Hasta La Gadget!

Over the years, I’ve seen my fair share of unusual Rubik’s Cubes, as well as plenty of TARDIS goodies. But I can honestly say this is the first time I’ve seen a TARDIS Rubik’s Cube.

Ok, it’s not official Rubik’s-branded merch, nor is it a cube, but it’s still a TARDIS and it is a puzzle game. At the end of the day, it’s not even a very complicated puzzle, with a grid of just 2 x 2 x 4 blocks. Though when you start moving all of the pieces around, it does seem to get bigger on the inside, so it’s got that going for it.

This Tardis Cube was designed by Shapeways contributor Gus, and is available as a 3D printed model for about $51 (USD). Though it doesn’t come in color – you have to order it in white and then dye it and apply some labels yourself. Maybe someday Gus will design a full-color version, now that 3D printing tech is fully capable of doing that. On the other hand, you could use this model to make your own TARDIS in any color you’d like. How about a golden TARDIS? Or a hot pink one? You could even decorate the cubes in the colors of a traditional Rubik’s Cube.

If you’re both a horticulturist and an audiophile, then have I got the perfect thing for you. Ok, it’s probably more for the gardener than the audio fanatic since it doesn’t actually function as a speaker, but this thing is still kind of a neat idea.

While it looks just like a bookshelf speaker, what you’re looking at is a 3D-printed planter. It measures about 4″(W) x 4″ (D) x 5.8″(H) and has a drainage hole to make sure your plants don’t get overwatered. Just don’t try connecting this thing to your amplifier unless you want to short it out.

You can buy the 3D-printed speaker planter for $30(USD) from PixilShop over on Etsy.

Portal is one of the best puzzle-solving games of all time, IMHO. That said, I’ve played through every level of both Portal and Portal 2, and really am jonesing for some new Portal goodness. While it may be a while before Portal 3 gets made, I guess I’ll have to fill that empty place in my heart with some empty carbs. At least if they’re Portal cookies, that might cheer me up a little bit.

These fun cookie cutters were made by Athey Moravetz of WarpZone, and are designed to look like the guy on the warning posters in the games – you know, the little split-in-half dude. You can use them to serve up individual half-cookies, or if you’re feeling generous, you can stick two together using some blue and orange icing to reconstitute a full man-cookie.

If they weren’t cool enough already, they’re also made using 3D printing technology, for added geek cred. You can grab a pair over on Etsy for $5.50(USD).

The cake may have been a lie, but the cookies don’t have to be.

I’m not sure how well cases with holes will actually protect your iPhone, but since there are some available from major manufacturers, they must help at least a little, right? If you don’t mind having a case with holes in the back, then check out the 3D printed Ripple case.

The Ripple case design was obtained after modifying one with straight lines. The series of curvy opening creates a pattern which produces a sort of 3D optical illusion, which is definitely unusual.

It was created by Spaho Design and it’s available through Shapeways for $30(USD), and you can choose from a number of different materials if you’re going to get one.

Printing a chocolate heart is easy enough, but how about an actual organ? There are folks working on it, but it turns out those veins of yours aren’t exactly a breeze to replicate. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT may have found a semi-sweet solution — dissolving a sugar lattice in a batch of living Jell-O. The research team uses a RepRap 3D printer and a custom extruder head to print a filament network composed of sucrose, glucose and dextran which is later encased in a bio-gel containing living cells. Once the confectionery paths are dissolved, they leave a network of artery-like channels in their void. Tissue living in the gel can then receive oxygen and nutrients through the hollow pipes.

The research has been promising so far, and has increased the number of functional liver cells the team has been able to maintain in artificial tissues. These results suggest the technique could have future research possibilities in developing lab-grown organs. MIT Professor Sangeeta Bhatia, who helped conduct the effort, hopes to push the group’s work further. “More work will be needed to learn how to directly connect these types of vascular networks to natural blood vessels while at the same time investigating fundamental interactions between the liver cells and the patterned vasculature. It’s an exciting future ahead.” Scientists at other labs could also get their mitts on the sweet templates since they’re stable enough to endure shipping. Head past the break for a video of the innard infrastructure.

Continue reading Researchers use 3D printer, sugar, to create a fake artery network for lab-grown tissue

Researchers use 3D printer, sugar, to create a fake artery network for lab-grown tissue originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 03 Jul 2012 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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