugar and personalized for your health, because they were printed in your own “kitchen food printer.” Personalized food? A food printer? Those are two of the almost countless possibilities that the emerging technology of 3D printing promises.

In the near future, with the right designs and a 3D printer, you’ll be able to create a variety of items, from replacement body organs to fabricated homes to rescue tools for miners trapped by a cave-in. Not every possibility is a reality today, but many are. Someday, relatively soon, you could own a “machine that could make anything.” Today’s 3D printing output would have seemed like science fiction a few years ago, yet NASA’s Mars Rover contains parts printed in 3D that couldn’t have been made any other way.

People often explain 3D printers by citing “the Replicator in Star Trek” – a device that could create anything the crew of the starship Enterprise desired. Usually, they only wanted “a cup of Earl Grey tea.” The “Earl Grey Syndrome” serves as worthy shorthand for people’...